Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I hope work from home continues

ryanmercer.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 610 posts

Re: I hope work from home continues

#241

Post by bitexploder »

duckfang wrote: post #191
dleslie wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. The company I work at has always been remote-only, and I've been at it for over 5 years. We pair new hires, regardless of ability, with a mentor. They have access to a full checklist of on-boarding tasks and an actively maintained Basecamp. Perhaps the key point is that we do not have "hidden" discussions. Even the voice discussions have notes taken and recorded, and planning sessions are done via a recorded Mi…

> We're a flat hierarchy, and we encourage team members to be vocal about what they want to work on. The entire team plans quarterly targets and goals. To be quite sincere, I've heard this before. And it ALWAYS ends like Animal Farm. Some are "more equal" than others, especially if your company has the usual upper management.

I think it works fine for smaller organizations with less than 50 people. It may not work so well with companies that are rapidly going and already stretching their culture to its limits. It still greatly depends on who is running the company, what the goals are, etc. At your average tech company, mentorship and autonomy matter way more than someone assigning you a direct manager that simply checks boxes on some annual review form. I believe in a strong technical leadership model while keeping the "management hierarchy" flat. E.g. having "direct reports" becomes important when you have enough people that upper management can't give someone dedicated time. There are plenty of ways to keep things flatter and not fall into the traps of having a traditional management hierarchy. It simply takes some thought. You can't absolve your organization of needing management by simply declaring yourself "flat", but there are benefits to how agile an organization can be the flatter they can get, IMO.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#242

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

splatcollision wrote: post #215
JackFr wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 corpora…

> but "Culture" is often code for any number of implicit biases in a workplace

I'm old. Tell me about it. I am not a "cultural fit" in companies, these days.

So I am doing my own thing. I'm extremely fortunate, in being able to do this.

I'm also never going into an office, or relocating, again.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#244

Post by nvilcins »

spurdoman77 wrote: post #201
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…

Trust issues. While 80% of employees could be more productive remote, 18% could have serious issues with productivity and 2% might actually turn nefarious while remote (steal company IPR or something like that). Or I would imagine thats what the fear is.

People underestimate how unproductive (or nefarious) one can be in office.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#245

Post by blunte »

gorkemyurt wrote: post #229
blunte wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I much prefer a 4k monitor as my primary, and my laptop below it (open, as a small second screen). Going outside, working just off the laptop, is a definite shift. It usually means less coding, but sometimes it pushes me to be productive in areas I normally neglect (documenting, planning, organizing). To do real development, I am very dependent upon a big monitor. If I travel, I take one or rent one. Honestly though,…

How do you carry your monitor? this has been a problem for me during covid. also there is the work chair problem..

Le Sigh, during COVID I don't go anywhere. Carrying a monitor is not a problem. But when I traveled, many co-working spaces offer halfway decent monitors for rent. And if you're staying for a while, you can buy one locally and honestly just leave it there when you go. We're talking about $200. It's just part of the cost of being a digital nomad (which you totally make up in many other ways).

Oh, but chairs for me are not a problem. I have been a very happy standing-worker for 13 years now. It started with hip and lower back pain in my early 30s, which seemed f'd up, and then some articles by a Mayo Clinic doctor who worked standing and sometimes on a treadmill. Turns out, it was good advice. Now I stand all day - sometimes 18 hours, and don't even notice. (To be clear, you always move a bit, shift your weight, etc.; it's not being a statue.)

Re: I hope work from home continues

#246

Post by ghaff »

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…

It depends on what I'm doing. I do video calls from my desktop as I have all the lighting, microphones, and good webcam set up. And I'll also use the multiple monitors if I need a lot of reference material. But if I'm just writing something or doing email, I'm perfectly happy just working on a laptop and probably do it more than using my desktop.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#247

Post by ajford »

mrweasel wrote: post #172
duckfang wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can’t choose to not care. It's all a matter of priorities. If caring means you lose your job, yeah, you're not gonna care. And losing your job in the USA means: hunger, homelessness, no internet, less chance of being hired with unemployment record, assumption that you did something terrible, low/no medical, etc. For many, especially those whom can't save a nest egg of appreciable value (6 months out of work kin…

Sorry, I meant the company can’t choose to not care. I can certainly understand it from the employees point of view. But even in the US I would assume that companies aren’t just allowed to break the laws regarding work environment. Isn’t there some control visits, some way of reporting a company?

Likely only if/when someone complains to something like OSHA or the local Dept. of Labor. And that follows on whether you can handle looking for a new job.

If your name comes out, you might just loose your job, and most people in that situation aren't going to be able to pursue legal action regarding retaliation or the like unless they get lucky finding the right lawyer. Or, you could potentially cause the company to go under/get shut down (rightly so) which equally leaves you seeking a new job.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#248

Post by throwaway823882 »

I don't understand why more companies don't do remote work as a strategic hiring advantage. I will leave my current job to work for you if I can work remote, and you can pay me less than the going rate in your office's expensive metro area. Why are more companies not picking up on this, unless it's totally irrational on their part?

Re: I hope work from home continues

#249

Post by BurningFrog »

spurdoman77 wrote: post #201
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…

Trust issues. While 80% of employees could be more productive remote, 18% could have serious issues with productivity and 2% might actually turn nefarious while remote (steal company IPR or something like that). Or I would imagine thats what the fear is.

It's pretty easy to get two full time programming jobs and do both remotely.

Being in the office at least ensures you're not in another office.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#250

Post by pottertheotter »

globular-toast wrote: post #109

> Do not have to go to work sick, because they act like you murdered 30 children if you call in sick. > Do not have to be exposed to multiple sick coworkers at any given time. This is a really important one and something that occurred to me recently. Now that we've all established that we can, in fact, work from home just fine, we should at the very, very least stop the ridiculous practice of coming into work sick. P…

The thing that baffled me as I read this point is that the choice set when sick is (a) go to work and work, or (b) stay home and work. What we should be discussing is not working at all when you're sick. Rest and get better.

I can't be the only one that finds this odd?

Post reply on HN