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Google’s Internal Data Show Engineers Found It Harder to Code from Home

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Re: Google’s Internal Data Show Engineers Found It Harder to Code from Home

#21

Post by cozzyd »

Working from home requires a lot more discipline. For some people that's not a problem, for a lot of people it is.

edit: based on responses I didn't communicate clearly. What I mean is that there are way more potential distractions at home. Some people are still able to be productive in spite of that, but a lot of people (including myself!) are less productive. For some people it may even be the case that working from home there are fewer distractions, although I imagine that's pretty rare.

Re: Google’s Internal Data Show Engineers Found It Harder to Code from Home

#23

Post by tamersalama »

Any studies around 'productivity' has to take into account the time spent on meetings, phonecalls, remote socials, conf calls, etc... and the time for context-switching and directed attention effort. I saw those dramatically increasing during WFH, especially for those teams that were used to co-location.

Re: Google’s Internal Data Show Engineers Found It Harder to Code from Home

#24

Post by tidepod12 »

andrew_ wrote: post #12

It's dubious that folks at that skill level would lack the capacity to make WFH work for them. I've been remote for 10 years, I couldn't get in at the Googs. Working from home is not hard and there are a litany of resources for those who struggle.

>at that skill level

What skill level is that? For the most part we are talking about a bunch of people ages 22-30 that function by responding to specific feature requests or JIRA tickets from their team leads. There are of course exceptions, but by and large this population of engineers do not do well with unstructured environments, such as the type created by a sudden shift to WFH. I am wholly unsurprised that productivity at Goog has dropped. At my large tech company (where we work with consultants from FAANG) there's also a similar drop in productivity due to aforementioned lack of structure.

>10 years remote and I couldn't get in at Googs.

FAANG interviewing has very little to do with skill level and a lot more to do with mastering the very specific interview process of that particular FAANG. It's a lot like taking the LSAT. You could be a genius but still not ace the LSAT because you don't know the very specific strategies needed for the test. On the flip side, just because you ace the LSAT doesn't mean you are a savant, it just means you studied the specific things necessary to ace the test.

Re: Google’s Internal Data Show Engineers Found It Harder to Code from Home

#25

Post by andrew_ »

cozzyd wrote: post #21

Working from home requires a lot more discipline. For some people that's not a problem, for a lot of people it is. edit: based on responses I didn't communicate clearly. What I mean is that there are way more potential distractions at home. Some people are still able to be productive in spite of that, but a lot of people (including myself!) are less productive. For some people it may even be the case that working fro…

whoa whoa. don't put the onus on individuals and their choices or you'll be downvoted to oblivion.

Re: Google’s Internal Data Show Engineers Found It Harder to Code from Home

#26

Post by neffy »

ArchOversight wrote: post #7

Can't read the article since it is behind a paywall... but wanted to ask this question anyway: How much is that productivity hit because people are dealing with the fact that this pandemic is lasting longer than expected, more people are getting sick, more people are dying... You know, the amount of brain cycles spent worrying about the COVID-19 pandemic may also account for some of those feelings. I know I feel it.…

Exactly. The correct title for the data they're looking at is really that Engineers found it hard to work from home during a pandemic.

Re: Google’s Internal Data Show Engineers Found It Harder to Code from Home

#28

Post by bicx »

xt00 wrote: post #18

I would guess based upon my own experience and talking to others: 1) the first 3-5 months were hard to figure out a good rhythm and is super impacted by how busy your house is (do you have kids, live-in parents, special needs kids etc) 2) many people have figured out a good rhythm by now and are doing fine 3) people who were new at the company this year are definitely having a much harder time since just sitting next…

I agree with most of what you said. I'm not sure how the last idea would work in the long run, as much as it should in an idealistic sense. I definitely agree that working from the office is better for some people than others. However, the unfortunate reality is if the boss is working from the office, it's often the case that people who are also in the office get better opportunities, recognition, and possibly resulting promotions than those who work remotely. Even if that's not the reality, I'd imagine that could become a pervasive fear or assumption. Having a split work force like that would require a really deep-rooted culture that supports it.

Re: Google’s Internal Data Show Engineers Found It Harder to Code from Home

#29

Post by macintux »

davidw wrote: post #16
ffggvv wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not only that but parents also have their kids home etc.. which wouldnt be the case under normal wfh conditions

... and there's also a pretty wild election in the US, to add to people's anxiety.

That alone has cost me many, many hours of lost sleep.

Re: Google’s Internal Data Show Engineers Found It Harder to Code from Home

#30

Post by andrew_ »

tidepod12 wrote: post #24
andrew_ wrote: post #12

It's dubious that folks at that skill level would lack the capacity to make WFH work for them. I've been remote for 10 years, I couldn't get in at the Googs. Working from home is not hard and there are a litany of resources for those who struggle.

>at that skill level What skill level is that? For the most part we are talking about a bunch of people ages 22-30 that function by responding to specific feature requests or JIRA tickets from their team leads. There are of course exceptions, but by and large this population of engineers do not do well with unstructured environments, such as the type created by a sudden shift to WFH. I am wholly unsurprised that prod…

I know quite a few brilliant folks there, and I just can't buy the assertion that the majority are drones/codemonkeys that drown without instruction and structure.
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