I used to work from home at a relatively fast paced job (software engineer / trader for a hedge fund) and it really didn't work for me. I needed the face to face communication of an office setting to work at the pace required. I would also be afraid that working from home would disconnect me from things going on at the company and make me seem less essential, more redundant, more likely to be laid off, which DID happen to a person I know who insisted on remote work. I think the remote life works if you are a specialist hired to hammer your personal nail for a company, over and over again without much change to daily requirements, but I think that is a fragile circumstance.
Is going to the office a broken way of working?
21–30 of 468 posts
Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?
#22Been remote for 5+ years and I feel more connected with my co-workers than I did when I worked 9-5 in an office.
How much of the day are you on video calls?
Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
How much of this is fixable though if you could have a normal social calendar? I don't think current circumstances offer a fair comparison.
true but I mean its been a year and a half since the first lockdowns...this kind of seems like it is the new normal, right?
No. It isn't. It will take another six months or a year but things will return to much like they were before. With the exception of the office. I don't think the office will ever be the same
Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?
#24I’m gonna go against the HN grain here and, despite having been fully for remote work for the first year or so of the pandemic, come out and say that life has really gotten a lot more repetitive and frankly disappointing since covid and the death of the office. I kind of miss meeting people in the office. I was in the unfortunate position of having moved to a new city for a new tech job where I knew nobody just seven…
Very similar situation here and I absolutely agree with you. Remote has been tough. My ideal set-up is fully in office with a walkable commute but I don't think it's happening quite yet.
Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?
#25Not going back to the office seems pretty split around age lines to me. Most people in their mid thirties and up want to keep WFH full time. Early thirties is a mix, and then all the ways down from there seems like they want to be back in the office. Of course this isn’t a hard rule but continues to be my observation across a few workplaces and from friends and acquaintances.
Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?
#26All you need to know about requiring work from an office is this: the people selling the supposed benefits of increased collaboration, creativity, and productivity do not themselves work this way. There is no CEO or VC who spends their entire day sitting in a cubicle, even if they have a token one.
Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?
#27By Cal Newport
Who has made a second career out of condescendingly presenting his own opinions as fact.
His blog has always had great material, but as with many bloggers who branch out, the pressures and incentives to pump out vapid contentless thinkpieces increase with success.
Not saying that necessarily applies to TFA, though. But imo it does apply to the somewhat overrated Deep Work.
Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?
#28Well, yes actually.
Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?
#29I’m gonna go against the HN grain here and, despite having been fully for remote work for the first year or so of the pandemic, come out and say that life has really gotten a lot more repetitive and frankly disappointing since covid and the death of the office. I kind of miss meeting people in the office. I was in the unfortunate position of having moved to a new city for a new tech job where I knew nobody just seven…
Working from home during the pandemic is different than working from home during normal times
I had the same feelings working from home full time prior to the pandemic.
The all-company meet ups were the best part about the job(other than the pay I guess).
I actually took a job back with my prior employer with the hopes I could return to an office in some capacity, but we are all remote now. Boo!
Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
The world is broken.
This is unfair. In an uncaring universe, humans have done quite well. The world was never “fixed” for us to break, and it never will be. The fact most of us live in civil societies of any kind is a miracle or the first order. I get frustrated at this nihilism. A quick trip to any point in the part would reveal how truly lucky we are right now, and would inspire us to drag our sorry species even further from the abyss…
Things can be quite far from "the absolute worst" and still be quite far from perfect, too.