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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?

#251

Post by ketzo »

achow wrote: post #247
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…

Got the following insights from my younger team members, who are single, new to workforce, new to the city (edit - not in 'home' city). I miss the office for.. - Free and convenient food. - Social chatter & engagement. - Making friends with employees who I don't know and connecting with new employees. - Work life separation (balance). - Proper workstation, climate controlled environment. - Sense of belonging - team o…

Engagement is a good word for what I'm missing. Talking with work people - even if we're not actually talking about work - makes me feel more engaged with my day-to-day tasks.

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

#252

Post by GianFabien »

I get more work done at home and prefer to avoid the commute.

It's always possible to organize regular (weekly?) meetups at convenient locations where you talk shop, thrash out issues and socialize. Even if you rent a conference room in a co-working space or hotel, it is still less costly than maintaining unused office space in a downtown location.

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

#253

Post by ketzo »

wutwutwutwut wrote: post #223
TOMDM wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would probably depend on the role and team culture right? There are good and bad fits for that attitude

When is not wanting to have conversations with colleagues unless there's a prearranged meeting a good fit?

I guess if everyone else feels the same way? It does sound like kind of an all-or-nothing situation, but for the right person, "coworker who is guaranteed to never ever ever bother you" might be kind of nice?

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

#254

Post by ketzo »

JohnBooty wrote: post #211
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. This is extremely situational. When I was in a larger house and had no kids, WFH was an easy way to avoid interruptions. Moving to a smaller house (more expensive city) and having kids flipped the situation around. Avoiding interruptions at home was extrem…

Once Slack becomes the default I’m pinged from every angle all day long. I recently began work on a team that has a brief "culture FAQ" regarding things like Slack messaging norms and expectations. We have an agreement that @'ing/DM'ing is expected to be asynchronous unless you explicitly let the recipient know otherwise - "hey, the server's down" or "hey, I'm blocked on this" etc. (above paragraph edited for clarity…

Our Slack is very similar, but no one's ever laid it out explicitly (at least not to me) - I love that.

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

#257

Post by kilbuz »

twalichiewicz wrote: post #8

I think my views have changed over the course of the pandemic— originally I was thrilled by not having to commute, being comfortable, having an easy way to take a break. Now in 2022 it sort of feels like living at the office, and the lack of separation between the two can be annoying. The flexibility to pick when I want “intense focus” time at the office has been working really well for me. (Thank goodness my company…

Yes, "it's not working from home, it's living at work" is how I feel and how I have heard it expressed.

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

#258

Post by tempestn »

I've worked from home for over a decade now, and would never go back. When I started autotempest ~2008 I assumed that once it evolved into a "real" business we'd eventually need to get an office, but it didn't make sense when it was just me. And then it didn't make sense when it was just me and one other guy. And then... eventually I realized there was no point at which someone was going to make me move to an office! :) You do really need to be intentional about team processes, communication, collaboration, etc. though for it to work. Also on an individual basis I do think it's easier for people with families or roommates. Can be a bit tough working from home while living alone if you don't have many other social outlets. (Especially during a pandemic when it's going to be a lot harder to engage in in-person activities outside of work.)

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

#260

Post by JohnBooty »

ketzo wrote: post #224
JohnBooty wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But man, I miss people. For me, working from home gives me more time to spend with family and friends, so that's been the tradeoff and it has mostly worked. I also get more exercise/sunlight. Even if it's just a walk with the dogs during lunch, or mowing the lawn. Although, it's doubly tough when things aren't good at home. Because during those times, the office provided some solace. But overall it's been positive. H…

Yeah, my work-life balance has been great as a result, and I've been able to spend a lot of time with friends and my partner. So that's something I'm actually very grateful for. But at some point I realized that I really missed work people! I got into software engineering because I love talking about engineering with other really smart engineers. Took me a while to realize that was what was missing.

I've worked at a few companies remotely.

One company was absolutely abysmal. No video chat ever. None. Never saw my coworkers' faces. Who can work like that? Obviously they can, but man that sucked.

Second company was a bit better, but not great. Avoided collaboration and/or video chat pretty strongly but not entirely. Which was weird because when we did do it, everybody was very chatty and they were also good working sessions.

Current company has been great. Strong collaborative culture but they also respect if somebody just needs to focus solo.

I would say that overall this company scratches like, maybe, 80% of my itch as far as being immersed with other engineers (in terms of actual collaborative work, and random tech talk bullshit) is concerned.

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