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Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

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Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#101

Post by Cerium »

ketzo wrote: post #13

At the start of the pandemic, I knew I would miss working with people in person, but thought I would be totally great with WFH. Now, I know that I badly need some amount of in-person time with my coworkers on a weekly basis, or I go crazy. It's a motivational thing for me. I thrive on solving problems for and with other people, and there's an "out of sight, out of mind" effect for me over zoom. It's just harder for m…

I have felt some of this. I setup zoom meetings occasionally with coworkers that I used to chat in the hallway with. It is a nice way to keep the connections, and despite the purpose of just shooting the breeze, usually some productive discussion comes out of it.

Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#102

Post by vesinisa »

Trasmatta wrote: post #25
toomanydoubts wrote: post #6

Going to an office to write software is absolutely insane. I like going on fridays and leaving early to drink beer with coworkers.

The absolute absurdity of sitting in an open office, and pretending to program the full 9-5. That's just not how work like this happens. Why do companies pay their developers high salaries, but then tie one hand behind their backs like that. For me? Never again.

My experience is almost exactly contrary.

At home, I get a "guilty" feeling if I don't work 100% effectively for the whole day. At the office, I never felt pressured to "code" the full eight hours, as I could see nobody was doing so (in Slack it seems everyone else is always green/present.)

At the office, I'd fill the day with conversations, lunch and coffee breaks, and other meaningful interactions with other programmers, managers, designers and various other stakeholders.

At home, when I need to take a mental break I just get bored and start procrastinating with the computer. If I go see my family to the other room we talk family business.

I look forward to returning to the office. Immense amounts of information just never get communicated over Slack & Zoom. I feel like working in a dark tunnel for the past 2 years and going.

If I wanted to sharply focus on a specific task for the whole eight hours I could do unlimited remote already pre-Covid. I used this option rarely, as these days could get quite exhausting.

Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#103

Post by alecbz »

toomanydoubts wrote: post #6

Going to an office to write software is absolutely insane. I like going on fridays and leaving early to drink beer with coworkers.

> Going to an office to write software is absolutely insane.

Why?

Writing software, especially in a large organization, is often an inherently social job, just like many others. You often need heads down time to actually get into flow and produce code, but that doesn't mean interaction with others isn't a significant part of it as well.

Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#104

Post by changxi_hn »

derekp7 wrote: post #63
yupper32 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you pretending to program the full 9-5? I like the office and am currently working in the office but I just... get up and leave whenever I want. Come back whenever I want. No need to pretend to work 9-5.

Here's a story that explains this concept. A programmer goes to his manager, presenting a paper with a lengthy problem for the manager to solve. The manager looks over the paper, thinks for a few minutes, then writes down the answer. The employee then tells the manager "What were you doing for the last 5 minutes? It didn't look like you were working at all". The manager responds saying "I was thinking about the probl…

I'm a software manager and this isn't what happens in practice at all. The more comfortable they are, the sloppier and lazy their resulting code as they feel no pressure to take their work seriously. I can, and will, stand behind devs for hours to keep them determined and on-task.

Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#106

Post by dymk »

MattGaiser wrote: post #88
yupper32 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you pretending to program the full 9-5? I like the office and am currently working in the office but I just... get up and leave whenever I want. Come back whenever I want. No need to pretend to work 9-5.

At least in my case, praise has often been given out based on time of work rather than work. I am a hard worker because I send 2AM emails (which I may have scheduled in advance to give that impression).

Does "praise" mean "cash" or "promotion" (and if so, does "promotion" mean "more cash")? If not, why would you care about praise?

Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#107

Post by musesum »

Prior to covid, was coming in a couple hours before everyone else and get most of my coding done before standup. After standup was lunch, so got the camaraderie. When we started WFH, meetings started to drag out longer and longer. It got to the point where I would DM the PM to stop snoring.

Fave work environment was at a co-working space in Bali. No talking allowed in the AirCon room. So, you're around two dozen people whom are intently focused in getting work done. No interruptions and yet high energy. For Human connection, just pop out into the other space, where talking is allowed. Plus, shared lunches or tea throughout the week. Best of both worlds.

Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#108

Post by Trasmatta »

yupper32 wrote: post #43
Trasmatta wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The absolute absurdity of sitting in an open office, and pretending to program the full 9-5. That's just not how work like this happens. Why do companies pay their developers high salaries, but then tie one hand behind their backs like that. For me? Never again.

Why are you pretending to program the full 9-5? I like the office and am currently working in the office but I just... get up and leave whenever I want. Come back whenever I want. No need to pretend to work 9-5.

That's pretty cool you work for a company with a culture that makes that possible. You're probably in the minority when it comes to office workers, though.

> Why are you pretending to program the full 9-5?

I'm not, because I now work from home. Where people value my actual work output, and not the hours I'm sitting in a chair, where my manager can see me.

Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#109

Post by mcorning »

I'm a [graduate] student and developer working from home and doing classes from home. I am without a doubt less engaged in class, and I am completely loving it. I put my headphones on and do chores around my apartment and treat class like a podcast. When discussion or "lab" sections roll around, I pop over to my computer and engage with my friends/classmates for some collaborative social interaction. Especially as a person who is working with code during group sections 98% of the time, it is SO much easier to share what we are doing. The days of 3-4 students crowded around somebody's beat up 2016 Macbook are over, at least for me. Screen share, remote control, and a chat to drop useful links/resources is heaven on earth in comparison. Not to mention, thanks to not needing to make breakfast, eat it, pick out a nice outfit, make my bed, wash the dishes, commute, etc. before class, I am getting more sleep than I can ever remember, because I'm doing all of those mindless tasks during class.

Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#110

Post by JetAlone »

__turbobrew__ wrote: post #32

Where is the option in the poll: “prefer private office with door”?

Agree, definitely. Even working from home, for temporary separation from distractions this is ideal. Rooms are unreasonably expensive and the toll of not partitioning and ensconcing enough people and things with them is steep.
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