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Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

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Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#681

Post by ska »

BaseballPhysics wrote: post #545
tsimionescu wrote: post #516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The phrase makes it clear that these are different people than the ones who can't stand the commute etc. And yes, there are people who work only to get paid and do not care to invest themselves beyond what is necessary. What exactly is wrong with that, or why do you think the OP implies there is something wrong with that?

> And yes, there are people who work only to get paid and do not care to invest themselves beyond what is necessary. And what does that have to do with preferring to work from home? It's almost comical the implication that those same people, pre-COVID, weren't going to the office and phoning it in. IMO the two topics--being... I dunno... not ambitious, and working from home--are entirely orthogonal concepts. And the…

> And what does that have to do with preferring to work from home?

Wasn't it saying that such people likely prefer WFH, (and not the converse) ?

> It's almost comical the implication that

I don't think that implication is in the original text.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#682

Post by yupper32 »

doix wrote: post #666
yupper32 wrote: post #593

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the time I work out, get home, cook dinner, eat dinner, clean, shower, it's like 8pm usually. No one around me is staying out past like 10pm on a weekday. Now I have the job of finding anyone who wants to hang out from 8pm to 10pm on a weekday when both/all of us are exhausted from a long day. Doing the hard math and saying I have 6 hours is just theoretical. _Many_ people may socialize in the evenings, but I'd be…

I had a similar realization at a certain point. I was wasting too much time on chores, so I optimized them out of my life. Replace all food at home with Huel. No more cooking, no more cleaning, no more shopping (no more driving to stores), no more wondering if you can go out for dinner or if food will spoil. Make sure all your clothes can be washed together (either all tones of grey, or all colours). Make sure all yo…

> Replace all food at home with Huel.

Oh dear, you've already lost me.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#683

Post by ska »

hluska wrote: post #313
vaidhy wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are reading three different reasons and you are mentally adding “do not care to invest” to all three. That is not what the OP said.

Here’s a direct quote: Then there are people who work mainly to get paid and do not care to invest themselves beyond what is necessary . (I added the italics for emphasis.)

Aren't you just emphasizing one of the three scenarios? It doesn't seem to contradict the statement you are responding to.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#685

Post by thenoblesunfish »

I am 100% with you. I like the office, a LOT. It's important to note that most of the common complaints don't apply to me. My commute is short (on a bus or on foot), the office is open plan but people do their talking in meeting rooms and respect your flow, there's food on site, and I have a young child are home so the office is far less distracting. But more than that I like working with people in the same room - I'm an introvert so it's tiring, yeah, but plenty of things that are inspiring and worthwhile are tiring. Long live the office!

Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#686

Post by pwizzler »

I'm looking for a new position and the thing I dread most is the inevitable "how many days will you be in the office?" question. I get more done at home, I actually gasp like my spouse and appreciate the time to have lunch or start dinner while on a meeting, and generally feeling like life matters more than just the company I work for.

I'll admit I miss the camaraderie, but when I look back on places I've worked, how many of those were my actual friends and not just people I've worked with? I look at remote work as a way to acknowledge in my own life what really matters, and it's more the time I have with people I love. Not until the past two years did I really understand the execs who "made it" and then quit to just be a ski bum or open a coffee shop... but being one of the execs who "made it" absolutely makes me just want to quit and be a ski bum or coffee shop.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#687

Post by lolinder »

addicted wrote: post #300

My biggest frustration with the WFH discussion has been that the vast majority of people say that the #1 (and sometimes only) reason they prefer WFH is to save time on the commute. But this has not led to any discussions on how we can actually improve the commute, improve housing policy so people can live closer to work, etc. Instead, people have simply decided that theh will WFH instead, an option which isn’t availa…

> But this has not led to any discussions on how we can actually improve the commute, improve housing policy so people can live closer to work, etc.

Letting most office workers not commute is the fastest way to improve the commute of those who must.

Letting most office workers not live next to their company's headquarters is the fastest way to free up housing space near company headquarters.

Making marginal improvements to the commute of 100% of workers pales in comparison to ending commutes altogether for 20% of workers. It doesn't matter if a lot of people still have to go to work, the ecological and economic benefits of getting that many people off the roads are massive, especially for those who still have to drive to work.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#688

Post by yboris »

listenallyall wrote: post #657
yboris wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you heard about 4DWW - Four Day Work Week? This is arguably the biggest and most-needed improvement in labor / worker rights in at least a few decades. I can't wait until it is implemented across the whole world. England, Portugal, and other countries are at the forefront already.

Hey, I like the idea of working less too. But why is this needed ? If 4 becomes the law, how long until people will demand 3? And we have already experienced shortages of goods recently, how will things get made or shipped or fixed if people are working 20% less?

All the efficiencies and productivity gains we've seen in the last 30 years have not resulted in increasing wages, but instead resulted in higher incomes of the executives and owners.

Perhaps more importantly, the 4DWW isn't a pie-in-the-sky proposal, there are numerous companies that have switched over and have found the productivity gains offset the lesser hours.

As for "how long until people will demand 3?" - we'll see. When AI starts pumping out the same quality of work as humans do, should all humans starve? Or should all humans work fewer hours and capture the benefits?

Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#689

Post by spookthesunset »

rootusrootus wrote: post #299

For what it is worth, I agree with you. If I were younger and single, I would be dying right now. Begging to go back to the office, most likely. Switching jobs to Nike, if I could, since they are back in the office part time at least. I never could handle so much alone time in my own house, it drove me stir crazy. I need humans, I've always had coworkers I enjoyed being around, I loved going out for beers afterward w…

> It's just not cool to have such thoughts these days, as you have noted.

Yup. The pendulum will swing back though. Just give it time.

Hype and cargo cults are the bedrock of our industry. Always has been.

This too shall pass.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#690

Post by thenoblesunfish »

ballenf wrote: post #677

Does anyone oppose just allowing companies to choose whatever WFO/WFH/hybrid policy they want? If they have a WFO policy and can't recruit, then they adjust or die. Just seems reasonable that the industry, location, talent pool and local infrastructure are all factors that make it impossible to generalize.

I think OP is commenting on the fact that there is more noise, per person, from the pro-WFH side (see the top rated comments here), which might make you think there is more of a preference for it among tech workers. It makes some sense they'd be louder, though, as they are the ones who feel more threatened, as getting to work in their preferred way is new.
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