I hope work from home continues • Hacker News Board

Re: I hope work from home continues

#131

Post by jjice » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:33 PM UTC

randomopining wrote: post #106

Being in an office is useless unless you: -Need to synthesize lots of stuff daily -Truly enjoy being around your coworkers -Have a terrible homeworking environment If you just have jiras and you sit down, drink some coffee, music, code, chat people once every few hours to ask about something... it's useless lol. Think of all the wasted energy going to and from the office, to do the same thing but less efficiently. So…

I personally really like the chatting with coworkers and I find it helps refresh me between tasks at work. It's hard to replicate "water-cooler" or "coffee-maker" talk remotely, but I imagine a lot of people don't feel the same way.

That's actually something I'd love to see. A good way to replicate water-cooler talk remotely. I don't see a good way to do it initially, but I'm interested in the idea.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#132

Post by whateveracct » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:33 PM UTC

spoonjim wrote: post #55

chrisseaton wrote: post #2

Many 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.

There are already employers committing to supporting remote. If your company isn’t one of them, and you need it, change employers. Frankly I want not only to go back to the office but also to not have to work with remote people, so I hope my employer does not allow remote and all of the hardcore WFHers leave the company.

vote with your butt!

they can't make you put your butt in a seat!

Re: I hope work from home continues

#133

Post by peytn » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:33 PM UTC

Working from home means setting boundaries at home. I don’t want to set those boundaries at home.

I’d rather set those boundaries in a workplace. Maybe it’s sometimes hard to set those boundaries in the workplace, but to me it feels like the appropriate place. My home is not, and will never be, an office.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#134

Post by jonnycomputer » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:33 PM UTC

hiq wrote: post #84

jonnycomputer wrote: post #45

Things I miss: - interacting with my colleagues, going out to lunch - the very high-speed and reliability of being on the network wire - dedicated work-space outside of my home where home-chores don't press on my mind while I'm trying to work - my commute: I cycled into work, and the daily exercise was great - a clearer separation of work and home life Things I don't miss: - interacting with my colleagues, when i don…

> - my commute: I cycled into work, and the daily exercise was great This one is not like the others, it's completely up to you to have a bike ride e.g. at lunch time around the block when you WFH.

Oh, you're right. But when you have to cycle to get to work whether you want to or not, its easier to get that exercise in.

I'm not a leisure cyclist. I don't dress up in spandex and ride an expensive bike. In fact, I have difficulty containing my derision for leisure cyclists. I know that the equipment they use has utility, but it also signals: I don't have to ride a bike. I have an expensive SUV at home, and I didn't lose my drivers license to a DUI.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#135

Post by thrower123 » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:33 PM UTC

The only real advantage of going back to the office would be getting away from the wife, who has also been working from home for the past year, once in a while. On the whole, it's still better to just say "Honey, I'm going to the grocery store/Home Depot/Tractor Supply" when I need to get away and get out from under thumb.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#136

Post by hedora » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:34 PM UTC

ryanmercer wrote: post #74

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #12

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…

>What kind of office was this person working in? An office on the property of an international airport. Our maintenance hanger happens to be behind our parking lot and immediately on the other side of it is an active runway. If you work at an airport, not in the terminals, you get used to smelling aviation fuel/jet exhaust. As far as the indoor temperatures, it's a leased building and the HVAC is just inadequate (my…

The jet fume exposure isn’t legal. Many people in your office will end up dying of cancer because of it. Call OSHA. Consider quitting anyway.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#137

Post by NikolaNovak » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:34 PM UTC

mikece wrote: post #24

benbristow wrote: post #11

Earlier 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.

Oooh BOOOOY is that a self-unaware statement :->

While I will give full marks for your agency and initiative if appropriate, to think ANY of us (myself and all of us included) don't have a large amount of probability/luck/circumstance involved is hilarious.

Heck, I'm a refugee from a civil-war country who came to Canada with literally nothing but a loan for the ticket; I could try to make the claim that I "made it on my own". Yet though I've certainly put in an effort, I'm extremely lucky compared to those who couldn't leave, didn't speak the language, don't have the skillset or capability, don't look or behave in career-enhancing ways, haven't been picked up by mentors and coaches, haven't moved to a country which accepts new people, with educational and business framework that's conducive to advances, haven't found or been given the same opportunities, etc. I've certainly had bad luck and obstacles and negative externalities, but I could spend all day counting things that went well too!

I mean, I agree that I don't want to necessarily go back to the office; but it's with full view of how lucky & privileged I am. Even on very granular level, even with decisions I've made and career I've chosen and skillset I've developed - I have colleagues with same skillset and position and broadly similar projects, which have not switched to remote nearly as much as my project has. That alone is luck/circumstance/beyond my control.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#138

Post by chasd00 » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:34 PM UTC

l-p wrote: post #58

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #12

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…

> Having to breathe jet exhaust fumes while suffering through 85 degree indoor temperatures and drinking algae-filled water is nowhere near normal. I was told to suck it up and do at least 50+ hours (35h paid) when working at temps over 42c (110f). Both are illegal here, they don't care, they will always find a poor sucker in a dire situation needing the job.

even in Texas this situation would be a phone call away from getting addressed.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#139

Post by p_j_w » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:35 PM UTC

mikece wrote: post #6

While 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…

While I'm sure there's some kernel of truth to the benefits of chit chatting about random stuff and coming up with better ideas through that, until I see some evidence that in-office work provides this to a substantial degree, I have a hard time believing it's as beneficial as it's made out to be. What it actually feels like is a hand wavy attempt for some old people in management to try to justify them holding onto their outdated ways.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#140

Post by HWR_14 » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:35 PM UTC

blunte wrote: post #64

Wow, the author has a pretty miserable company :(. That said, I share most of the opinions even though I quite like the office environment of my company. I abso-fking-love choosing where I work (and to some degree, when). Being able to take my laptop and go sit under a canopy in my back yard when the weather is nice, seeing my rabbits hopping around the yard, my cats avoiding the aggressive she-rabbit, hearing the bi…

I'm thrown by people working on a laptop. Do you have a battery powered second screen? Is there some workflow tips I should adopt to make it work better?

I'm quite jealous of people who can work on laptops.

I wonder the degree to which people enjoy WFH is the same as the degree to which they enjoy working on a laptop. Even the people I know with a dedicated room for work set up want to go back to the office if they prefer multiple monitors.