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Is Facebook’s Massive Open Office Scaring Away Developers?

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Re: Is Facebook’s Massive Open Office Scaring Away Developers?

#371

Post by wirelesskarma »

jedberg wrote: post #355
deckard1 wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> headphones and ear plugs are always offered This isn't a solution. Wearing headphones all day will lead to hearing loss. Especially if you have them turned up to any sort of level needed to block out even light conversation.

It depends on the headphones. A good set of active or passive noise cancelling headphones will block all the sound even with no music. I wear my headphones as earplugs on an airplane when I want to sleep, and I can usually keep my volume at 10% of max or less and hear everything crystal clear. The biggest downside is that my headphones cost $350 and are only available in Europe or Montreal, CA.

Even if they're at 10%, the actual volume of your earphones is more dependant on the drivers themselves and the amperage rather than the arbitrary 'volume percentage' on the device you're driving them with.

Re: Is Facebook’s Massive Open Office Scaring Away Developers?

#373

Post by 1_2__3 »

QuercusMax wrote: post #35
dilap wrote: post #13

An open office wouldn't be so bad if library-like codes of silence were enforced.

Where I work (at Google), it's generally pretty quiet; you'll occasionally have conversations going on, but most of the time all you hear is typing. It's not quite "library-like", but making phone calls at your desk is very strongly frowned upon. At my last company, we generally had 1-2 person offices; it was very easy to stay in your office all day long and never interact with other developers. With the open plan he…

Try sitting in an area near, say, a marketing team. It's not quiet.

Re: Is Facebook’s Massive Open Office Scaring Away Developers?

#374

Post by prodigal_erik »

pfarnsworth wrote: post #232
DougN7 wrote: post #4

Open offices were developed by people who don't have to really concentrate for their job. They're awful for developers.

They're awful for you , not all developers. I love open offices. I've been through the full gambit: single office; shared office; cube; back to shared office; open office. My favorite is definitely open office, because it's simply more social.

(nit: "full gamut" is the phrase)

Re: Is Facebook’s Massive Open Office Scaring Away Developers?

#375

Post by raziel2701 »

jedberg wrote: post #355
deckard1 wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> headphones and ear plugs are always offered This isn't a solution. Wearing headphones all day will lead to hearing loss. Especially if you have them turned up to any sort of level needed to block out even light conversation.

It depends on the headphones. A good set of active or passive noise cancelling headphones will block all the sound even with no music. I wear my headphones as earplugs on an airplane when I want to sleep, and I can usually keep my volume at 10% of max or less and hear everything crystal clear. The biggest downside is that my headphones cost $350 and are only available in Europe or Montreal, CA.

Noise canceling headphones are for low frequency sounds such as those found in airplanes. They don't work well with conversations phones ringing and laughter.

Re: Is Facebook’s Massive Open Office Scaring Away Developers?

#378

Post by eosrei »

kzisme wrote: post #131
United857 wrote: post #59

(Disclosure: FB employee) Most of the problems about overhearing conversations, etc, can be dealt with by a nice pair of headphones. Here, it's universally accepted as the 'do not disturb' signal.

What kind of headphones do you recommend?

Not OP, but I still recommend my now old: https://www.amazon.com/Bose-QuietComfort-Cancelling-Disconti...

Re: Is Facebook’s Massive Open Office Scaring Away Developers?

#379

Post by eropple »

jedberg wrote: post #355
deckard1 wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> headphones and ear plugs are always offered This isn't a solution. Wearing headphones all day will lead to hearing loss. Especially if you have them turned up to any sort of level needed to block out even light conversation.

It depends on the headphones. A good set of active or passive noise cancelling headphones will block all the sound even with no music. I wear my headphones as earplugs on an airplane when I want to sleep, and I can usually keep my volume at 10% of max or less and hear everything crystal clear. The biggest downside is that my headphones cost $350 and are only available in Europe or Montreal, CA.

Noise-canceling headphones are really hit or miss, though. Like, I can't wear them. They drive me crazy. Ambient noise is not bad. Ambient noise is good! Being in an isolated bubble is the sort of dystopic future-stuff that...ew. No. Do not want.

(For a while I thought things like Coffivity were a good idea to restore the ambient noise I was killing out with perpetual headphones...but then I realized what I was doing to myself, and felt kind of ashamed and embarrassed.)

Re: Is Facebook’s Massive Open Office Scaring Away Developers?

#380

Post by MaulingMonkey »

eventualhorizon wrote: post #229
andrewflnr wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried playing white noise or something over your headphones?

I couldn't do anything in an open office without blocking the noise. Visual distractions are almost as bad but are harder to block. I use sox to generate audio. It is available for win/Mac/Linux. I set it for 90 minutes of brown noise which gives me a reminder to get up and walk around when it ends. I believe it can generate white or pink noise if you prefer. >play -n synth 90:00 brownnoise brownnoise

> Visual distractions are almost as bad but are harder to block.

I find a second row of monitors helps for this.

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