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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?

#701

Post by ozim »

UI_at_80x24 wrote: post #221

It sounds like you preferred the social aspect of being in the office. Not everybody does. The movie Office Space really hit on some key points: A mind-numbing commute, that wastes hours of "your time" that you don't get paid for. "Corporate Accounts Payable Nina speaking" Egomaniac of a boss/manager hovering over your shoulder telling you that you are typing wrong, and YOU need to work overtime while he buys a new s…

What if I am pro-social person but I don't like people I have to meet with to be picked by my employer.

WFH is also better if you are pro-social - you have more time to pick up friends that you want to meet - not ones that you have to meet.

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

#703

Post by yupper32 »

kroltan wrote: post #620
yupper32 wrote: post #597

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do so many people try to do the hard math when it comes to this? The reality is by the time I am able to go out on a weekday it's like 8pm. Very few of my peers, friends or not, want to go out late on a weekday after already having a long day. If you're able to do better than that, then you are in an uncommon bracket.

Well, not sure how else to approach you with the fact that there is more time than you give credit to. Also, 8pm? How much time do you spend on commute? Do you live in a mansion and don't hire a cleaning person? To be fair, I personally am on an uncommon bracket where I usually socialise over the internet, people who make games tend to like playing them too, and there is no commute. That said, you're still framing it…

> Also, 8pm? How much time do you spend on commute

Leave work at 5 (hopefully!). Gym/exercise for an hour, commute for 30min, dinner for an hour. That's already 7:30pm. Add in chores or errands or distractions or whatever and 8pm comes quick.

Like yeah, I could start doing microwave dinners or not exercising or replace all my food with Huel like someone actually suggested in the comments here. Or move right next to the office or leave work early. But my god I'm not going to hyper optimize my life in order to maybe see people late on a weekday.

My whole point in this entire thread is that I socialize during work. At lunch, during breaks, between meetings, etc. Time I would have not been working anyway (because I'm not a robot). This is what people have been doing forever just fine.

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

#704

Post by jspash »

thunky wrote: post #94
adamhp wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclaimer: I support fully remote work and will likely never be returning to office in my lifetime if I can help it. Here I play devil's advocate. Even though it is a hypothetical world you've constructed, you still framed it from the perspective of this world. I can do the same thing you did with a different bias. Imagine a world where everyone is socially isolated, forced to work 8 hours a day from their living sp…

> It all doesn't sound so bad when you frame it differently I disagree, it still sounds bad. It sounds like elementary school for adults.

So... a WeWork then?

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

#705

Post by alexchantavy »

> I always saw tech as the field where a disproportionally large amount of people truly love what they do. Mostly, because it takes so much grit and persistence to get good at it that most people wouldn't succeed unless they see something in it beyond putting food on the table.

I feel the same way, and also see that lots of people see it as a means to an end and respect that. So if nothing else I feel a little better reading your post and seeing there are other people out there who live for this shit :).

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

#706

Post by listenallyall »

yboris wrote: post #688
listenallyall wrote: post #657

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'l…

Wages have increased, but they've also been distributed to places like China, India, Vietnam, as business owners naturally seek low wage costs (and demanding 4-day work weeks will only accelerate the exportation of labor).

Although many first-world countries' median wage hasn't increased much (despite wage growth all around in warehousing, fast-food, etc), the number of high-paying jobs in tech, finance, law, healthcare, media and more has certainly increased. How many software engineers were making $150-250k annually in 1997?

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

#707

Post by Dig1t »

>But are those really the majority?

Short answer: yeah, pretty much.

Or at least a large enough percentage to affect most companies’ retention.

I love remote working, but I also agree with you to some extent. Working in the office is awesome when you are working with genuinely smart and passionate people. It can be fun, very stimulating, and some extremely high quality work can get done.

Unfortunately, the benefits of WFH are just massive and they outweigh that in-person magic for most people.

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

#708

Post by hallomisky »

Personally a mixture of the two suits me best. I appreciate the time by myself, but every now and then I want to go into the office to reconnect with other people. It can also make rubber-ducking more efficient if said duck is sitting next to you.

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

#709

Post by commitpizza »

I like going to the office and talk with people but there are a few problems that make me hate it and chose WFH almost 100% of the time:

- the office is almost always in the middle of a larger city, no nature nearby

- the office is almost always an open office space that is depressing as hell

- the office is hard or expensive to go to due to it's central location

- I am not allowed to bring my dog to the office

- the screens at the office has low resolutions and my desk is most likely located in a depressing part of the office and not by a window with a view

- the commute sucks and I have to go up 1,5 hours earlier because that I need to look nice and fresh and I get no reward other than perhaps some colleagues to speak to during my 30 minute lunch break

That's why I chose remote every day and hate going to the modern office.

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

#710

Post by saiya-jin »

samuel_backend wrote: post #489
saiya-jin wrote: post #63

Many people realized during covid that life has completely different meaning for them than being a cog in some corporation and sitting on their asses whole day, every day, in some soulless office far away, making money for somebody else. You clearly have no close family, otherwise we wouldn't have this thread at all, simple as that. I've become parent of 2, 1 right before covid, 1 during. It took over my whole world…

I think the sentence "I've met people like you" has never not been part of a shitty argument

Well, once you reach certain age you may notice things, people, their issues and everything else keeps repeating with just small variations. Its like playing a game - you have certain paths and choices, but at the end (almost) everything and everybody falls into certain category already shared with similar cases, with similar behavior, side effects and outcomes. Then very few matters will surprise you, and you may notice there are actually just few paths to true, long term life paths to life satisfaction and happiness.

You may reach that age and knowledge too, or not, what do I know.

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