Is this that site that's always wanting my PI to sell off? Whenever I mistakenly click a link to it to see the whole answer? Maybe this will be the death knell.
Quora goes permanently remote-first
201–210 of 268 posts
Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure if you're being dismissive, but that still sounds great. It would lead to many small, livable communities with opportunity dotting the country. As opposed to everyone living in suburbs and and making long commutes to a small number of massive urban centers.
That’s basically the model IBM was actively pursuing in the 90s-00s (no idea whether they still do). They ran a bunch of studies in the previous decades, showing the various trade-offs involved into office locations; eventually they decided the best overall policy was to prefer mid-size offices in suburban settings, away from business districts and other high-density areas. At one point I think they had an outright b…
HQ is in Armonk which is Westchester County. Somers (since sold) and Poughkeepsie are there as well as is IBM Research at Yoktown Heights. Raleigh is in an industrial park (RTP). I'm by no means familiar with all of IBM's locations but, yes, many of them are suburban. IBM also sold their building in Manhattan in the 90s though they may still have some space there; they did when I last visited but that was quite a while ago. Most of the IBM people I work with work remotely.
Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first
#203One interesting aspect of this is that they still explicitly expect "synchronous" work, timezones be damned: > We have initially designated 9am to 3pm Pacific Time as “coordination hours” where most employees will be expected to be available for meetings and impromptu communication, regardless of where they are located. This maps to 6am to 12pm in Hawaii, 12pm to 6pm Eastern Time, 5pm to 11pm in the UK, and 6pm to 12…
> 5pm to 11pm in the UK, and 6pm to 12am across most of Europe
This is completely ridiculous and means abandoning any kind of family or social life. It also means they probably only hire young, single people with no kids. Based on this, they sound like a seriously insensitive and diversity-hostile company.
Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first
#204One interesting aspect of this is that they still explicitly expect "synchronous" work, timezones be damned: > We have initially designated 9am to 3pm Pacific Time as “coordination hours” where most employees will be expected to be available for meetings and impromptu communication, regardless of where they are located. This maps to 6am to 12pm in Hawaii, 12pm to 6pm Eastern Time, 5pm to 11pm in the UK, and 6pm to 12…
European here, and the 6PM-12AM window is the one I feel the most productive in. I guess it will be a big change for a majority of people but I would definitely be interested by this. Moreover when I work, I work, so if the sun is already down I'm ok with it; when it's up I can do all the active parts of my day that are more enjoyable during the day. Still, it's not perfect. I don't think it would be that big of a de…
Same, i do most of my work in those hours (amsterdam), being synced with the US is a nice bonus.
Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know, I don't really personally need "leading by example". That would mean a leading position getting into the details of the code and that's not going to happen. I need clearly defined goals though and freedom to choose technology to achieve them. That is possible remotely the same as in an office, only that in an office costs me time unnecessarily, which is frustrating.
"Leading by example" does not mean a leader doing the same job as you.
OK, that's fair and constructive criticism, I take that! You got a point there.
Now it would be great to know, in what aspects a leading person can act in certain ways, that I can copy while doing my job. It also needs to be things, that I don't already do. That would be even more constructive criticism.
You got a point though, and I will think about what those things could be, that someone in a leading position does, that I could copy as behaviors, that are ethically good and also good for the job.
Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first
#206Their careers web page is already updated to reflect this. They also state remote employees need to be available 9am to 3pm PST and they will be keeping their SV office open: https://www.quora.com/careers They are also hiring a Head of Remote role to manage all of this: https://boards.greenhouse.io/quora/jobs/4774947002
Blows my mind becuase I do not understand how Quora is still around or even generating revenue at all. My first thought when I saw the headline was this is really just about self-preservation and runway extension. Most companies who pivot to a remote first approach are not going to be doing it for altruistic reasons - like being good for their employee health - they're gonna do it merely because it saves money.
I too am surprised to learn Quora still exists "actively" and is even hiring! They almost never come up on any web search, where is their traffic coming from? A little mystery here.
Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first
#207With so many companies going WFH permanently even after COVID, how will this impact Uber/Lyft revenue?
Why do HN cares so much about uber and lyft?
Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first
#208One interesting aspect of this is that they still explicitly expect "synchronous" work, timezones be damned: > We have initially designated 9am to 3pm Pacific Time as “coordination hours” where most employees will be expected to be available for meetings and impromptu communication, regardless of where they are located. This maps to 6am to 12pm in Hawaii, 12pm to 6pm Eastern Time, 5pm to 11pm in the UK, and 6pm to 12…
> 5pm to 11pm in the UK, and 6pm to 12am across most of Europe This is completely ridiculous and means abandoning any kind of family or social life. It also means they probably only hire young, single people with no kids. Based on this, they sound like a seriously insensitive and diversity-hostile company.
> It also means they probably only hire young, single people with no kids.
I worked at a company that did this. It actually attracted a lot of parents who wanted to spend mornings with their kids while their spouse was at work, rather than send them off to childcare.
Just because it doesn’t work for you doesn’t mean it won’t be ideal for someone else. Always good to have options.
Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first
#209What an awful idea; people go to work for the social connection. This feels like another episode of ‘Silicon Valley reinvents management,’ and will likely end in the same way.
I have ~5-6 years of remote work experience, started off as the only remote employee of a company, then was partially remote at my next company, then worked from an office for a local startup, and have been working for a fully distributed company for the past 4 years.
While my 2 years working at a startup in my mid-20s where we would sleep at the office and worked 24/7 did end up producing some of my closest friendships and a relationship with the company and the CEO that is strong to this day, my last few years working at a fully distributed company has also been really social.
We build friendships, we gossip, we argue, we share interesting tidbits about our lives - I don't feel like the social component is lost. It is usually not as strong as when you have to see the other person every day but it is more than enough for most purposes.
Our company also does meetups 3-4 times a year where we all fly to locations like Bali, Mexico, Iceland, US..etc. and spend a week socializing and working together. Remote work does not mean that you are basically a freelancer contracting for a company, there are ways to build strong enough social connections.
Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first
#210One interesting aspect of this is that they still explicitly expect "synchronous" work, timezones be damned: > We have initially designated 9am to 3pm Pacific Time as “coordination hours” where most employees will be expected to be available for meetings and impromptu communication, regardless of where they are located. This maps to 6am to 12pm in Hawaii, 12pm to 6pm Eastern Time, 5pm to 11pm in the UK, and 6pm to 12…
> 5pm to 11pm in the UK, and 6pm to 12am across most of Europe This is completely ridiculous and means abandoning any kind of family or social life. It also means they probably only hire young, single people with no kids. Based on this, they sound like a seriously insensitive and diversity-hostile company.
I think it sounds much more reasonable if you read it as them saying "We suggest you stay within the PST time zone. If you want to live in a different time zone that's fine, but we won't change our core hours for you".