Ask HN: Do you enjoy working in a coworking space?

The open plan one was great for networking but distracting as all hell.

The private office one had glass walls (so minimal actual privacy), but nobody met anyone so there was no sense of community and the communal spaces (like kitchens) were a shit-show.

I have little difficulty concentrating at home, so I see little advantage in a co-working space. The communal one might be nice to have an occasional membership to for those days when you’re feeling social and home is too lonely.

My experience with working from home: suddenly you're doing all those household chores that you're always putting off. There's certainly some advantage to that, but it's funny how it works.

The smallest room we have (about 2m x 3m), which has a desk (couple of monitors, desktop, etc), a view, a door, a small rack (nothing particularly noisy), couple of cupboards, printer, and a pull down single bed for when mother-in-law stays the night.

So much more productive than if I go into an office and try to work, or try to work from a cafe or train. About the only time I come close to the level of productivity at home is when I have a specific task to do, and I'm on a plane with a decent amount of space and power, on a day flight (say an 11AM flight from Europe to the U.S, or a 9AM flight from India to Europe, with the window up)

An old friend has an even smaller setup, he put up a plywood wall at the end of his utility room, about 1.5m by 2m, and it's great. He has a whiteboard and stuff in view of the webcam for group design sessions.

Before we had kids, working from the kitchen table was fine too -- but I agree if you've got kids running around having a dedicated room does the trick.

I've seen a couple of people saying something along the lines of:

  people tend to treat you as if you are "at home" rather than "at work".

Can attest to fact that coworking spaces in Metro US (NYC,DC,Boston) can be very crowded. My experience is somewhat limited as I typically attend during events. But have noticed the ratio of work to non-work socializing tends to be well below parity. Terrific for networking, though.

One simple hack is if you are in proximity of your college alma mater, you can obtain alumni library privileges. Typically under $100 per annum. Some facilities are open 24/7. And going when majority of students are on break you have the whole place to yourself. Surrounded by that familiar scent of decaying tomes. And you can always seek inspiration by wandering the stacks.

My ideal space would have all the requirements of a modern software foundry, but still be steps from Nature. Colorado. Or perhaps a remote beach in Chile, with easy access to mountains and hiking and skiing. There is no better mental refreshment or rejuvenation than that!