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Ask HN: Who's sick of remote work?

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Re: Ask HN: Who's sick of remote work?

#71

Post by marcosdumay »

bckr wrote: post #6
Sevii wrote: post #4

Leave your house. Remote work has downsides, but you have the ability to fix them as opposed to the office where your only option is to switch jobs.

Do you mean "leave your house... to work somewhere else"? If so, that's sort of an option. But at that point, I might as well be working with my coworkers. If you mean "leave your house... outside work hours", this is also becoming more and more possible, yet most of my waking hours are part of my workday.

Do "work hours" apply? If so, yes, outside of them.

Leave your house to exercise, to do some task, to just see people going around. Do not stay all your time outside of work alone, go somewhere where there are people, and meet them. It doesn't need to be every day, but often enough.

Re: Ask HN: Who's sick of remote work?

#72

Post by kurko »

elektor wrote: post #50

The only thing I miss about being in the office is the ability to read faces. I’m a pretty anxious person and tend to read too much into short emails/Teams message, wrongly assuming someone is upset with me.

This is an important point. Being able to give the benefit of the doubt is critical in an environment where trust is so vital. Team meetings/retreats are essential for that because it gives you more context about how people tend to react IRL, and when reading text it becomes more chill because you know who's on the other side.

Re: Ask HN: Who's sick of remote work?

#74

Post by joezydeco »

atlgator wrote: post #18

Remote work doesn't mean stuck in your basement. Go work from Starbucks, spend a day at WeWork or other shared office space, apply as a non-degree seeking student at the nearest university and hang out on campus. The world is your oyster, provided you can keep normal business hours.

The folks at Starbucks are gonna be really pissed if I haul my entire lab bench into their store for the day.

Re: Ask HN: Who's sick of remote work?

#75

Post by morphle »

I've always been working remote since age 7. Until I did an ISP startup, now I had 10 people in an office. I only went there twice a month, I kept working at home. So I built the datacenter in my home.

I crave long periodes of wild camping in Nature. So I finally changed my work around so I can work remotely from my wild camping sites for the rest of my life. It is even cheaper than working from home.

I now sell remote work houses and mobile tiny houses on trailers and trucks in nature in the Mediterranean and Southern US. With 1 Gbps internet and backups, full off-grid solar energy and water recycling. With or without acres of land for €1/$1 per m2. Less than $50K for everything. Some things are harder, like 4WD harddisk backup (I have to stay put for the backup to finished or the head vibrations will crash the disk) and outside big screen sunlight glare.

The hardest part of working remote is finding cofounders to apply to YC with me. As you have to get to know them through video chat, it takes up the mayority of my time.

Re: Ask HN: Who's sick of remote work?

#76

Post by oraphalous »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #61
oraphalous wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah - I have been pretty slack with my social life over the past two years with the pandemic and a lot of friends moving away as well. But I still wouldn't trade remote work for the world. I can get a climb in at my local gym in the morning and a swim in the afternoon - with plenty of time left to cook n clean and some quality time with the missus. edit - also my home desktop is just awesome... 12k of total pixels a…

Sounds like a nice home office. The only thing I'd change would be to get 6 more monitors so you can play Tic Tac Toe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK76j8sdVaw

Re: Ask HN: Who's sick of remote work?

#77

Post by eric4smith »

It takes discipline.

You have to love your work.

And that, my friends, is why many people will not be able to remote work. All the stories you read in the comments here so far are for people who really love their jobs. You can feel it in every word that's lovingly typed. Families. Spouses. Nature. Inspiration. etc.

But for many people who absolutely don't like their jobs (most people), remote work is not a panacea. Without the structure and discipline of the office, they cannot and will not cope. And that's the dirty little secret of remote work.

For every person who sings the praises of remote work. There are 10 people who slack off with Netflix, YouTube, friends, etc. during work from home.

Lets keep it 100 guys.

Re: Ask HN: Who's sick of remote work?

#78

Post by mFixman »

I thought I was sick of remote work until I tried going back to the office.

Here's what I had forgotten:

1. Foul air in unnecessary air-tight buildings without a single open window.

2. Time wasted in making people believe you are working when you cannot work.

3. Blinding bright lights on at full power the entire day.

4. So much noise.

The pandemic made me lose my ability to not be miserable in an office, and I think I'm better without it.

Re: Ask HN: Who's sick of remote work?

#79

Post by conductr »

BoysenberryPi wrote: post #5

I think what's really happening here is that most people, especially older men, are realizing how much of their social life is tied to work and going to the office. My advice is to get some hobbies, make some friends, join some groups. Even if you aren't willing to go out, finding groups and chatting online in a voice or video call is probably better than just sitting in your home alone.

This is the solution but the pandemic crippled it's practicality as a huge census shifted to WFH. It's been 2 years now and even in Texas, which has aggressively "reopened", most social stuff has been slow to come back and quick to be paused. I dine out a lot but pretty much with a small family circle these days, minimal work meals & entertainment.

Re: Ask HN: Who's sick of remote work?

#80

Post by lamontcg »

mFixman wrote: post #78

I thought I was sick of remote work until I tried going back to the office. Here's what I had forgotten: 1. Foul air in unnecessary air-tight buildings without a single open window. 2. Time wasted in making people believe you are working when you cannot work. 3. Blinding bright lights on at full power the entire day. 4. So much noise. The pandemic made me lose my ability to not be miserable in an office, and I think…

After a decade of research showing they impair productivity, an Open Office Plan is just insulting to my intelligence at this point.
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