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Apple Park employees revolt over having to work in open-plan offices

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91–100 of 177 posts

Re: Apple Park employees revolt over having to work in open-plan offices

#91
post #84

If you really want a private office, there are a couple of spaces available right next to mine for $225/month each - http://www.klopferbuilding.com/ ;) Obviously you'd need to live nearby (Northwest of Dayton, OH), but houses here go for ~ $120k - https://www.redfin.com/city/16281/OH/Pleasant-Hill You could literally retire here and work on whatever you what with a few year's worth of bay area salary. (Which is, more…

Hi, what's the crime rate there? Does it snow a lot?

The crime rate is so low that the town closed the police department a few years ago. (Now we contract with the sheriff.) I think I've locked my house twice in four years.

We do usually get a couple of good snows each winter.

Re: Apple Park employees revolt over having to work in open-plan offices

#92
post #87

Once you work remotely (and you have your own office, in your own house) you feel bad, terribly sorry for anyone that stays in an open office "cultured" tech company making 200k+ per year. The quality of life and lack of freedom you exchange for the "next 100k" above and beyond a 100k base Salary is never worth it. Time and health is your most precious resource and asset. And many are deluded into thinking it's ok to…

> (hint: it's not when taking taxes, commute and accomodation into account)

this is important to keep in mind. the people who are the true high earners are making 500k+, sometimes married to someone else who also does. the real outliers make millions. they are the ones buying multi-$million houses in the bay area, LA, NY, etc. it's not mysterious overseas chinese and arab buyers. it's high earning americans taking home 30, 40 thousand dollars a month or who struck it big with equity.

it's a scam. don't fall for it. if you want to make millions, go for it, but don't commit slow suicide over the marginal difference in a high-tax state.

furthermore, 200k is NOT a stepping stone between 100k and 500k. that's not how it works for the vast majority of people, i.e. people who are not gifted at management and corporate politics. if you're in the true high earner range, you did a LOT of stuff to get there, such as medical school, law school, or similar, or busted your ass starting your own company years ago, or were simply granted some kind of employee stock which you had very little control over (good for you, not so good for anyone else on a normal salary).

Re: Apple Park employees revolt over having to work in open-plan offices

#93
post #87

Once you work remotely (and you have your own office, in your own house) you feel bad, terribly sorry for anyone that stays in an open office "cultured" tech company making 200k+ per year. The quality of life and lack of freedom you exchange for the "next 100k" above and beyond a 100k base Salary is never worth it. Time and health is your most precious resource and asset. And many are deluded into thinking it's ok to…

> (hint: it's not when taking taxes, commute and accomodation into account) this is important to keep in mind. the people who are the true high earners are making 500k+, sometimes married to someone else who also does. the real outliers make millions. they are the ones buying multi-$million houses in the bay area, LA, NY, etc. it's not mysterious overseas chinese and arab buyers. it's high earning americans taking ho…

Uhh, affording a house in LA/SF/NYC is an absolutely collosal amount of money. You sure ain't middle class anymore.

Re: Apple Park employees revolt over having to work in open-plan offices

#95
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lasik is totally worth it btw.

Not for those of us who have dreams of going into space someday. (This isn't a joke, by the way.)

Can you elaborate? As someone eyeing (sorry) a Lasik operation in the not-to-distant future, I'm genuinely interested.

Re: Apple Park employees revolt over having to work in open-plan offices

#96
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this may sound like a poor substitute to private corporate space, but I can't praise enough the combination of noise reducing earplugs and active noise cancelling over earphones. This combo plus somafm and a pomodoro timer app can instantly boost my productivity

It's not just the noise. You as a human are wired to process movement around you. This takes mental energy.

This is true and I think the main reason people don't like windmills in their view. One cannot really relax when there is that kind of movement, especially in your peripheral vision. Millions of years of our ancestors being eaten by predators made certain of that.

Re: Apple Park employees revolt over having to work in open-plan offices

#97

Steve Jobs is said to have poured in a lot of thought on how the architecture of the building is supporting work. Steve also had some architectural experience from Pixar. On the macro level the alignment of the architecture with the organization as it was explained always made sense to me. On the micro level changing from offices to open floor is a huge change. How was that supposed to preserve and foster the enginee…

For all the loving of open offices, I've never seen an exec that works in an open area themselves. I heard about one, but never saw it with my own eyes. This is in 30+ years of working.

My VP doesn't even really have an office. He finds an open spot and sits his laptop down.

This is at one of the majors.

Re: Apple Park employees revolt over having to work in open-plan offices

#98
> Similarly, Gensler's 2016 UK Workplace Survey found that workers were more likely to innovate if they had access to a range of spaces supporting different working styles – including private, semi-private and open-plan environments.

This is my favorite part, because it confirms an intuition I've held for a long time: both open areas and private offices have their uses, so provide both. The only downside I can see is that it's expensive to implement, which is, I'll grant, non-trivial.

Re: Apple Park employees revolt over having to work in open-plan offices

#99
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this may sound like a poor substitute to private corporate space, but I can't praise enough the combination of noise reducing earplugs and active noise cancelling over earphones. This combo plus somafm and a pomodoro timer app can instantly boost my productivity

> active noise cancelling over earphones Some folks cannot wear those without discomfort or dizziness. I tried them out an fell into that category (I have some ear issues) which is damn annoying because my brother loves them for airplane rides. Right now, I am in an office with my back to a window that looks out to insulation[1]. I'm pretty comfortable programming away. 1) they added a building expansion where my out…

Get some action figures and make a diorama of happy people throwing a frisbee in the park.

Re: Apple Park employees revolt over having to work in open-plan offices

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (hint: it's not when taking taxes, commute and accomodation into account) this is important to keep in mind. the people who are the true high earners are making 500k+, sometimes married to someone else who also does. the real outliers make millions. they are the ones buying multi-$million houses in the bay area, LA, NY, etc. it's not mysterious overseas chinese and arab buyers. it's high earning americans taking ho…

Uhh, affording a house in LA/SF/NYC is an absolutely collosal amount of money. You sure ain't middle class anymore.

"uhhh", isn't that what i just said?
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