Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Which companies give programmers offices?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 252 posts

Re: Ask HN: Which companies give programmers offices?

#71

Post by mooreds »

jaegerpicker wrote: post #67

That's why programmers should work remotely. It's the best thing I've ever done for my career. Moved back from Management to IC because it was remote and it's been amazing.

Remote work is great for so many reasons. Off the top of my head:

For the company:

   * less office space expense
   * bigger talent pool
   * low cost benefit
   * increased documentation
   * encourages the trend towards outcome based management (as opposed to butts in seats)
For the programmer:

   * more control over their work environment
   * more control over their time
   * no "commuting" subsidy for their employers
   * arbitrage payscales and standard of living
   * working vacations become possible
There are some downsides in terms of increased coordination costs and I have some friends that will never get to work remote because of security concerns, but for most developers this trend is fantastic.

Re: Ask HN: Which companies give programmers offices?

#74

Post by Chris911 »

kuharich wrote: post #23

Old Microsoft: it was a BillG ethic: anyone touching software got an office: software design engineers, PM's, QA, even admins ... it allowed one to be quiet and focus. And signaled to co-workers - do not disturb ...

Most new buildings at Microsoft now have open office plans.

Re: Ask HN: Which companies give programmers offices?

#76

Post by colanderman »

latencyloser wrote: post #48
borplk wrote: post #16

Do pretty much all programmers in Microsoft get their own office? Is it as simple as that or there's more to it?

Definitely depends on the group, but I think mostly just whatever building you happen to be in. The building I'm in is newly remodeled. Meaning entirely open-office. In my opinion, my building/group/whatever does it wrong by jamming so many bodies in the same room together. There's 26 desks here in a room that looks as though it could comfortable fit about half that many. I've since adopted big sound-proof headphones…

> Too many people for what the building was originally designed for

OSHA regulates the ratio of employees to toilets ("water closets"). Check this table [1] and file an OSHA complaint [2] if the requirement isn't met.

[1] https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_tab...

[2] https://www.osha.gov/pls/osha7/eComplaintForm.html

Re: Ask HN: Which companies give programmers offices?

#77

Post by maxxxxx »

maaaats wrote: post #46
msluyter wrote: post #28

On the general question of open vs. private offices, my views have tempered over time. The first time I worked in an open office, I hated it. But I've come to realize that a lot depends on the layout of the office and that there are better and worse ways to configure one. The first case -- the one I hated -- had a) long rows of desks, b) bright overhead fluorescent lights, c) a lot of noise due to being in a large ro…

I work in a team. The team of 5-10 people sit in the same office. That way we can talk to each other when needed. Some say that's disturbance, I call it collaborating. I'm not a code monkey. I don't sit alone in an office all day hammering out code. If that was what expected of me, I would change job. So, not exactly open floor plan, but not separate offices either. I think that's perfect.

I like that too. I am fine with interruptions that are work related. It's the constant background noise that bothers me in open office.

Re: Ask HN: Which companies give programmers offices?

#78

Post by hashberry »

jaegerpicker wrote: post #67

That's why programmers should work remotely. It's the best thing I've ever done for my career. Moved back from Management to IC because it was remote and it's been amazing.

Yes... for the first time in my career my desk is next to a window with natural light and fresh air. All previous positions have been in cubicles or stuck in the middle of an open floorplan.

Re: Ask HN: Which companies give programmers offices?

#80

Post by hackermailman »

mooreds wrote: post #71
jaegerpicker wrote: post #67

That's why programmers should work remotely. It's the best thing I've ever done for my career. Moved back from Management to IC because it was remote and it's been amazing.

Remote work is great for so many reasons. Off the top of my head: For the company: * less office space expense * bigger talent pool * low cost benefit * increased documentation * encourages the trend towards outcome based management (as opposed to butts in seats) For the programmer: * more control over their work environment * more control over their time * no "commuting" subsidy for their employers * arbitrage paysc…

One of the downsides is managers think we don't do anything all day as they can't stand over us monitoring for efficiency, so insist we are available at a whim on Slack, which makes Slack the new open office where you have to stop reasoning about what you're building and answer somebody's meme post on Slack or a manager's musings that would've been an email in the past you could reply to later. To me this is just as great as disturbance as the door opening to the foozball and video game room with a crowd of people yelling.
Post reply on HN