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Over the next year or so, Google will try out new office designs

nytimes.com

31–40 of 189 posts

Re: Over the next year or so, Google will try out new office designs

#31
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. I think as a society, we need to stop fetishizing youth. Not contempt - but tone it down a bit. Kids today have wanton access to internet and technology but aren't any smarter or better at making decisions. One might make an argument that they may be worse. Certainly more prone to group think than generations previous which is good and terrible at the same time.

> Kids today have wanton access to internet and technology but aren't any smarter or better at making decisions. Citation needed, I guess? Teen pregnancies are way down, for example.

That could have as much to do with the contemporary social environment as it does with actual decisionmaking. Sex among youth is down overall - even pre-pandemic, iirc.

Re: Over the next year or so, Google will try out new office designs

#34
I want to see what statistics management are looking at where going into an office is better than the current WFH arraignment. Tech stocks are at all time highs with the current work situation. I'm personally never working full time in an office again. I can only see an office being good for junior engineers.

Re: Over the next year or so, Google will try out new office designs

#35
post #4

> when the company asked a diverse group of consultants — including sociologists who study “Generation Z” and how junior high students socialize and learn — to imagine what future workers would want. Danger Will Robinson Danger! Why would anyone try and make decisions based on the preference of jr. High students. Making decisions based on youth in the most unstable period of their life when they are incredibly hormon…

Why anyone would ask sociologists about how tech work should be done is absolutely beyond me.

Think of it as a specialized systems engineering process, but with people. Sociologists are good at that.

Re: Over the next year or so, Google will try out new office designs

#36
post #18
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Xoogler or not, you still have to go through the leetcode gauntlet, and a bunch of places that would pay you the same are all asking to 'go into the office'. FB, Apple, etc.

I thought FB went permanent remote option. Did that change?

You may be thinking of Twitter.

Re: Over the next year or so, Google will try out new office designs

#37
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. I think as a society, we need to stop fetishizing youth. Not contempt - but tone it down a bit. Kids today have wanton access to internet and technology but aren't any smarter or better at making decisions. One might make an argument that they may be worse. Certainly more prone to group think than generations previous which is good and terrible at the same time.

> Kids today have wanton access to internet and technology but aren't any smarter or better at making decisions. Citation needed, I guess? Teen pregnancies are way down, for example.

You don’t need to be extra smart to use a condom, just not being extra dumb. That’s a very low bar isn’t it?

Re: Over the next year or so, Google will try out new office designs

#39
If top tech companies want to keep attracting top talent, they will have to let people choose where they want to work from. That means being open to remote. Instead of forcing hybrid models - invest in tools and processes that make working from everywhere more productive.

Re: Over the next year or so, Google will try out new office designs

#40

As a Googler, I'm pretty disappointed with this plan and I think many colleagues are as well. The office that's being pitched right now has no resemblance whatsoever to the one we left. I just don't see why someone would go through 1+hr commute just to social distance/wear masks, use balloon walls and hotdesk. By now, many of us have gotten a good setup at home and are pretty productive. Even the hybrid model isn't i…

> By now, many of us have gotten a good setup at home and are pretty productive. It might be okay for people who've been at Google for a while, but it's really not a very good experience for a Noogler. Google's infrastructure, while amazing, is also one-of-a-kind, which means that you need a lot of internal resources to get up to speed on things, which would go much faster from a face to face interaction. It's nightm…

I joined Google in February and I love working remote. Definitely not excited about the prospect of sitting in traffic for 2 hours a day just to wear a mask at work.

I don't work from India, but haven't had much issue with onboarding or access to things.

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