Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home? • Hacker News Board

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

#161

Post by ajkjk » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 4:26 AM UTC

One thing that the whole pandemic-induced WFH debate has really proven is this: in every HN post even tangentially related to the subject, everyone will state their strongly-held stance on the matter over and over, shouting into the void.

I do it too (there are a few in my comment history), but I don't quite understand why. It's maybe something like: if I state my stance (wfh, prefer working from office, for the record) then maybe the comment-section-at-large will stop assuming everybody else wants to WFH forever. But it rather feels like the community has a collective neurosis, chanting their opinions on the subject in a loop with no purpose. Perhaps we can do better.

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

#162

Post by _9omd » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 4:28 AM UTC

changxi_hn wrote: post #104

derekp7 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I seriously hope this is sarcasm. The best devs I know are the ones that goof off the most, because they're the ones that know they're good at what they do. The crappy devs are the ones who sit quietly at their desks all day and pretend to get work done. I think you should seriously reconsider your management style.

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

#163

Post by sebastien_b » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 4:28 AM UTC

Our small company went remote-only since well before the pandemic - started out with the engineering crew working from home 2 days a week, to eventually full-time remote, and finally the rest of the employees.

Generally it's worked out well - more flexibility and better work/life balance, but does need adjustment, especially if you have a busy household.

We try to get together for monthly all-hands, and usually try to have some social/team-building activities at the same time (conditions permitting - only remotely during the pandemic).

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

#164

Post by euske » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 4:29 AM UTC

A university teacher. I work from the office for now but without student. I understand the appeal of online classes but man do I miss in-person teaching. In an online class, there's virtually no reaction from students (as most students here prefer to turn the camera off) and I feel like I'm a YouTuber who's constantly talking to an empty camera.

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

#165

Post by bradlys » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 4:29 AM UTC

Dobrila wrote: post #139

paulcole wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I was in the office I would not want to talk to anybody unless we had some prearranged meeting on a specific topic. This is the sort of honesty I’d love to hear when interviewing candidates.

And if a candidate said that, how would that influence your hiring decision?

Personally - I'd not hire that person. Sounds like they're completely inflexible and unable to adapt to constantly changing environments. Maybe really good for maintenance work or something but if you do startups, work on growing products, do major feature work that has a lot of back and forth, etc. Very likely to not do well at any of the jobs I've had.

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

#166

Post by systemali » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 4:29 AM UTC

Commuting to office at odd hours is one drawback and hence, In the current situation that I am in, I prefer WFH !

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

#167

Post by scarby2 » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 4:29 AM UTC

webstrand wrote: post #65

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…

Maybe it depends on how the team is structured. For the team I belonged to, most of our long-term planning was done informally, we were small enough that we could often spontaneously discuss future goals, present problems, and potential solutions. But with the advent of WFH, those discussions no longer happen, and nobody seems to have time or interest in regularly scheduled meetings. But I don't know, I only learned…

> But I don't know, I only learned recently that my own team members had been working around a broken feature that I maintain for over a year without telling me.

I keep getting this happen. Someone wants an improvement/fix to something and just doesn't communicate that, probably because it has to be very intentional now, whereas it used to be something you'd mention over coffee when you saw the right person.

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

#168

Post by erik_seaberg » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 4:30 AM UTC

rektide wrote: post #54

dleslie wrote: post #18

Working from home means I get to see my wife and children for more hours of the day. It also means that I get to choose when I will allow myself to be interrupted, rather than sitting in an open concept office and being _continually_ interrupted. I've been working from home for over six years. I never want to return to the office. I will change careers before I return to a software development office.

> rather than sitting in an open concept office and being _continually_ interrupted. I think of the benefit of the office being the opportunity for continuous partial attention. It affords the ability to be aware of what's going on about you, to learn & see a lot more. But one has to be attentive-ish, have some receptivity, to benefit from this. I feel like I can work without interruption in an office. But it's a ris…

I don’t believe I can write useful software while following someone else’s conversation. Certainly my best work has been after everyone else left and I suddenly realize I’m hungry or thirsty or uncomfortable and haven’t really moved for hours.

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

#169

Post by mdorazio » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 4:31 AM UTC

abap_rocky wrote: post #69

The pandemic really helped me confirm that I prefer the office. I always sought to establish a clear distinction between my work life and home life and the enforced work from home due to COVID has made the two blur to a point now where I feel like I've lost all rhythm. Now living through a pandemic itself has a way of disrupting the rhythm of life but I feel that the collapsing of space into a singular living and wor…

100% agree on the non-separation of "home" and "work" being terrible. It's easy to say "just don't work after 5/6/whatever" but in practice not having a physical separation between "this is where I work" and "this is where I don't work" makes that mental switch damn near impossible. I've ended up working far more hours since the pandemic started than I did previously, and when I'm "done" working, I'm still thinking about work and can't even summon the energy to work on hobbies. I'd love a private office in a co-working space, but as I posted in the "problem you want solved" thread earlier today, those are stupidly priced for individuals. Would love to hear how other people solve this.

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

#170

Post by NAHWheatCracker » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 4:31 AM UTC

Work from home has a huge list of tangible benefits to employees. It seems hard to argue against.

  Less time driving and travel costs.
  Freedom to take a breaks however you please.
  Fewer distractions (YMMV).
  More autonomy.
  Better office equipment (depends).

That said, there's far less camaraderie in my teams with WFH normalized. Initially, people put effort into talking regularly. The effort has evaporated. Now talking only happens for project-related things. There is far less passive "team building".

When we were in the office, there were many random events that I miss.

  Eating lunch with people, often from other departments/projects.
  Free food in the break room.
  Playing MTG with coworkers.
  Playing Smash Bros with coworkers.
  Random hallway discussions.

As a naturally introverted person, I love WFH.

As an introspective person, I think WFH has done hidden damage by enabling my introversion to an extreme degree. However, I think that's more of a strike against my personality than against WFH.