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Ask HN: Which companies give programmers offices?

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Re: Ask HN: Which companies give programmers offices?

#141

Post by pixelmonkey »

My team at Parse.ly is fully remote/distributed -- and one of the motivating reasons I formed the team that way was to reproduce the feel of Fog Creek's "bionic office", but in each engineer's home office space.

I discussed this a little in my "Notes on Distributed Teams" presentation here:

http://pixelmonkey.org/pub/distributed-teams/notes/#open-pla...

Here's how my personal home office looks:

https://flic.kr/p/v1NZ73

(Shameless plug, here are the positions we're hiring for, if you're interested! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14902227)

Re: Ask HN: Which companies give programmers offices?

#142

Post by bmj »

mooreds wrote: post #95
fredley wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd list working vacations as a downside. Proper time off, and the expectation that when you are on vacation you are on vacation is really important. I work 1-2 days a week from home and it's a great balance. It gives me time to really get stuck into things with minimal distraction, and be more flexible with time. That said, the days in the office are really useful too - nothing beats sitting with other people physic…

I don't think you should take all your vacations as working, but if you have a limited amount of vacation time and want to take a trip to see family or whatnot, a working vacation can be helpful. But I agree, time off the grid is important and at least some of your vacation days should be non working.

This is exactly what I do. If it's a family trip, when I know there will "down-time," I'd rather work a half day and save my vacation time for a proper trip.

I've done some longer trips with my family (4-6 weeks), and working remotely has allowed us to take those longer trips when I didn't have six weeks of vacation. I would typically take two weeks off, work three or four days, take another two weeks off, work a few days, etc, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Which companies give programmers offices?

#146

Post by mindcrime »

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.

Some say that's disturbance, I call it collaborating.

Sure, just keep your collaboration out of my concentration. That is, "Alice and Bob collaborating" may just be keeping Joe from getting any work done. It's easy to lose track of the effect of your collaboration in any open environment. Doing it in an office with a closed door eliminates that problem.

I'm not a code monkey. I don't sit alone in an office all day hammering out code.

Having an office does not in any way imply that you're supposed to "sit alone in an office all day hammering out code".

Re: Ask HN: Which companies give programmers offices?

#147

Post by quicklyfrozen »

thehardsphere wrote: post #44
Clubber wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're conflating what the smart thing to do is with what's actually done. :)

If your employer does not do smart things, you should find a better employer.

So please tell us where these better employers are -- that is the point of this thread after all.

I've been in software for 30 years, and I only remember interviewing at one company in the Boston area that had private offices for most engineers -- Stratus, back in 92.

Re: Ask HN: Which companies give programmers offices?

#148

Post by mindcrime »

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…

a) my desk faces the wall, for fewer visual distractions

I'm sitting here feeling stunned that anybody could ever want their desk facing a wall, as the implication (in terms of any "open plan" environment) is that their back is facing, well, nothing. IOW, somebody can walk up behind you unnoticed. Me personally, I hate that with a passion. I'd pay money to have my desk facing out with my back to the wall, just so nobody can walk up behind me.

Re: Ask HN: Which companies give programmers offices?

#149

Post by 52-6F-62 »

taternuts wrote: post #125
52-6F-62 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Colour me green with envy. I'm working in one of those fabled "cubical farms" mentioned in the post. Half of the company has gone full open office, and the laggers (who didn't get redone before the last CEO suddenly quit) seem to not be changing. I could wander elsewhere in the building to work once in a while, but eventually people would start questioning where I am.. and I'd be missing out on my single monitor and…

A lot of people would be jealous of your cubicle setup, including me. If your company decides to update their '30 year outdated office structure', you'd most likely be stripped of your cubicle and have no real private space. I'd venture a guess that you'd curse yourself for taking your precious cube for granted.

You've got a point, I do like having a little personal space to drop my things, but I'm actually not sure what I'd like better. I'm not much of a nester. Yet an office... especially like the ones at SO would be pretty sweet.

This is the fist time I've worked in a cubicle. I rarely see sunlight, although I recently was moved about 5 feet closer to a window (with walls still in the way). I used to either work outside (in other occupations), or at varying locales. It's new to me to be tied to one place, bathing in fluorescent lighting.

Recently the company took offices away from people and moved them into cubicles, including management. The open office spaces have more private sections to tuck into for the day, they're just bookable.

Re: Ask HN: Which companies give programmers offices?

#150

Post by tibbon »

At least give me my own 64sqft cube, and then have some decent lighting. I'd far rather live in a cubefarm than be rubbing elbows with the person beside me. It's not perfect, but having some degree of "my space" is really essential.

Oddly, I had my own office when I was working in IT at 17, but now it's harder to find.

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