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I hope work from home continues

ryanmercer.com

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Re: I hope work from home continues

#91

What kind of office was this person working in? Having to breathe jet exhaust fumes while suffering through 85 degree indoor temperatures and drinking algae-filled water is nowhere near normal. The company he’s describing is severely broken if everything he’s describing is true. Most of what he describes are not normal office problems. Some of them are even health and safety violations. Working from home will only di…

I worked at a building that was right next to the runway under the flight path for a major international airport. We could wave to people in the windows.

Our AC went out (In las vegas - it gets to 120+ some days in summer) and they brought in portable A/C units that were louder than the planes.

Then they took our bottled water away.

While these issues aren't normal they are out there and they are replicated by employers who don't value the sanity of their workers. Yes I got out of there. Yes I'm working from home now and agree with practically everything on this list. Especially the bathroom.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#92

Those 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 t…

We’ve had several onboarded some right out of college since quarantine started and they are all doing well.

Bumping into people is actually a problem, but career progression is less so, as there is a lot more time for 1-1 mentorship, pairing, etc.

The bumping into people part can be solved though, especially with occasional in person events. We’ve had whole teams not located within our area and have worked with them just fine. Being noticed is also fine - people still give presentations, do launch events, and connect with others through managers, pms, etc.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#93

Those 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 t…

If it's any consolation, I've spent most of my career working remote and I'd say probably the richest experiences I've learned from depended on who and what they were working on WAY more than them being there in person, and those richer experiences didn't really have a hell of a lot of zoom meeting and other distracting nonsense. The communication simply shifts to text based chat with a nice handy record of communica…

I do get the issues with onboarding/mentorship (as well as social) especially right out of school. I suspect that many companies are just trying to do business as usual rather than adapting. It's also worth pointing out that we're talking about remote during a pandemic. In normal times, there's nothing to keep teams from traveling to a location for a week. (Yes, some people have travel issues for various reasons but in general the statement stands.)

Re: I hope work from home continues

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> not eating less-healthy fast-food rather than home-cooked meals Anecdotally, the people I know reluctant to go back to the office have some combination of lovely homes into which they've put care, terrible offices reflecting zero care or empathy and/or introversion, sometimes to the point of social anxiety. (Stark minority in the third, but a life changer for them.) Offices don't have to have terrible meal options.…

Do you live in Silicon Valley? Nice homes cannot be chosen close to work. All homes in the South Bay that aren’t literally falling down are multi-million-dollar. I personally know people who bought a $2.5m home with a rat infestation.

> Do you live in Silicon Valley? Nice homes cannot be chosen close to work.

Nope. Largely for this reason. And when I'm in the Bay Area, I'm strategic about when I travel, to where and for whom.

My point is that the hesitance to go back to the office is not something fundamental. It's rooted in a variety of personal and environmental factors that can and do change. Targeting those factors, directly or indirectly, personally or through policy, has not been a conversation I've heard of.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, good point, I was speaking allegorically and that wasn't clear, sounds like it implied I thought he's cool and thus needs to be come a software engineer. Thank you for clarifying. Please do not try to launder him into FAANG! Passing someone to HR for interviews _certainly_ wouldn't be a way to help a call center worker :)

My point is not that OP doesn’t deserve to work somewhere better, but that his coworkers deserve that as well.

Heartily agree! You're right, my comment wasn't clear, I only addressed the article author rather than noting the workplace is unacceptable for _everyone_ at the workplace :)

Re: I hope work from home continues

#96
Once we do get back to "normal" I wonder how the job market will change for me, someone who switched to remote work prior to the pandemic and have no desire to go back to an office ever again. I've seen companies that have decided to just switch to remote on a permanent basis(or at least become more open to remote workers if the company itself doesn't go full remote) and I've seen lots of people who don't want to go back to the office after their taste of remote work. Will I see a wider variety of opportunities and open positions as more companies offer more remote roles, or will the market for remote work becomes squeezed as people decided they want to find new remote jobs rather than go back to the office. Of course it could also balance out I suppose.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#97
Something I've noticed without formal study is that people my age (college seniors and recent grads) don't like working from home. I was working at a new internship (8 months, starting January 2020) and the initial working from home was draining, unmotivating, and a bit depressing (that's partially due to being alone during the start of the pandemic).

I thought I was in the minority because all of HN and Reddit seemed to love working from home, but as I spoke more to my peers about it, it seems like they didn't like it for the most part either. I believe that people who have families are more likely to prefer working from home because they have more contact with their loved ones, where as a single new grad has less contact with the people they know.

Now, to be fair, I'm a lot more open to remote work now that the pandemic is more handled since I can at least get some human interaction outside of work. If anything, the thought of working remote when I graduate in May is a bit exciting since I'd be able to move every few months for a little while before deciding where to live.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#98
In the fancy offices, the situation is flipped, with the HVAC freezing in the summer and sweltering in the winter. This is actually much worse, because everyone has to dress for the opposite during their commute.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#99
I started working remotely over 10 years ago so I’m biased, but this office environment sounds quite shitty. Ok, that sucks, but it’s not necessarily surprising or uncommon.

But here’s my thing. If you told this person to consider working at a FAANG – forget about pay, at least respect yourself enough to work at a place where you don’t fight for a microwave – I bet they would come back with all manner of reasons that would be below them. Suit yourself then, enjoy your 3 microwaves

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