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Nearly 40% of software engineers will only work remotely

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Re: Nearly 40% of software engineers will only work remotely

#161

Post by newshorts »

dustedcodes wrote: post #81
radu_floricica wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking for children under a certain age is more or less a full time job. Trying to mix it with work is, well, simply a bad decision. Over that age, and if the kids themselves can manage it... sure, it's great. You're there for breaks and emergencies - much better than being absent for the whole day.

I disagree. I work from home as a new dad of a nearly 8 month old girl now. The first 3 months I took off work to be a full time dad, but since then I've returned back to a 4 day work week and when I work Monday to Thursday I am not distracted by my baby girl at all. I have a separate room as an office, if the door is closed then it means no interruptions. My wife is still on maternity leave so she is free to do the…

The honeymoon phase will end man. When they are about one and half or two they will try to find ways to injure themselves nearly every 5 minutes the entire time they are awake.

If you are the person responsible for keeping them safe while working it’s an absolute nightmare.

Re: Nearly 40% of software engineers will only work remotely

#162

Post by devnullbrain »

renewiltord wrote: post #7

Could generate the mess of comments here from ChatGPT but fine, I will do it myself: (100% human made) - Why would I subject myself to a commute? - I like being in the office and talking to my coworkers - You have no social life. I actually have friends unlike you - Managers are twirling their moustaches to make us come in - no it's the company executives trying to justify their office space purchases - actually it's…

It's just a replacement for the continuous complaining about offices we had pre-pandemic

Re: Nearly 40% of software engineers will only work remotely

#163

Post by misja111 »

shrikant wrote: post #84
misja111 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Scandinavia there is free daycare. It works great, gender inequality in the workplace is amongst the lowest in the world. There is no stigma on bringing your kids to the daycare, like in some traditional Western countries; it is actually the opposite, people feel it's good for kids to be with others of their same age. However birth rates are dropping there as much as in all the other rich countries. So the problem…

(I often try and struggle to explain my thoughts on this, but I'll try again.) I keep hearing here in the UK that the reason people aren't having kids is because it's so expensive, and I do what you do -- point people at the stats in Scandinavia where a huge chunk of childcare costs is borne by the state, and yet the birth rates are dropping. My theory on this, and one that I personally felt as well, is that there's…

I think that another part of the explanation is, that most couples who do have kids, only have one or two. That sort of ticks the box for life fulfillment goal 'kids', you don't need to have three or more for that.

Re: Nearly 40% of software engineers will only work remotely

#164

Post by phil21 »

sixstringtheory wrote: post #76
Barrin92 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

throw the nuclear family back into the dumpster where it belongs. The most straightforward answer how two working parents raise a kids is, they don't. At least alone. It takes a village as the proverb goes. If you have your grandparents and your uncles, aunts and other folks around as I was lucky enough to have growing up you're never bored, and they're never bored.

I agree it takes a village, and like you I was lucky to grow up with lots of aunts, uncles, and grandparents around all the time. But I don’t like the idea that it we need a village so both parents of the child can work full time . The first couple years of a kid’s life are formative, and fleeting. Why only spend a small portion of each day together? It takes more than that to form a good bond. Plus, grandparents mig…

> But why don’t any of the aunts and uncles have jobs, while the kid’s parents do, in your hypothetical?

They do. In functional families everyone still works but because you have a dozen+ people to split the "chores" of life with, someone is typically available or can make themselves available at any given time.

It's also a family, so it's not just "aunts and uncles" but everyone from grandparents down to nieces and nephews. Lots of people at different stages of life able to contribute different things. The working-age folks tend to bring in money, and those who aged out or are too young contribute in other ways offloading tasks from those working a standard job.

The American nuclear family unit along with suburbanization in my opinion will destroy the country at a societal level. Thought this for a very long time. Humans are not meant to be isolated efficiency machines.

Re: Nearly 40% of software engineers will only work remotely

#165

Post by realworldperson »

misja111 wrote: post #66
sharemywin wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet if we don't want a massive population decline we need to figure out how to raise kids and have a decent standard of living. Even if there's only one parent in the picture.

In Scandinavia there is free daycare. It works great, gender inequality in the workplace is amongst the lowest in the world. There is no stigma on bringing your kids to the daycare, like in some traditional Western countries; it is actually the opposite, people feel it's good for kids to be with others of their same age. However birth rates are dropping there as much as in all the other rich countries. So the problem…

[dead]

Re: Nearly 40% of software engineers will only work remotely

#166

Post by SCdF »

brynjar wrote: post #138
SCdF wrote: post #133

I have managed to mangle my wrists so much over the years that I now almost exclusively use my computer with voice and an eye tracker. I will never work in an office again, unless the company I work for wants to pay for me to have a private office with a door that closes, and pay to duplicate my home set up (~£1000+). Even then: - it just seems moronic for me to spend my own free time on commuting. So I would also wa…

RSI? Would like to hear more about your home set-up

Yep. So I've been working for about fifteen years, had it from the start, but it just keep on getting worse. So now have migrated to a no keyboard solution, and am working on a no mouse solution.

