I've been at a remote-first company for nine years now. I'll go back to an office as an absolute last resort. All of the wins the author described just begin to touch the surface of what's available to you. Once you can do your work even slightly asynchronously the quality of life improvements are just too overwhelming to go back.
I hope work from home continues
31–40 of 610 posts
Re: I hope work from home continues
#32Re: I hope work from home continues
#33Those of you who think that remote-work-by-default would be a good thing, can I ask how your companies are handling career progression and collaboration, as well as mentorship of junior developers?
Listen to Adam Savage [1] talk about his early career as a prop-maker. I just don't see how that sort of deep collaboration is possible remotely. As a recent graduate whose first full-time job has been full remote due to the pandemic, I'm terrified that this is going to kill my career progression, not only upwards but also laterally. I just don't have the same opportunities to 1) learn from people or 2) bump into new people as I would if we're all forced to be in the same place.
Re: I hope work from home continues
#34While the cross-pollination of ideas from different teams and departments is lost, along with interesting and serendipitous discussions, I'm also in the boat of hoping I never have to go back to an office. Not having a commute, being able to spend more time with my kids, not eating less-healthy fast-food rather than home-cooked meals, being able to spend my (lunch) breaks working in my garden... I never want to go ba…
You're cross polinating ideas right now! My company has been pushing yammer or some such garbage since it became available. There may finally be a use for it.
Re: I hope work from home continues
#35While the cross-pollination of ideas from different teams and departments is lost, along with interesting and serendipitous discussions, I'm also in the boat of hoping I never have to go back to an office. Not having a commute, being able to spend more time with my kids, not eating less-healthy fast-food rather than home-cooked meals, being able to spend my (lunch) breaks working in my garden... I never want to go ba…
Lucky you. I live in a top-floor apartment so don't have the luxury of a garden and I'm isolated by myself as I live alone. It's not the same for everyone.
Don't mistake pandemic conditions for forever. There is no reason you need to stay permanently isolated and can't get social needs filled somewhere other than an office.
Re: I hope work from home continues
#36Amazon is bringing back their office employees as the default operating mode; citing inefficiencies in the creative process. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/31/amazon-expects-some-employee...
I can't help cynically read that as challenges with management, not the creative process itself.
Can be a combination of management and the technology available. Zoom is great, but I do feel handicapped sometimes during brainstorming sessions.
Re: I hope work from home continues
#37Many people have decided in the last couple of months that it's safe to restart the war on remote working. I think the attacks are likely to get increasingly intense and blunt.
And, as a matter of fact, we now have the proof that remote work is efficient at large scale in our industry. It shatters all the false ideas about loss of productivity, lack of communication. I never communicated as efficiently as now as opposed to when I was in my open space, always disturbed by subjects that did not concern me.
Re: I hope work from home continues
#38Some companies will force return to the office, some companies won’t. Then all the people complaining about one or the other will have to switch employers. There will be some grumbling but then we will get a long-term nonrandomized comparison of remote vs in-office companies.
Re: I hope work from home continues
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lucky you. I live in a top-floor apartment so don't have the luxury of a garden and I'm isolated by myself as I live alone. It's not the same for everyone.
Luck had nothing to do with the choices I made in my career and life.
Luck has something to do with everyone's path, no exceptions.
Intentions and planning matter too, of course.
Re: I hope work from home continues
#40I don't think I have worked in an office this disgusting before in my life, I would have left. I live in a tropical country where people are clean and care about hygiene which probably has a lot to do with it because otherwise you just end up having roaches everywhere. I get the sense people higher in the northern hemisphere get away with a lot of disgusting stuff because they don't get infested with roaches and flies right away.
On the other hand alot of the other points stand