Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 74 posts

Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#41

Post by cmatteri »

timcederman wrote: post #35
11001 wrote: post #2

A somewhat related question: I'm about to start a job at a company with "open office" structure, after having my own office for the last 4 years. Anything I should be prepared for? EDIT: Any headphones suggestions?

Bose QC-15. Pricey, but worth it.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the comfort (for extended use in an office) and effectiveness of the QC-20 vs the QC-15. It seems the QC-20 is better on both counts, despite its in ear design. One downside to the QC-20 is that he battery isn't replaceable, but I plan to use them plugged in, so they should still work even when the battery can't hold much charge.

Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#42

Post by acomjean »

icpmacdo wrote: post #28
colinloretz wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Check out the various levels of headphones on The Wirecutter. http://thewirecutter.com/leaderboard/headphones/ I use the Sony MDR-7506 which are rated as the best $150 Over Ear Headphones (actually $90ish on Amazon) and they are very popular with audio pros. Not noise canceling but they are comfortable enough for wearing all day and if you're listening to something, you don't have sound leaking in or out.

I have them also, you might want to look to get some replacement ear pads http://www.amazon.com/Beyerdynamic-Velour-Earcushions-MDR750...

I have the twin headphone Sony-MDRV6. They are awesome, but suffer from the same earpad issue. I've had them for 10 years now (yikes).

The earpads will go and start flaking (for me after 5 years). They are easy to replace though.

Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#43

Post by chaddeshon »

colinloretz wrote: post #25
11001 wrote: post #2

A somewhat related question: I'm about to start a job at a company with "open office" structure, after having my own office for the last 4 years. Anything I should be prepared for? EDIT: Any headphones suggestions?

Check out the various levels of headphones on The Wirecutter. http://thewirecutter.com/leaderboard/headphones/ I use the Sony MDR-7506 which are rated as the best $150 Over Ear Headphones (actually $90ish on Amazon) and they are very popular with audio pros. Not noise canceling but they are comfortable enough for wearing all day and if you're listening to something, you don't have sound leaking in or out.

Yes. These are great. By far the best I have used. Better than many that are way more expensive.

Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#44

Post by swah »

lfuller wrote: post #38

A bit off topic, but does anyone here prefer / not mind open office plans? As someone who prefers open office plans to private offices / cubicles, I've always wondered if the large number of anti-open-plan articles are because that opinion is the majority, or because it is the loud minority.

The majority probably never tried "offices w/ doors", so we can just imagine thats much better :)

Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#45

Post by swah »

11001 wrote: post #2

A somewhat related question: I'm about to start a job at a company with "open office" structure, after having my own office for the last 4 years. Anything I should be prepared for? EDIT: Any headphones suggestions?

Marco Arment recently posted this "mega review" of closed headphones http://www.marco.org/headphones-closed-portable

I use the HF5 IEM which isolates perfectly with music/noise playing, but there is a problem: people talk to me as if I could listen to them :(

I think that wouldn't happen if I had a big ass headphone.

Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#46

Post by swah »

walshemj wrote: post #11
11001 wrote: post #2

A somewhat related question: I'm about to start a job at a company with "open office" structure, after having my own office for the last 4 years. Anything I should be prepared for? EDIT: Any headphones suggestions?

More Distractions - get a good pair of headphones some people swear by those noise cancelling ones.

Parent probably talking about Bose QC-15 mythical noise cancelling headphones. Some people say their build quality is meh, which prevented me from buying them.

Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#47

Post by craigyk »

lfuller wrote: post #38

A bit off topic, but does anyone here prefer / not mind open office plans? As someone who prefers open office plans to private offices / cubicles, I've always wondered if the large number of anti-open-plan articles are because that opinion is the majority, or because it is the loud minority.

I think having your own private "home" space, with access to a shared area for collaboration beats dumping everyone in an open space with the private spaces for occasional use.

I've been in both, and typically if you are getting great benefit from being in an open space that is not coming free, but at the cost of someone else's productivity. A lot of times there is still a net benefit, but one should be aware that co-workers might get really distracted when they want to "get things done".

Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#48

Post by bentlegen »

hnriot wrote: post #20

What I find is that the people that work for me are much more distracted by FB and the plethora of other web distractions than other developers.

^This. Note that we're all commenting on HN right now complaining about how open offices destroy our productivity.

Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#50

Post by xanderstrike »

lfuller wrote: post #38

A bit off topic, but does anyone here prefer / not mind open office plans? As someone who prefers open office plans to private offices / cubicles, I've always wondered if the large number of anti-open-plan articles are because that opinion is the majority, or because it is the loud minority.

I've had both, and in the open plan I find I have my headphones in so much that I might as well be working on my own private island. I'd rather have my own quiet office than blare music all the time, but both work well enough at driving out distraction.

Neither of these jobs have been team oriented though, I am 'the rails guy' at both, so isn't much knowledge transfer except from stuffy stakeholders in formal meetings either way. I'm sure it's different in a team environment.

Post reply on HN