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37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

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Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#361

Post by ethbr0 »

DiggyJohnson wrote: post #311
ethbr0 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd spin this around and cast it as a challenge -- regular, forced interactions with coworkers is minimally sufficient and retards some people from pursuing social activities outside the home. There are already a number of options in even the smallest town. I expect that will increase as more people move to WFH and seek social outlets. And at the end of the day "interacting with coworkers in the break room" is a pret…

Eh, I’m kinda implicated here but I see office interactions as some bare minimum of socialization that, yes, can lead to complacency but does not subtract from the ideal of finding meaningful relationship outside of work. If anything, face to face work helps energize me to be social, and not just with my coworkers. More like a daily practice against Cabin Fever. For some reason, for me, Cabin Fever self-perpetuates.…

I'm approaching this from my own perspective of a fairly serious introvert, and I feel like the biggest skill I've picked up in life is pushing past the introvert wall.

Which is that thing that whispers "Going out will be a hassle. Why not just not?"

Work was one way of forcing past that, but I feel that's analogous to saying "Prison is one way of curing wanderlust." It feels more reasonable to treat the underlying issue than take a bargain that comes with serious negative consequences.

Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#362

Post by glandium »

mprovost wrote: post #272
samarthr1 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good portion of Indian engineers speak good English. Anecdotal evidence only though.

Ironically, if you google "is speak good english grammatically correct" there are a lot of articles debating whether it's ok, or if "speak English well" is better. This is the kind of subtlety that's hard to understand for non-native speakers.

I don't think there's anything grammatically wrong with "speak good English". The difference to me is language register.

Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#364

Post by infamouscow »

hooande wrote: post #207
Adraghast wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I assume that some people are just very lonely and need face to face Anecdata from Hacker News suggests this is true. A lot of lonely young men here freely admit their coworkers are the only people they regularly interact with in-person, and remote work takes that away from them.

This doesn't make sense. There are countless opportunities for social interaction. Join a church, a club, a sports league, a gaming discord. I get that there's a lot of friction involved in joining anything, and many 'lonely young men' don't want to put forth that effort. But it's definitely less total effort than forcing people to come to an office for the purpose of social stimulation. Just measured in terms of tim…

One thing to consider is the tech industry is over represented by neurodivergent people that struggle with social interaction. What you're suggesting is not feasible for everyone.

Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#365

Post by holyyikes »

hooande wrote: post #207
Adraghast wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I assume that some people are just very lonely and need face to face Anecdata from Hacker News suggests this is true. A lot of lonely young men here freely admit their coworkers are the only people they regularly interact with in-person, and remote work takes that away from them.

This doesn't make sense. There are countless opportunities for social interaction. Join a church, a club, a sports league, a gaming discord. I get that there's a lot of friction involved in joining anything, and many 'lonely young men' don't want to put forth that effort. But it's definitely less total effort than forcing people to come to an office for the purpose of social stimulation. Just measured in terms of tim…

No post body was provided.

Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#366

Post by holyyikes »

lbriner wrote: post #72
kreeben wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not?

We are going to have a massive problem with taking on juniors, particularly younger people. Without many people visiting the office, there is a lack of banter, encouragement, confidence building. Imagine you were 16 and your introduction to the world of work was sitting in your own bedroom! Honestly, I don't know how we deal with it unless we create a schedule where there has to be certain people in the office on cer…

Sink or swim. I think it's actually a really good way to weed out do nothings.

Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#367

Post by vkou »

Apocryphon wrote: post #297
vkou wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As much as people want to pretend the pandemic is over, it isn't. No, it's not over, in fact we're at our worst rate of world-wide daily cases since November 2021. Believe me, I'm both a pessimist, and one of the more COVID-cautious people here. But in my region/anywhere I'd like to go, I can, and currently feel comfortable doing just about anything I want[1] - and have been for most of the past year (Sans Omicron…

> ... And yet, I vastly prefer going into work over WFH. Could be just an imbalance between the pre-pandemic world and then two years of the pandemic world. It's quite possible if you had entered WFH when society was normal, there wouldn't be this sharp jolt.

That's certainly a hypothesis, but I can't exactly climb into a time machine and turn back the clock.

I also don't envision how I would have done WFH any differently in a non-pandemic world, from how I do it today.

Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#369

Post by kreeben »

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #346
kreeben wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"What about the juniors" is not a super convincing argument to me since I've been on-boarding them throughout the pandemic but also prior to that, quite successfully, through the use of basic video linking and sharing of screens. Out team is scattered around the world and that has always been the case. What are some other examples of when WFH doesn't work?

They are pointing out "can" vs "should" sure you can onboard them remotely and try to build team cohesion remotely but it's just worse then in person.

In what way is it worse?

Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#370

Post by tapland »

dudul wrote: post #59
tapland wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I miss the casual chatting about all kinds of things and the ritualistic coffee breaks (Sweden) a lot. A lot a lot. I can't afford an apartment with another room for a proper separate office, and wouldn't want to waste that space on a room to separate work and home even if I did.

And you can't afford this apartment because up until 2 years ago everybody was forced to get a place next to the office. You should support remote/distributed work, since it will make it possible to move to the country/small towns and relieve the pressure on difficult housing markets.

And who says I'm against it?

I could buy a house here per year, cash, with a decent US dev salary. It's not the most expensive place. I enjoy living in a city with things around to do without having to travel. But getting 2+ extra rooms solely for us to work remotely? Then we'd have to go for the biggest apartments ever made here. They are not built to house an office on top of living space currently, and personally I enjoy talking to real life people daily.

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