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Remote work on HN: Who is hiring? – 69% jobs in 2023 are remote

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Re: Remote work on HN: Who is hiring? – 69% jobs in 2023 are remote

#131

Post by JambalayaJim »

wfhBrian wrote: post #29
dimitrios1 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been working full time remote since Sept 2021 (correction, 2020, just before pandemic). It's not even that I don't value the face-to-face conversations and human interaction, I absolutely do. It just doesn't come close to the immense value I gain by WFH. A side benefit: I was able to move closer to my church community, so my "human interaction" need is being fulfilled richer than ever now. (One of the most fru…

> I was able to move closer to my church community, so my "human interaction" need is being fulfilled richer than ever now. This is what the "but you need human interaction" return-to-office crowd doesn't understand. WFH !== Being alone WFH means surrounding yourself with the people you choose to be around. Whether that's your church community, fellow hobbyists, intramural sports teams, the local co-working space, et…

This is a fundamental misunderstanding of what the return-to-office crowd, like myself, wants. Work relationships and personal relationships serve entirely different purposes for me.

I don't want to be working longer hours, or make work a larger part of my life. I don't particularly care if I have "real" friendships with my colleagues outside of work. I have plenty of friends and family that I already have trouble juggling.

What I want is the camaraderie, greater trust, mentorship, professional networks, etc. that comes from working with people during the day in a shared space.

I'm not sitting with a church community or sports team during my 9-5. I've had a couple co-working memberships during the last couple years - most people just go there to sit and work quietly. Maybe you make some small talk here and there. Except for the people working with their colleagues who are also in the co-working space.

Re: Remote work on HN: Who is hiring? – 69% jobs in 2023 are remote

#132

Post by unshavedyak »

ravenstine wrote: post #85
ryneandal wrote: post #5

I've been working remotely for nearly seven years now. I've been able to enjoy all of the typical "firsts" for my youngest two, saved immense amounts of time with no commute, and have been able to pitch in more regarding domestic tasks. I understand and empathize with those that value face-to-face conversations in the office, but for those that don't, remote work is an incredible boon.

There's arguments from both sides of the coin but, though I'm biased having worked remote for almost 5 years now, I think the remote-side usually wins the argument by simply being more reasonable. I see far fewer remote workers claiming that "everyone should work remote" and more in-office workers making sweeping claims that remote reduces creativity, reduces, productivity, or makes people lazy. The anti-remote folks…

Completely agree. I've long believed that society is just "wrong" with the work/life balance these days. Socially i think we could drop to 6h days and life would improve dramatically (just looking at home time, that is) for most people.

For me, just giving up commutes and being able to do some basic chores on breaks or lunch alone brings a ton of this balance back into check. I work 8h but i gained so much "me" time back that it's like working 6h with a commute.

I would give up WFH if needed, but i'd be pushing for 6h days as a trade off. I now feel the added time in my life by not commuting is a massive boon. One that i can't give up. Do i prefer WFH? Yes, i'm on ~8years of it now. But the life that i clawed back by simply not commuting is by far the most valuable thing. One i am never giving up in i have options.

Re: Remote work on HN: Who is hiring? – 69% jobs in 2023 are remote

#134

Post by bamfly »

soseng wrote: post #58
ryneandal wrote: post #5

I've been working remotely for nearly seven years now. I've been able to enjoy all of the typical "firsts" for my youngest two, saved immense amounts of time with no commute, and have been able to pitch in more regarding domestic tasks. I understand and empathize with those that value face-to-face conversations in the office, but for those that don't, remote work is an incredible boon.

Your experience almost exactly mirrors my own. I moved from Boston to the Midwest USA in 2016 and kept working remotely until a RIF in 2019. I found a local job that did require a commute but a few months later, we all became remote. In between, I started a family and had 2 kids who have always interacted with me at home. And I am very thankful for that opportunity that many do not have. Our company has since mandate…

> The current technology is not so adequate in this area yet.. We use google workspaces/chat and meet. I curse it every week..

I think this is the one place AR/VR is almost ready to really help out. "Teleport" your chair to someone else's space while they "draw" on the "whiteboard" to show you things—with their actual body and hands.

Rigs anywhere near good enough to make this non-terrible are gonna be expensive for some time, and maybe don't quite exist yet (but are the one valuable use-case within striking distance of current hardware, I think), sure—but isn't the claim that this kind of interaction is incredibly valuable? Four-figure cost per six-figure worker should be a no brainer, then (unless companies/managers are just bullshitting about that...). And meeting rooms ain't cheap.

Re: Remote work on HN: Who is hiring? – 69% jobs in 2023 are remote

#135

Post by rhaway84773 »

ravenstine wrote: post #85
ryneandal wrote: post #5

I've been working remotely for nearly seven years now. I've been able to enjoy all of the typical "firsts" for my youngest two, saved immense amounts of time with no commute, and have been able to pitch in more regarding domestic tasks. I understand and empathize with those that value face-to-face conversations in the office, but for those that don't, remote work is an incredible boon.

