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I hope work from home continues

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Re: I hope work from home continues

#211

Post by livueta »

HWR_14 wrote: post #140
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 p…

I like working on a small laptop even when there are multiple large monitors available - probably to do with being a very heavy virtual workspaces + tiling wm user. I also hate sitting at a desk and prefer to flop around whatever couch, recliner, or bit of lawn seems comfortable at the time, and it's harder to do that when you're dragging hardware around. For whatever reasons, I find it way easier to get in the zone working this way.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#212

Post by ghaff »

benrbray wrote: post #122
ghaff wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I think the tough part is that fresh grads will benefit a lot from the senior developers being physically present, but I get the impression that many senior devs will choose not to come to the office unless they are required to. So, I don't think it's as simple as letting people choose when and how often to come to the office. I could see a hybrid 2 days local / 3 days remote model working if physical presence is man…

The challenge with a hybrid model is that you pretty much want housing that has a comfortable private work area and an at least semi-reasonable commute. That's probably fairly doable in a lot of suburban areas but it's harder for an urban office.

That said, I expect this will be quite common and people are probably more willing to have a 90 minute each way commute, say, if they only have to do it once or twice a week. (That's about what I'd be to go into our Boston office. That would be lousy to do most days--as I can attest to from a prior company--but it's not that bad to do once a week especially in the nicer weather.)

Re: I hope work from home continues

#213

Post by standardUser »

The one and only reason I want to stay permanently remote is because I can vacation and work at the same time. It's glorious. I can stay with family or friends for a week and work, or spend a week at a resort in Mexico and work, or stay in a cabin somewhere beautiful and work. Offices are fine, but they aren't usually next to beaches or trails or my loved ones.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#214

Post by sologoub »

tomca32 wrote: post #60
spoonjim wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody’s making you do anything, if your employer forces a return to the office and you don’t like it you can find a new employer.

If the only option to stay remote is to quit then that's the definition of "My employer is making me return to the office".

They are voicing a very US view on the relationship. From my understanding, in EU there are jurisdictions that any concession extracted from employees by employer is effectively done under duress because the employer controls employees livelihood, even if temporarily. Actual reality depends on how desirable your skills are and how good the existing employment is.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#215

Post by splatcollision »

JackFr wrote: post #193
protonimitate wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a hard time wrapping my head around why companies are mandating 100% return to office. Cost issues aside, I've always maintained that the absolute best experience is a hybrid/flexible schedule and location policy. I'm currently full time remote (I'm on the East Coast working for a West Coast company). My previous company had its main office in my current city, but allowed a super flexible choose-where-you-work…

> I have a hard time wrapping my head around why companies are mandating 100% return to office Informal communication, informal collaboration, a culture of apprenticeship. To the extent that the organization values these they are all served much better in person than remote. All companies and all people are different. There isn't a one size fits all. But it's not like there are no benefits to in person.

> Informal communication, informal collaboration, a culture of apprenticeship

You're right of course, those qualities don't naturally occur remotely.

However, and I know I'm slightly taking your use of "culture" out of context, but "Culture" is often code for any number of implicit biases in a workplace. Known or unknown. If you don't fit in, for whatever reason, can you still not be a productive asset in the corporation?

Re: I hope work from home continues

#217

Post by dragonwriter »

HWR_14 wrote: post #140
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 p…

> I wonder the degree to which people enjoy WFH is the same as the degree to which they enjoy working on a laptop.

I hate working on a laptop screen.

OTOH, I like the 34” ultrawide monitor I use at home attached to my dock better the twin 21” widescreens I had in the office, plus I get to use it, rather than a laptop, in the numerous meetings-with-computers, which were held in meeting rooms with in-person work.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#218

Post by shados »

Remote work (at least in industries where it's easy to do) as a norm is likely inevitable at this point and companies that push back against it will likely have to change their stances sooner or later. At least as long as tech workers are in more demand than there is supply. If we have another dotcom crash though, things could flip around.

What I find unfortunate however is how the high level discussion (yes or no on remote work at all) is preventing meaningful debates on how to best do it, and how to be inclusive of all types of people. The old model was that everyone had to have butts in seat even if it didn't work for them. The new model is that everyone will be remove even if THAT doesn't work for them.

"But most companies are giving people a choice!". Not really: the thing about remote is that "one remote, everyone's remote", at least at a team level. As soon as one team member is remote, everyone needs to deal with Meet/Zoom/whatever, conversations all need to happen in front of a screen, you need physical whiteboard alternatives (or at least use devices that project whiteboards), you need to share your screens, you need to be deliberate about all discussions, etc. Some people have real personal issues that makes these things very difficult for them. We're trading one set of challenges for another.

I find that remote works better when everyone's remote in a team, and vice versa for in person. But the counter argument is that talent isn't fungible, making this kind of split impractical.

More importantly, right now it's very hard to have these discussions at all, because any talk about how to optimize for the various preferences/needs is getting pushed back as if remote was a no brainer that's better for 100% of people with no tradeoffs.

Hopefully once people who want to be remote no longer have to be afraid they'll be forced back into the office, we can move on and talk about how to make it better.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#219

Post by r3trohack3r »

cm2012 wrote: post #173
protonimitate wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a hard time wrapping my head around why companies are mandating 100% return to office. Cost issues aside, I've always maintained that the absolute best experience is a hybrid/flexible schedule and location policy. I'm currently full time remote (I'm on the East Coast working for a West Coast company). My previous company had its main office in my current city, but allowed a super flexible choose-where-you-work…

The companies mandating 100% office time are doing so because their particular executive teams are nuts about it. See Netflix.

Netflix is now hiring full time remote for engineering, reporting to the office post COVID is optional.

Source: I’m a full time engineer happily working out of the PHX suburbs.

Personally, I have no intention of returning to the Bay Area.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#220

Post by blunte »

trentnix wrote: post #182
protonimitate wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a hard time wrapping my head around why companies are mandating 100% return to office. Cost issues aside, I've always maintained that the absolute best experience is a hybrid/flexible schedule and location policy. I'm currently full time remote (I'm on the East Coast working for a West Coast company). My previous company had its main office in my current city, but allowed a super flexible choose-where-you-work…

I have a hard time wrapping my head around why companies are mandating 100% return to office. I doubt it lasts, at least in software. Talented people are going to have lots of remote options making it harder to find good people willing to show up for daily cubicle warfare. I was someone who preferred to be in the office every day prior to the pandemic. But after adjusting, I really, really like working from home. Tru…

No you're certainly not the only one. I've found a good way to filter recruiters is to tell them up front, "I will only do full remote with occasional, non-regular office visits."

Once you've tasted freedom...

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