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More than one million people will work from coworking spaces in 2017

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Re: More than one million people will work from coworking spaces in 2017

#41

Post by Arizhel »

richeyryan wrote: post #13
hamburgerkid wrote: post #4

A coworking space sounds amazing compared to our current office setup, somehow management has landed on the the worst of all worlds. Teams are in horseshoe shaped areas with managers in glass walled private offices facing into the horseshoe. The plain old worker scrubs like me, however, are in tiny cubicles that are about waist high within the horseshoe, and they have three people crammed into each cubicle in parts o…

Sounds like someone in your office read about Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon and they were like "This guy just might be onto something." Do you plan to stay in that place? It doesn't sound like a very positive working environment.

>It doesn't sound like a very positive working environment.

From everything I've been reading, and what I've experienced myself, it seems to be the upcoming norm for working environments.

Re: More than one million people will work from coworking spaces in 2017

#42

Post by Arizhel »

kpennell wrote: post #36

I really hoped that coworking spaces could help with the isolation I feel from working remotely. But they really haven't helped all that much. The challenge is that you're just going to a slightly more comfortable working space than a coffee shop to be around other people working with headphones in. You're not working with them, just around them. It sort of makes the isolation feel worse for me.

I've done some work in coffee shops (but on my own personal projects), so I actually understand firsthand how this is a nice way to do some work. But I don't really understand the coworking space concept. It seems to be worse than the coffee shop, but for a lot more money.

With a coffee shop, it's basically free, except you need to buy some drinks and snacks to justify taking up space there for so long. Not a big expense, plus you need to eat anyway. Good coffee shops will even have nice sandwiches, so you can cover your lunch that way. Coworking spaces don't have readily-available food and drinks; you'll have to bring your own.

Coffee shops don't have people yakking away on the phone. A bunch of people in this discussion have complained about this being a problem with coworking spaces. Of course, if your job requires you to talk on the phone a lot, coffee shops are out and coworking spaces would make perfect sense, but my job doesn't.

So I don't really get it, unless you don't have a good coffee shop around that lets you camp out there for many hours a day.

Re: More than one million people will work from coworking spaces in 2017

#43

Post by Arizhel »

PostOnce wrote: post #20
wildchild wrote: post #2

Lack of personal space hell is to where realty bubble leads. Sigh.

Land and buildings are still cheap in the middle of nowhere, probably always will be, since we're all urbanizing.

The problem with "the middle of nowhere" is the lack of socialization available. That's why a lot of people move to cities, even though the cost is a lot more.

Sure, it's great if you can work remotely and afford a really nice place in the sticks. But lots of people here even complain about going "stir-crazy" from sitting at home too much. Even if you're married, you're going to get tired of only socializing with that one person all the time, and never having any outside friends. You'll also get tired of never having any activities to do which involve interacting with other people. In a city, you have all that available: lots of other people, groups for various interests, etc. In rural areas, all you have are the people who live there, and their values and lifestyles will be so diametrically opposed to yours that you won't be able to socialize with them at all. So if you're not into fundamentalist religion, guns, off-roading, etc., moving to the sticks will condemn you to a very lonely life. And if you're an ethnic minority, it could be downright dangerous.

Re: More than one million people will work from coworking spaces in 2017

#44

Post by bdcravens »

dheera wrote: post #9
fourstar wrote: post #3

I worked in one and it was awful. Always had to be hoping that your neighbor was respectful, and even if you got lucky and they were, then you had to hope that they stayed long enough, before some other neighbor came in and ultimately created an undesirable co-working space. It's 2017 and we have the internet. When will (internet) companies start embracing telecommuting more?

The internet still sucks in 2017. I still can't make a 3-way video call between people in 3 countries without having to say "Can you hear me" every 5 minutes and then having to repeat stuff all the time. Doubly forget having a productive meeting if one of those people is on Comcast, has a crappy Wi-Fi router, is in China, can't figure out how to get their microphone to work, or has babies yelling in the background. I…

I've done multiple international mentoring sessions via Zoom and it hasn't been an issue. (and my home service is Comcast)

Re: More than one million people will work from coworking spaces in 2017

#45

Post by prawn »

nodamage wrote: post #8
prawn wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the style of the space. IMO, hot-desks are an optional subset of co-working. I own a small building that we operate as a co-working space - a few small 1-2 person businesses in a mixture of open plan and private office spaces. I enjoy it. Some of us need to get away from distracting kids at home, or have a shared space for client meetings, enjoy the friendships and banter, etc.

We rented a 2-person "private office" at a local coworking space in Seattle. Unfortunately we only lasted about a month before giving up and returning to our home office. The problem was, even though they called them "private offices", each office was only separated by a thin layer of glass which did not block any sound, and consequently you ended up hearing every conversation in every office adjacent to yours. This…

Ours are proper walls with two sheets of gyprock (which I think you call drywall). People also take as many phone calls as possible away from their desks in the meeting room or kitchen. I find that it works well for me.

For every minute I might lose being distracted by someone chatting, I gain back another time by feeling pushed to work. If I'm at home, it's too easy to get up looking for snacks to procrastinate.

Re: More than one million people will work from coworking spaces in 2017

#46

Post by digler999 »

dheera wrote: post #9
fourstar wrote: post #3

I worked in one and it was awful. Always had to be hoping that your neighbor was respectful, and even if you got lucky and they were, then you had to hope that they stayed long enough, before some other neighbor came in and ultimately created an undesirable co-working space. It's 2017 and we have the internet. When will (internet) companies start embracing telecommuting more?

The internet still sucks in 2017. I still can't make a 3-way video call between people in 3 countries without having to say "Can you hear me" every 5 minutes and then having to repeat stuff all the time. Doubly forget having a productive meeting if one of those people is on Comcast, has a crappy Wi-Fi router, is in China, can't figure out how to get their microphone to work, or has babies yelling in the background. I…

> I still can't make a 3-way video call between people in 3 countries

my team can't even have one call-in member (a few states away) join a teleconference without it sounding like she's underwater.

Re: More than one million people will work from coworking spaces in 2017

#47

Post by imartin2k »

Rainymood wrote: post #33
freehunter wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the biggest perks of working from home for me is not having to commute to work. Having to get up and drive downtown every morning sounds awful, so I'm surprised you listed it as a perk. Do you live in a place with good public transport or do you actually not mind having to drive downtown every day?

Some people like the social aspect of their work. I work best when I am alone at home as well but sometimes feel very socially isolated.

Exactly the same here. I actually only go to co-working spaces when I have very little work to do but the urge to be among people. When I need to be productive, I stay home.

Re: More than one million people will work from coworking spaces in 2017

#48

Post by psybin »

test1235 wrote: post #21
psybin wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pay about $20 USD a week for a desk.

What do you get for that? Broadband, wi-fi, bathroom, kitchen, 24 hour access?

300Mb wifi, there's bathrooms, a kitchen, 24 hour access for about double the price (and comes with a fixed desk).

Re: More than one million people will work from coworking spaces in 2017

#49

Post by danmax »

antoniuschan99 wrote: post #38
danmax wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're working out of Acmeworks in the west end. It's not bad, great location and good company. However, it's a little expensive and the internet occasionally cuts out.

How is the networking opporunities there? Are there a lot of entrepreneurs that you can meet and potentially become clients?

I mean, it depends on what you're selling. But probably not.
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