There's arguments from both sides of the coin but, though I'm biased having worked remote for almost 5 years now, I think the remote-side usually wins the argument by simply being more reasonable. I see far fewer remote workers claiming that "everyone should work remote" and more in-office workers making sweeping claims that remote reduces creativity, reduces, productivity, or makes people lazy. The anti-remote folks…

One could easily argue the side that is saying we should stick to the working conditions we had all this while under which most people were hired, and only moved away from as an exception for a global pandemic, now that the pandemic is over.

Reasonableness has a pretty subjective definition in this context.

And even if we could all agree how reasonableness should be defined then it’s still a terrible metric to make a decision by.

Re: Remote work on HN: Who is hiring? – 69% jobs in 2023 are remote

#136

Post by riffraff »

nonethewiser wrote: post #93
ryneandal wrote: post #5

I've been working remotely for nearly seven years now. I've been able to enjoy all of the typical "firsts" for my youngest two, saved immense amounts of time with no commute, and have been able to pitch in more regarding domestic tasks. I understand and empathize with those that value face-to-face conversations in the office, but for those that don't, remote work is an incredible boon.

> I understand and empathize with those that value face-to-face conversations in the office, but for those that don't, remote work is an incredible boon. I value face-to-face time in the office but still prefer remote work and its not even close. It would be nice to have an office very close by and be able to go when I want. But there is nothing good nearby and im not moving.

yeah, I miss lunch with colleagues, but I value not having to change city/country more.

Re: Remote work on HN: Who is hiring? – 69% jobs in 2023 are remote

#137

Post by Scramblejams »

mr_tristan wrote: post #72
ryneandal wrote: post #5

I've been working remotely for nearly seven years now. I've been able to enjoy all of the typical "firsts" for my youngest two, saved immense amounts of time with no commute, and have been able to pitch in more regarding domestic tasks. I understand and empathize with those that value face-to-face conversations in the office, but for those that don't, remote work is an incredible boon.

I'm in a similar boat, working remotely since 2017. I don't even have kids, and just enjoy my local parks with my dogs, my wife, etc. My social interaction tends to not involve work, which I actually think is healthy, and gets me away from the echo chambers I've experienced in major tech hubs. My biggest wish, or obstacle, is finding a team that truly values writing. So many times I've sat in meetings where the discu…

FWIW Amazon emphasizes the importance of good writing. Not so remote anymore, though.

Re: Remote work on HN: Who is hiring? – 69% jobs in 2023 are remote

#138

Post by codyb »

nonethewiser wrote: post #119
hmillison wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I support remote work, but moving out to a rural area is putting yourself at risk if you expect to get high software engineer pay. There’s a lot more competition for remote jobs and you’re also competing with highly qualified candidates in lower cost of living places outside the US.

> you’re also competing with highly qualified candidates in lower cost of living places outside the US. Thats true for anyone in the US. I find it far stranger to work remotely from SF or NY.

I love working remotely in NYC. I love the city, and I love working remotely. Perfect combo.

Re: Remote work on HN: Who is hiring? – 69% jobs in 2023 are remote

#139

Post by bluefishinit »

Aurornis wrote: post #120
bluefishinit wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apparently they had so many problems with remote employees (and their managers!) barely getting any work done This was most likely also happening in the office, it was just masked with the appearance of work in the form of in-person meetings and people zoning out at their desks. When you have a bunch of people in a room together progress grinds to a halt because it becomes completely about performance.

> This was most likely also happening in the office Not in this case. They even had a chart showing the sharp decline in several different metrics when they let people go remote. If you subtracted out the outliers, most of the company was fine going remote. About 20% of people dropped their productivity to a fraction of before, though. Some people can't handle remote work. I think it's time we stopped pretending like…

How were they measuring productivity per employee? I see that bandied about for a lot of RTO arguments, but it's extremely hard if not impossible to do, so it's important to talk about the methodology driving the decision making.

Re: Remote work on HN: Who is hiring? – 69% jobs in 2023 are remote

#140

Post by paulddraper »

ravenstine wrote: post #85
ryneandal wrote: post #5

I've been working remotely for nearly seven years now. I've been able to enjoy all of the typical "firsts" for my youngest two, saved immense amounts of time with no commute, and have been able to pitch in more regarding domestic tasks. I understand and empathize with those that value face-to-face conversations in the office, but for those that don't, remote work is an incredible boon.

There's arguments from both sides of the coin but, though I'm biased having worked remote for almost 5 years now, I think the remote-side usually wins the argument by simply being more reasonable. I see far fewer remote workers claiming that "everyone should work remote" and more in-office workers making sweeping claims that remote reduces creativity, reduces, productivity, or makes people lazy. The anti-remote folks…

That observation has nothing to do with fanaticism; it's intrinsic to the fact that in-office is all or nothing.

If you work in an office but your team is remote, you work remote.

The strategy applies collectively: will the team work face-to-face or not?

No one is justifying commutes because of the kitchen or the view.

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