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Is going to the office a broken way of working?

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Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#341

Post by vecinu »

lkrubner wrote: post #232
Ancalagon wrote: post #8

I’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…

I've said this before on Hacker News, and now I wish to repeat, if you live in New York City, I host a once-a-month party, mostly for tech people. Very informal. You can get the vibe from the photos here: http://www.smashcompany.com/philosophy/everyone-was-amazing-... It's simply meant to give people a chance to meet other like minded people. Especially in this era of working-from-home it is too easy to end up feelin…

Very cool, would have loved for this to happen around LA/San Diego. Thanks for setting this up!

Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#342

Post by nuerow »

gwright wrote: post #168
onion2k wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... has pre-existing families/friends to socialize with. It's easy to believe the people you work with are friends to socialize with, but the reality is that most people cut ties with their coworkers as soon as they change job, especially early in your career when you're hopping from one job to another every few years. Those people are temporary friends at best. I recommend doing everything you can to cultivate frien…

> but the reality is that most people cut ties with their coworkers I dislike this type of comment as it presumes that one person's personal experience is "reality" or a reasonable representation of what everyone else has experienced. It assumes that something as complicated as personal relationships can be can be distilled down into some sort of "average" or "normal" protocol and that if your experience doesn't alig…

> I dislike this type of comment as it presumes that one person's personal experience is "reality" or a reasonable representation of what everyone else has experienced.

GP is spot on, though, and there is absolutely no way around it.

Relationships with most coworkers is motivated and defined by work circumstances. The only reason you found yourselves sharing a space and a schedule and experiences is the fact that someone pays you to be there, but otherwise you would be doing something else somewhere else with someone else. More importantly, if any of you switches jobs, your time and focus and sometimes even city or country will change. Even though professional relationships can flourish into personal relationships, the vast majority and the norm is that the only reason you're even aware you exist is that you want that paycheck and consequently you have to deal with each other.

Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#343

Post by nuerow »

rootusrootus wrote: post #188
onion2k wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... has pre-existing families/friends to socialize with. It's easy to believe the people you work with are friends to socialize with, but the reality is that most people cut ties with their coworkers as soon as they change job, especially early in your career when you're hopping from one job to another every few years. Those people are temporary friends at best. I recommend doing everything you can to cultivate frien…

> I recommend doing everything you can to cultivate friendships outside of work. More than half of all my friends outside the office started out as coworkers in the past. And the remainder are almost exclusively people that I met as a result of social activities with these 'original' friends.

> More than half of all my friends outside the office started out as coworkers in the past.

Let's put it this way: how many current and past coworkers do you include in your current social, non-professional group?

Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#344

Post by danenania »

SergeAx wrote: post #183
stefs wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

vaccinated people may carry the virus, but they're a lot less infectious than un-vaccinated.

Is there a scientific research on that matter? How much is "lot less"?

The consensus on this stuff changes quickly so I may be wrong, but my understanding is that vaccinated people can reach peak viral loads that are similar to unvaccinated people, but tend to be infectious for a significantly shorter period of time, making them less contagious overall. I'm not sure exactly how much shorter but I want to say current research points toward ~50%.

Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#345

Post by nuerow »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #319
Ancalagon wrote: post #8

I’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…

To me this is more about work eating life and less about office vs wfh. I just visited Europe this fall and people hang out together practically all the time. Every evening. Families with kids get together and effortlessly spend time while the kids entertain each other. This is the norm. The sense that I don't get enough socialization via work is a serious symptom that I need to nurture real friendships and communiti…

> The sense that I don't get enough socialization via work is a serious symptom that I need to nurture real friendships and communities in life.

This is precisely the take I get from all the comments on how WFH supposedly causes social isolation. WFH causes nothing of the sort: people simply seem to be socially isolated by default but relied on work and office life to fill in their personal socialization void.

I've noticed the same thing regarding health and sedentarism: if you rely on your commute to the office to do any form of physical exercise then you already have a major problem, and what your blaming WFH for is just a problem that was already there to begin with.

People have personal needs, and it's simply not healthy to fool ourselves into believing that office life is the solution to meeting each and all of those personal needs.

Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#346

Post by smoe »

onion2k wrote: post #135
Ancalagon wrote: post #8

I’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…

... has pre-existing families/friends to socialize with. It's easy to believe the people you work with are friends to socialize with, but the reality is that most people cut ties with their coworkers as soon as they change job, especially early in your career when you're hopping from one job to another every few years. Those people are temporary friends at best. I recommend doing everything you can to cultivate frien…

I'm in regular contact with people from almost every job I had in the last 15 years.

Turns out, coworkers are humans and can have the same outside work interest as me. Be that music, board games, cooking, reading, hiking, etc.

Sure, most people from previous work I don't have any contact with. Same is true for most people I met outside work. Friends can come from everywhere, I don't see a reason to pre-filter.

Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#347

Post by kQq9oHeAz6wLLS »

felipellrocha wrote: post #325
sharken wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

France, Germany and Italy have really disappointed with their heavyhanded approach against those that are not vaccinated. With that said, i think many are still a bit cautious after being bombarded with warnings of the Coronavirus for 12 months straight. To me though I'm back to normality and slowly but surely everyone else.

> France, Germany and Italy have really disappointed with their heavyhanded approach against those that are not vaccinated. Disappointed who? The anti-vaxxer community? Good.

Point of clarification, because you're spreading misinformation: being opposed to one specific vaccine type is NOT the same as being an "anti-vaxxer." It will behoove you to be clear on that point.

Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#348

Post by Ancalagon »

lkrubner wrote: post #232
Ancalagon wrote: post #8

I’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…

I've said this before on Hacker News, and now I wish to repeat, if you live in New York City, I host a once-a-month party, mostly for tech people. Very informal. You can get the vibe from the photos here: http://www.smashcompany.com/philosophy/everyone-was-amazing-... It's simply meant to give people a chance to meet other like minded people. Especially in this era of working-from-home it is too easy to end up feelin…

I am in socal for now but I very much appreciate the invitation :)

Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#349

Post by motohagiography »

jdavis703 wrote: post #338
motohagiography wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are good reasons for male-only organizations as well, mainly to do with having something private of their own that men can bring back to their marriages and homes. It provides a social support network for men (literal fraternity), and by extension, their families, where men are not left dependent on their wives for managing their social lives, as is common in many marriages. The lodges still provide a fabric fo…

> There are good reasons for male-only organizations as well, mainly to do with having something private of their own that men can bring back to their marriages and homes. Why must this be male only to be private?

That something is single sex makes it private, yet also less directly exclusive or discriminatory. It's not public, it's a fraternity with membership, which makes it a privilege one earns. So there's a bar. Privacy provides some relief from impertinent people. If one is ideologically opposed to such gatherings, there isn't much to persuade them otherwise, but I suspect having somewhere to go that is free of them is its own reward.

Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#350

Post by nuerow »

tjr225 wrote: post #29
chrismcb wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

> The all-company meet ups were the best part about the job(other than the pay I guess).

To each his own, but all-company meetups are the most god-awful type of event there is. The feigned enthusiasm about company stuff, self-promotions, office politics, elevator pitches, people patting their own backs, etc etc etc. All in all, a colosal waste of time and resources.

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