I hope work from home continues • Hacker News Board

Re: I hope work from home continues

#421

Post by Johnny555 » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 5:06 PM UTC

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 - my commute: I cycled into work, and the daily ride was sometimes a grind, in cold or wet weather. And it takes a lot of time

I too used to bike in to work, but since the pandemic, I've replaced that commute ride with riding on my own (which is nicer than the commute was since I can stick to off road paths and not ride the busy roads near work). But now that I'm full time remote, I have another option -- I have a spinning bike, so when the weather is bad, I can ride indoors.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#422

Post by zikzak » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 5:06 PM UTC

folkrav wrote: post #151

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…

> And for the social aspect, weekend or week-long dev retreats are ideal. As much as I appreciate (most of) my coworkers, on nights and weekends I want to close my computer and spend quality time with my family, not see and talk to the same people I am already forced to talk to 35-40h a week. They might be ideal to you, but you're assuming quite a lot about everyone's situations if you think they work for everyone.

I cannot imagine telling my very busy, more stressed than me, top level exec wife that she was on her own for a week so I could bang out some code. She wants me to be successful but that's a little too much to ask.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#423

Post by jonnycomputer » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 5:06 PM UTC

kataklasm wrote: post #285

jonnycomputer wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I created an account solely to reply here. What? How did you get around to such an explicit and unfounded gate-keeping of cycling? Cycling is only 'good' if it has the purpose of commute? Cycling is only 'good' if you have a cheap bicycle? Sorry to be this direct, but this is utter nonsense! I do not have an expensive SUV at home, I don't even own a driver's license, and I don't own a super expensive bike either, but…

Welcome to HN.

In a post complaining about gate-keeping in cycling--that leisure cycling reinforces the idea that there is only kind of cycling that is totally above board, not sketchy--I get criticized for gate keeping. Maybe instead, gear head cyclists should introspect more on their hobby and how it reinforces class barriers.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#424

Post by jonnycomputer » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 5:07 PM UTC

Johnny555 wrote: post #421

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 - my commute: I cycled into work, and the daily ride was sometimes a grind, in cold or wet weather. And it takes a lot of time I too used to bike in to work, but since the pandemic, I've replaced that commute ride with riding on my own (which is nicer than the commute was since I can stick to off road paths and not ride the busy roads near work). But…

I've taken up jogging. Their are some trails nearby, and a highschool running track.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#425

Post by blunte » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 5:09 PM UTC

shard wrote: post #349

blunte wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

That's quite a lot of standing. At what point would you start worrying about varicose veins?

I have a few small spider veins, but I've had them for 10 years already. And since I work from home, I can play James Brown any time I want. You can imagine I get down; I'm not static.

Slightly more seriously, there is no one answer. But in terms of total human history, sitting isn't something we spent a lot of time doing. Sleeping, lying flat, we obviously spend about 1/4 to 1/3 of our time doing. Standing or walking or running surely must be a big portion of the rest. Sitting would only be reserved for when you have the time to "do nothing". That's kind of a new concept. Thusly, I'm not afraid.

For a 50 year old nerd who hasn't exercised in a year, I'm still well above the health and capabilities of a lot of same age people. And when I'm in a good environment with outdoor play areas (mountain biking) or indoor gyms, I'm fit. Aesthetically, losing hair and gaining less elastic skin is much more a concern to me than some tiny purple lines in my ankles or knees :/

Re: I hope work from home continues

#426

Post by ekianjo » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 5:10 PM UTC

protonimitate wrote: post #143

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 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.

Will they though? If some companies don't, that will be a major reason to change jobs for the better employers (who value your flexibility).

Re: I hope work from home continues

#427

Post by chakspak » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 5:10 PM UTC

necrotic_comp wrote: post #367

munificent wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 worry a lot about how this cuts the bottom rungs off the ladder for junior developers. Senior developers can be very productive without frequent access to in-person help, and are valuable enough that they can get work-from-home if they want. But junior developers have more fr…

As much as people don't like it, our current culture of having a video conference open all day with everyone in (breaking out into smaller calls when necessary) brings down the level of "hey, can I ask you a question?" bc we can see if someone is at their desk. I think this is something that would work for more junior people as well, and I'd be happy to break out / share a screen as needed.

Wow, all day? That's a lot!

My team and others have been having "office hours" meetings where everyone is just working, but often the cameras are off, mics are muted most of the time, and we only do it for a few hours a week.

I definitely agree that there is a lot of value in being able to jump in and ask questions in the moment. That's a big benefit of having these calls for us.

Maybe we should try having them more often. :)

Re: I hope work from home continues

#428

Post by csa » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 5:11 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #316

csa wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that was the idea. Most 100% remote places I know of that do retreats typically have them during the week. A weekend retreat would be reserved for an activity that would only happen on a weekend and has buy-in from the team. There seems to be a lot of resistance from remote workers about remote worker retreats happening outside of work hours. Is this actually a thing? I have never heard of it other than the w…

People on my broader distributed team accept that periodic multi-day weekday off-sites are part of the deal. Can't really avoid some weeknights traveling. But, then, all of us normally do a lot of business travel anyway. Periodic F2F is important and there's no way to do it just on company time if everyone isn't in the same location. If someone really can't, they can dial in but that's inevitably not a great experien…

> Can't really avoid some weeknights traveling.

Just curious... does your leadership go out of their way to offer comp time for travel outside of business hours?

For example, they say or strongly suggest that folks who have to travel at night take the next morning off.

I imagine that this may not be common, but it seems like it would generate a lot of goodwill for folks who have to travel.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#429

Post by godelski » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 5:11 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…

I've been to offices in the middle of nowhere deep south that are far better than what you are describing. No, they don't have the free food, comfortable chairs, etc that nice companies in The Bay have, but they do have AC, heating, and drinkable water. What you're describing isn't because you're not in silicon valley, or even California. What you're describing isn't right anywhere. It isn't just life and you shouldn't stand for that kind of abuse.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#430

Post by mywittyname » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 5:11 PM UTC

blunte wrote: post #181

HWR_14 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 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,…

> And often during that walk, with no screens, my brain magically sorts through some problems and gives me new insights.

So many of my breakthroughs happen on walks. Being forced to reconstruct the situation in my head makes me think about the nitty-gritty details in a much more systematic manner.