My setup, software:

- talon (https://talonvoice.com/), basing my configuration on the standard repo (https://github.com/knausj85/knausj_talon/), with some minor modifications. This is how I navigate my whole computer, and runs the voice recognition and eye tracking. This is how I'm typing this right now. There are also a bunch of other little system changes that you need to make (eg, on macOS, disable double space to type a period), which is documented by the community with varying levels of success.

- cursorless (https://www.cursorless.org/), and then vscode. Before this I used Sublime Text for years and years, but cursorless is too good for coding. I know there are some projects on going to port it to different editors, but I haven't massively looked into it.

- vimium extension for web browsing (works in both chrome and firefox). This makes things like clicking links easier with your voice, without having too use an eye tracker all the time.

And then hardware:

- DPA 4488 microphone -> DAD6001 microdot-XLR converter -> Shure X2U USB XLR interface. ~£800. It's a very expensive microphone, but it's what the developer of talon uses (same brand anyway), and since I'm using this for work I want to remove every obstacle to having my voice recognised correctly and quickly

- Tobii Eye Tracker 5. ~£250. This is basically the only game in town. It works well enough but needs a lot of light. It also needs to be physically mounted to a monitor. In theory this means I don't need to use a mouse, but because I have a 34" ultrawide it doesn't work well on the edges, so I have a specific window size and location configured (say "layout mouse") which I could move apps into if I need to.

- At some point soon I want to replace the X2U with something higher quality and more permanent on my desk. Soon!

Re: Nearly 40% of software engineers will only work remotely

#167

Post by forinti »

I spent the pandemic working all kinds of hours, and now management wants people back in the office. It does feel like my effort is not valued, but an ex colleague once said something really interesting: if you are sacrificing yourself to compensate for your company's shortcomings, they will never get fixed.

So if something has to be deployed to production, it now has to be done during normal working hours. I'm not going to commute and still have to turn on the computer when I get home.

Re: Nearly 40% of software engineers will only work remotely

#169

Post by orangepurple »

misja111 wrote: post #163
shrikant wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(I often try and struggle to explain my thoughts on this, but I'll try again.) I keep hearing here in the UK that the reason people aren't having kids is because it's so expensive, and I do what you do -- point people at the stats in Scandinavia where a huge chunk of childcare costs is borne by the state, and yet the birth rates are dropping. My theory on this, and one that I personally felt as well, is that there's…

I think that another part of the explanation is, that most couples who do have kids, only have one or two. That sort of ticks the box for life fulfillment goal 'kids', you don't need to have three or more for that.

The reason most Westerners have only two kids is because they don't have a social support group which can take turns raising the extra children. The practical limit for a two-parent household is two kids if they are of a similar age and one partner is taking care of the kids full time. Beyond two kids you're pretty much going to start having to neglect someone some of the time simply because each kid demands so much attention and there is a limit to how much time you have preparing things for them and mitigating disasters. For three or more kids to work generally you need a stronger family support network which is able and willing to devote time to taking care of your children.

Re: Nearly 40% of software engineers will only work remotely

#170

Post by DigitalSea »

I am in that 40%. During the pandemic when things moved to remote, I sold my suburban home and moved to a regional area. Truth be told, I was already working remotely anyway. I did occasionally go into the office, but everyone found that remote work worked so well, they just decided to give people the option. It's not super regional, but where I am there is no sewerage, so I have a waste treatment plant (a fancy septic tank) and my kids have a yard, everyone is happy. I still have a 1gbps internet connect that is very reliable, phone reception can be spotty, but we love it.

Remote work is not only a way of life now for me, but my household. Our family moved to a new area and while it was a big adjustment for us, everyone is so happy. When we were living in our shoebox of a house, it was nice to be close to the beach and brand name stores, but everyone seems less wound up. The traffic isn't bad, it takes 15 minutes to drive to the town centre which has a reasonable sized shopping centre and nice restaurants. Public transport isn't great, but there is transport.

The best thing of all about working 100% remote is the flexibility. Some days I need to do the school drop off and pick up, I just let my employer know and it's not an issue. Sometimes I'll start earlier to compensate or work through lunch. I never miss packages anymore (I don't miss going to the post office to pick up packages). The postal service doesn't leave everything at your doorstep anymore like they did during the pandemic. If you need to sign, someone has to be home or they're taking it to the post office. I get to eat lunch with my wife, do some chores around the house. Sometimes I will get away from the computer and go out and push the mower to cut the lawn.

If I were to quantify how much we have saved in child care costs, it would be immeasurable. One child costs us $70 per day for childcare. There have been days when my kids have been sick and I was working from home, so I could help out, but also work on my laptop (even if it's beside them). When I finish work, I can go outside and kick a ball with my son. Remote work has been tremendous from a family bonding perspective. If I were working in an office, my kids would only see me on the weekends as I wouldn't get home until it's their bedtime and I would be leaving as they were waking up.

The one thing people need to respect is not everyone wants or can work from home. And I think people on both sides of the fence should have the choice. Obviously, if you're applying at a company that only works remotely, then you waive the right to complain. But, if the company offers both, nobody should be forced one way or the other. Flexibility is now a perk.

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