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The social and economic costs borne by young people without offices

theatlantic.com

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Re: The social and economic costs borne by young people without offices

#11

Post by jankotek »

supernova87a wrote: post #5

WFH has a huge difference in result depending on who you are, when you are (in your career), and where you are in a company (of organization). -- For the budding young developer who can't wait to show ideas to teammates and demonstrate being a go-getter by asking random questions and finding unaddressed issues to innovate on, WFH might be terrible. You're going to schedule time to fortuitously run into the senior per…

》For the working parent whose productivity has been slashed by 50% and stress has gone up by 50% due to parenting obligations, WFH might be terrible.

And working at office with 1 hour drive home, makes those parenting obligations somehow easier?

Re: The social and economic costs borne by young people without offices

#12

Post by downrightmike »

benrbray wrote: post #9

As a recent graduate with an overseas job offer who has been left with no choice but to work remotely until Japan re-opens its borders to foreign workers, this really hits home. My student apartment is not equipped for this lifestyle. I do not have a home office in a sprawling estate in the suburbs on several acres of property where I can enjoy the sounds of nature. I live in a small apartment on a busy street surrou…

You need to track your time and limit all that you put in. I use a spreadsheet that I put the times I start, take lunch, and then it calculates when I need to stop. So if I take a 37 minute lunch, I can set a timer on my phone to go off and remind me. I've also setup a automatic timer to switch on a lamp that starts at roughly an hour before I need to log on and cuts out at lunch. After lunch I turn it back on util I'm off. I only go into work mode with that light on. Simple but effective. Then you have to make other things worth doing, like I'd rather throw a ball for my dog than keep working. Or a hobby that gets you away from the PC, knitting would work and easy to get started.

Re: The social and economic costs borne by young people without offices

#14

Post by benrbray »

frompdx wrote: post #2

This article appears in the October 2020 print edition with the headline “A Cubicle Never Looked So Good.” To be honest, I've never really had a cubicle. Usually just a desk in a bullpin type arrangement. No privacy. Distractions galore. The sound of co-workers flushing the toilets in the restrooms nearby. Nothing to reflect fondly upon in my opinion. If I had wanted or needed a new job, completely changing careers w…

> Overall this feels like yet another hit piece against remote work...I really don't understand why these keep cropping up. Are commercial real-estate conglomerates paying for these?

I appreciate the perspective you shared in the rest of your comment, but was this bit really necessary? Just because someone has had a different experience than you doesn't mean that they're a corporate shill paid to manufacture dissent.

Re: The social and economic costs borne by young people without offices

#15

Post by slavapestov »

supernova87a wrote: post #5

WFH has a huge difference in result depending on who you are, when you are (in your career), and where you are in a company (of organization). -- For the budding young developer who can't wait to show ideas to teammates and demonstrate being a go-getter by asking random questions and finding unaddressed issues to innovate on, WFH might be terrible. You're going to schedule time to fortuitously run into the senior per…

> -- For the developer who works by tickets on very concrete things and this is nothing new, WFH might be great.

You're right, everyone who doesn't live in San Francisco is just mindlessly churning through tickets all day.

Re: The social and economic costs borne by young people without offices

#16

Post by snazz »

slavapestov wrote: post #13

I think people who are opposed to remote work should be honest about what they really want. They're advocating for all tech jobs to be concentrated in a handful of cities (SF, NYC, Seattle), all of which suffer from a housing shortage.

You can dislike WFH while also disliking centralization in a few cities with housing shortages. They’re not mutually exclusive.

Re: The social and economic costs borne by young people without offices

#17

Post by slavapestov »

frompdx wrote: post #2

This article appears in the October 2020 print edition with the headline “A Cubicle Never Looked So Good.” To be honest, I've never really had a cubicle. Usually just a desk in a bullpin type arrangement. No privacy. Distractions galore. The sound of co-workers flushing the toilets in the restrooms nearby. Nothing to reflect fondly upon in my opinion. If I had wanted or needed a new job, completely changing careers w…

> My social interactions really do revolve around my family and long time friends. It's not a large group, but I'm not a social butterfly either. I have a hard enough time keeping up with those social interactions. Who knows, maybe I was born for remote work.

> Overall this feels like yet another hit piece against remote work with a lot of anecdotes and not much else.

I think you've answered your question there. It is an unfortunate aspect of modern society that for many people, work is their only opportunity to socialize with other humans (other than trivial interactions with the cashier at the grocery store, and so on).

Re: The social and economic costs borne by young people without offices

#18

Post by GoodJokes »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #3

Best advice I can give is to have a dedicated space from which to work. This will probably mean you need more space in your home than you did when you went to an office each day. This might also mean that certain real estate situations are no longer viable or are at least less desirable than they used to be. Having roommate or living in a small crowded space can be detrimental to remote work. Leaving a city center wi…

My advice is to have money and buy your way out of it. Cool Cool.

Re: The social and economic costs borne by young people without offices

#19

Post by ianhowson »

jankotek wrote: post #11
supernova87a wrote: post #5

WFH has a huge difference in result depending on who you are, when you are (in your career), and where you are in a company (of organization). -- For the budding young developer who can't wait to show ideas to teammates and demonstrate being a go-getter by asking random questions and finding unaddressed issues to innovate on, WFH might be terrible. You're going to schedule time to fortuitously run into the senior per…

》For the working parent whose productivity has been slashed by 50% and stress has gone up by 50% due to parenting obligations, WFH might be terrible. And working at office with 1 hour drive home, makes those parenting obligations somehow easier?

Yes.

- Small children don't really understand "mummy's working, talk to me instead." Interruptions are death to productivity. Children can't interrupt you if you're not present.

- Most daycares are closed or at reduced capacity.

- Nanny services are harder to find and come with risks.

- Time at the office is time resting from the kids, and time at home is resting from the office. If it's all one place, there is no rest.

My wife and I are finding it easier to alternate childcare instead of try to do everything at once, and being out of the home during the work time gives rest and focus.

Re: The social and economic costs borne by young people without offices

#20

Post by throwaway021331 »

slavapestov wrote: post #13

I think people who are opposed to remote work should be honest about what they really want. They're advocating for all tech jobs to be concentrated in a handful of cities (SF, NYC, Seattle), all of which suffer from a housing shortage.

Being born in SF or in some african village is the biggest predictor of wealth.

This makes borders the most impactful form of discrimination.

Of course a lot of people in wealthy countries are not so happy with remote work (but offshoring cobalt mining is ok)

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