151–160 of 162 posts
Here’s my not coworking solution which has the advantage of letting you sing along with Bon Jovi at the top of your voice. I built a 2x3m shed/office. Windows are second hand double glazed windows from gumtree. Power and ethernet are cables tacked to house, under a path and then running over ground under hedge. I used fallen branches from a local park to make a little fence so I cant run lawnmower over cables. Heatin…
1. They're usually too noisy, meaning it's easy to hear the entire floor from any office or seating area located there. This is especially bad with loud sales teams (which quite a few startups will need).
2. The reliability of the infrastructure is poor compared to an office you yourself own/rent. Seriously, in the last WeWork I was in, we had the internet go down for hours twice, the microwave explode three times, the toilets fail or have issues on a semi regular basis and keycards stop working for people every other week or so. We also had them refuse to provide the latter for larger teams, so hey, some poor shmuck got stuck sitting in reception till someone else came in.
3. Just dealing with so many others in a small environment is annoying in of itself.
But hey, not sure whether those issues are more with coworking as a concept or certain ones being really poorly managed/maintained.
If I _need to concentrate_ on something, I'll work from my office or home.
Here’s my not coworking solution which has the advantage of letting you sing along with Bon Jovi at the top of your voice. I built a 2x3m shed/office. Windows are second hand double glazed windows from gumtree. Power and ethernet are cables tacked to house, under a path and then running over ground under hedge. I used fallen branches from a local park to make a little fence so I cant run lawnmower over cables. Heatin…
I've been a solo dev for about 7 years now, these are my findings: # Working from home ('free') Working from home is great for about 6 months, then isolation kicks in and the divide between work and relaxing disappears. Given my situation (single, no kids) I quickly become very lonely. A separate in house office helps for a separation between work and not-work, as long as you have the discipline not to use your offic…
I think your specific situation has a HUGE impact on how much you'll enjoy working from home. I'm married, have 4 kids, and I never feel lonely at home. I totally get how a single guy / gal with no kids would, though. I never found any issues with dividing work / life, though. I have a dedicated office, and I believe it's a huge part of it.
I've thought about renting office space so I can have somewhere to go when I really can't be interrupted. But so far, I've been able to work it out.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm in the same situation. Renting small office, alone. When I need to work, I'm going to the office. Can't work from home - kids don't distinguish work hours from family hours. Having separate place for work is mental healthy.
I guess it's a matter of education. My kids know when I'm at work; I close my door. Doesn't mean they never bother me, but it's not too bad. When they do, I simply tell them no. My youngest still has a hard time with this, but she's only ~15 months old. You have to be consistent with it, though.
However, my biggest source of interruptions when my door is closed is my wife. I keep telling her to only bother me for "important" things, but we have very different definitions of "important". It's a work in progress and getting better everyday. I've considered renting some office space when I really need to focus, but so far I've been able to get enough done that I don't want to trade the benefits for a little more concentration.
I've been a solo dev for about 7 years now, these are my findings: # Working from home ('free') Working from home is great for about 6 months, then isolation kicks in and the divide between work and relaxing disappears. Given my situation (single, no kids) I quickly become very lonely. A separate in house office helps for a separation between work and not-work, as long as you have the discipline not to use your offic…
So we complained about open offices back in the day, but compared to isolation, most people end up going back to a big open space with humans talking? :)
I have kids, so working at home has some downsides, so I've actually been considering renting office space (or a co-working space) to have a couple days where I'm not around my family to get serious work done. I wouldn't go there every day, just; 3 days/week at most.
Not really. My experience so far is: 1. They're usually too noisy, meaning it's easy to hear the entire floor from any office or seating area located there. This is especially bad with loud sales teams (which quite a few startups will need). 2. The reliability of the infrastructure is poor compared to an office you yourself own/rent. Seriously, in the last WeWork I was in, we had the internet go down for hours twice,…
* The noise levels are crazy, and we're not even in an open office plan. We share a wall with a conference room and I swear they must be made of tissue paper because it feels like 20+ people are in my little 3 person block every other day. The isolation from the other glass offices isn't great either.
* There's a lot of little things I took for granted from my old, cubicled gig, like eating at your desk. I'm a big proponent of actually eating in the break room, but you can't here. They've got hundreds of people per floor, but only a handful of tables, which are of course being used by people working or having impromptu meetings. But you can't bring your food into your office, because anything outside of a cold mayonnaise sandwich is going to stink up your little three person fishbowl to high heaven.
* Our whole building feels weirdly cramped. The kitchen in particular, only has enough room for two folks to stand next to each other at a time. Is someone heating their food while another person gets a glass of water? Congratulation, you better sit down and crack open a book and hope the coffee's still warm when you're able to get to the other side.
* Dogs. I get, I do. I love dogs. Great, furry, lovable little fucks. I don't like having to constantly look underfoot to make sure sure I'm not accidentally stepping on a labradoodle tail that's dangling out into the hallway. I don't like dobermans begging me for food at lunch. I don't like having to fight a golden retriever because I'm trying to get some damn ice and it's real, real curious about what's inside this vibrating box. I don't like having a goddamn chihuahua walk in under my toilet stall door.
* The lighting system in ours is also a nightmare. Too bright when it's on. No memory, you can't set a permanent dim and even if you could this causes it to buzz quite audibly. But the worst part is that it turns on when it detects movement and turns off when it doesn't, with no way to shut this behavior off. I'm usually the first into the office so that first hour... code for a few minutes lights go off take a sip of water lights immediately go on* code for a few minutes lights go off etc, etc, etc.
I will admit I prefer it to exclusively working from home. We tried that and by week 3 the loneliness was overwhelming (though you definitely still feel lonely when the people around you aren't coworkers either.)
Not really. My experience so far is: 1. They're usually too noisy, meaning it's easy to hear the entire floor from any office or seating area located there. This is especially bad with loud sales teams (which quite a few startups will need). 2. The reliability of the infrastructure is poor compared to an office you yourself own/rent. Seriously, in the last WeWork I was in, we had the internet go down for hours twice,…
Amen. I recently started at a WeWork and have had similar experiences. * The noise levels are crazy, and we're not even in an open office plan. We share a wall with a conference room and I swear they must be made of tissue paper because it feels like 20+ people are in my little 3 person block every other day. The isolation from the other glass offices isn't great either. * There's a lot of little things I took for gr…
It also reminded me of another issue (which may or may not be a general WeWork issue). Lifts/elevators. I swear these things are programmed in the least useful ways possible in these buildings, since they seem to think the floor with the reception area is more important than anywhere else in the building. So you'll be on say floor 3, request a lift, notice one's at floor 4, then notice said lift goes to floor 7 first for reasons no one quite knows.
I've been a solo dev for about 7 years now, these are my findings: # Working from home ('free') Working from home is great for about 6 months, then isolation kicks in and the divide between work and relaxing disappears. Given my situation (single, no kids) I quickly become very lonely. A separate in house office helps for a separation between work and not-work, as long as you have the discipline not to use your offic…
I think your specific situation has a HUGE impact on how much you'll enjoy working from home. I'm married, have 4 kids, and I never feel lonely at home. I totally get how a single guy / gal with no kids would, though. I never found any issues with dividing work / life, though. I have a dedicated office, and I believe it's a huge part of it.
They won't LET me get my priorities out of whack. :)