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Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

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Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#421

Post by ghaff »

riffraff wrote: post #325
house9-2 wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working remotely does not stop collaboration. I have been working primarily remote for the past 12 years. I meet with my team every day for standup and am in constant contact with team members throughout the day, sometimes pair programming or helping to debug issues. This is not much different than working in a colocated situation, except my coworkers don't have to smell my B.O. The tooling available these days makes…

As another person remote for 12 years exactly, I agree that nowadays we have nice tools, but some things are still better in person. For example, walking to a whiteboard and sketching something is easier than doing the same in zoom, unless everyone in the team owns a wacom tablet, and even then, physical "big visible charts" generally work better than online ones. I think the trade off is in favour of remote, for me,…

I've come around to thinking that regular shared docs work fine for most purposes (or even better than whiteboards). But to the degree that whiteboards really do matter, just give everyone whatever is the appropriate tablet and set up the software. The cost is trivial in the scheme of things. (I actually don't care for tablets that aren't an LCD screen. You don't get the direct feedback.)

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#422

Post by [deleted] »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #29

I've been 100% remote and run remote teams since 2014 and I promise that it won't stick for the broader society. Here's why: 1. Socializing is the primary activity that happens at work for the vast majority of workers. The gal or guy coming by your desk to "check in" or "see how your weekend was" etc... is literally where they find their social outlets and personal connections. 2. Managers like to be able to watch th…

[deleted]

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#424

Post by dudeman13 »

icedchocolate wrote: post #376
nilkn wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if your company is purely remote Pure remote companies are likely to be rare. But we may see a proliferation of hybrid companies that maintain office spaces but allow certain roles to work remotely most of the time. I think your analysis here is one-sided and is ignoring all the major problems with 100%-work-in-office cultures. Housing costs are absolutely out of control in major urban centers, and newcomers are sa…

The commenter wasn’t talking about all people having to work at the office all of the time, merely that fully remote was not good and not favoured by young engineers. And he was spot on. I’m a young engineer in my 20s and if I don’t get in-person training soon (I started over a year ago and haven’t gotten any since we’ve been remote the entire time), I’m going to quit and go elsewhere. This is in spite of working in…

Seems like a problem with your team instead of a remove vs non-remote thing.

I'm a young programmer in my 20s and I get plenty of training working remotely.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#425

Post by joelbluminator »

jjav wrote: post #298
toomanybeersies wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My productivity probably doubled when I moved to remote working last year. In the morning, I don't need to commute an hour to the office, giving me an extra hour of sleep. My workspace is also superior to what I'd ever get in the office. But the biggest boost in my productivity has come from the lack of distractions when working from home. If I'm trying to focus on something, I can set my status as busy and mute noti…

> My workspace is also superior to what I'd ever get in the office. An interesting factor is how this is dependent on how confident we can be to continue WFH. Like many people, I'm nowhere near prepared to have a good home office, the house is way too tiny. Which was fine when I didn't WFH more than a few days a month. But I could easily solve that by moving to a cheaper area where I could get a house with enough spa…

I think we can safely assume a sizable percentage will allow WFH. I mean Facebook, Twitter etc already said this will go beyond covid, and many others will follow. But of course not everyone will be 100% WFH, many will do a combination probably.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#426

Post by throwaway3699 »

ameister14 wrote: post #389
icedchocolate wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The commenter wasn’t talking about all people having to work at the office all of the time, merely that fully remote was not good and not favoured by young engineers. And he was spot on. I’m a young engineer in my 20s and if I don’t get in-person training soon (I started over a year ago and haven’t gotten any since we’ve been remote the entire time), I’m going to quit and go elsewhere. This is in spite of working in…

The way you put it, it sounds like you're working with the best possible team you can - why would you be sacrificing your career to stay? Wouldn't it be the other way around? Sacrificing your career for social contact?

Social contact is essential to the development of one's career.

And to be honest, this might be a personal thing, but if a job isn't worth being in person for, then it's not worth pursuing at all. I know I'd much rather be with a few friends hacking projects together for pennies on the dollar than making 200k remote.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#427

Post by rhodysurf »

Barrin92 wrote: post #196
terrencewells wrote: post #169

To those who prefer returning to office due to feeling isolated. Do you think your preferences could be influenced by the pandemic as well? Have you thought about how WFH could feel different with normal freedoms that come with a world without COVID-19?

I've done work from home pre-covid. Absolutely hated it after a month. My sleep schedule drifts off, I don't get to see coworkers, had to spent way too much time around relatives etc, I felt like I was trapped in that cabin from The Shining. It's just way harder to organise going out for a drink after work if you're already at home. If you're in the office and it's a 10 min walk to the bar you just go. There's absolu…

Counterpoint. If you set string routines and boundaries, your first point is no longer valid. The only reason your sleep schedule drifts is due to having no hard routine, which you can create for yourself. For instance, I have always walked my dog fir 45 minutes before work and 45 mins right after work even pre covid. So I still have that routine start that forces me to not to let my sleep schedule bleed or work to bleed into my free time

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#428

Post by ghaff »

wpietri wrote: post #201
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #29

I've been 100% remote and run remote teams since 2014 and I promise that it won't stick for the broader society. Here's why: 1. Socializing is the primary activity that happens at work for the vast majority of workers. The gal or guy coming by your desk to "check in" or "see how your weekend was" etc... is literally where they find their social outlets and personal connections. 2. Managers like to be able to watch th…

I'm not sure the numbers agree with you. Check out this recent survey: https://www.livecareer.com/resources/careers/planning/is-rem... In particular, scroll 3/4ths of the way down to the "Remote Work Prospects and Employees' Expectations" section. 61% of now-remote workers say they want to stay remote. 29% say they'll quit their jobs it they're forced to go back. And few want to go back 5 days per week. A year ago, I…

Defaults are powerful. If I look at my journey to essentially 100% remote... I was already traveling a lot and working at home some days. Then I badly broke my foot and started working almost entirely from home and I never went back in that job. When I started a new one about 10 years ago, I went in more but I started traveling more and just went in less and less especially as there were fewer people I worked with around the office.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#429

Post by dcolkitt »

anonytrary wrote: post #292

This is ironic coming from Stanford, who is currently fucking up every single aspect of their handling of covid, as many Stanford students will attest to. Colleges are basically scammers at this point. The whole benefit of going to college is being able to meet like-minded smart, young people like yourself. Remote college isn't a thing and never will be. College is about people, as much as it is about learning. The u…

> You might attract older folks, but you know you want young talent.

This seems silly. Why would any company prefer workers with less experience.

If anything, I think you’ve got the causation backwards. Hot startups are full of young engineers, because they need to be located in dense metro hubs of talent. These areas heavily skew young, because people with families flee HCoL areas. The competitive advantage of a 25 year old is their willingness to live in a studio apartment.

Now that the we’ve built the technology and culture for fully remote companies, this calculus no longer applies. You can assemble a team of people on a globally unconstrained talent pool. Frankly, there’s no reason to expect a startup filled with 25 year olds to outcompete one with ten times the cumulative experience.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#430

Post by yarky »

anonytrary wrote: post #292

This is ironic coming from Stanford, who is currently fucking up every single aspect of their handling of covid, as many Stanford students will attest to. Colleges are basically scammers at this point. The whole benefit of going to college is being able to meet like-minded smart, young people like yourself. Remote college isn't a thing and never will be. College is about people, as much as it is about learning. The u…

Indeed, cubicles make no sense. Being able to work remotely is a competitive advantage and those for whom the physical office is a must will have to fight hard for it.
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