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Programmers are most likely to work from home

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Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#221

Post by Arizhel »

ergothus wrote: post #160
NumberSix wrote: post #112

The article does not discuss the impact of the open office movement. I've worked from home, in actual offices, in cubicles both cramped and spacious, and open offices. It can be quite difficult to focus at home due to various distractions, especially if you do not have a separate room or area for work. It is difficult to separate work and non-work with a home office. There are a variety of communications issues with…

I think what people miss most often is that this is NOT a "one solution fits all" kind of thing. For some office cultures one is better, and for some people one is better. I myself am very easily distracted, and I'm far more productive at home, where I have a private office set to my preferences, including sound (this sounds ridiculous, but my ear cartilage is sensitive, so I can't wear earbuds and over-the-ear headp…

>this sounds ridiculous, but my ear cartilage is sensitive, so I can't wear earbuds and over-the-ear headphones are only comfortable for an hour or two

Can't you get some full-size headphones which don't even touch your ears? That should eliminate that problem. I don't think it's too unusual to find it uncomfortable to have stuff pressing onto/into your ear cartilage for hours a day.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#222

Post by pmontra »

Well, I'm self employed and work for customers mainly from my home (backend development, web technologies). One or two on site meetings per week and that's it. Sometimes I had to go to customers sites in my town two or three days per week, usually during design phases. Working at home (I live alone) and avoiding the office is definitely great. Zero commuting time, I worked this morning, went on a 2 hours 50 km bicycle ride in the afternoon, got a shower and back to work. I'll probably get back those working hours on Saturday morning. I try very hard to allocate some time for my interests. I'll be back to working in a office only if business goes very bad and I can't avoid it.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#223

Post by always_good »

CydeWeys wrote: post #83
qandb wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Companies don't want to lock their knowledge into a few good people. It is not their knowledge. It is these "few good people"'s knowledge. > I'd challenge you to take on the task of teaching others ... Never, ever. Only idiots agree to train their own competition.

You sound like a horrible person to work with. Software development is a collaborative process. I would never want to work with someone who treats all of their peers as competition and refuses to help them achieve the team's mutual goals, and were I your manager, I'd likely fire you.

To be fair, with their mindset, they are probably right to view everyone else as competition. They clearly feel the clock ticking down to their termination, and management is probably trying to replace them as we speak.

A developer with no leadership or social skills is very replaceable. Unlike software development, those are the skills you can't develop alone in the bedroom.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#224

Post by jfroma »

skizm wrote: post #124
eddieh wrote: post #12

I like working from my office. I don't understand people that like working from home. Possible confounding variable: I live exactly two blocks from my office and don't have to commute. Perhaps, in actuality, people don't like to commute?

I will name some the reasons I like to work from home and none involve a commute: - I'm in an open office situation. - Standing desk is awkward when everyone else is sitting. - If I make a loud noise eating or sneezing or something like 5 people stare at me trying to figure out what is going on. - I can't have twitch or a baseball game on in the background because nosey co-workers will walk by, see my screen, and com…

I work from home because I work better on a quiet environment like you and I agree with every other of your points.

I guess there are different kind of personalities, some people prefer working from an office others prefer working from an Starbucks. I have a coworker who prefers the library.

My ultimate "office perk" is no meetings over skype/hangout/zoom/gotomeeting.

https://twitter.com/woloski/status/605788426546221060

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#225

Post by akinalci »

I enjoy working in an office environment because working in my home can be isolating. But cubicles with low walls where I'm constantly seeing and hearing my officemates is awful. Who thought this could possibly be a good idea for work that requires focus?

Also, a year after moving to San Francisco to work for a team based in the city, they relocated us to the South Bay. Now everybody on the team spends 3-4 hours daily commuting from SF/Oakland/Berkeley and it's awful.

I suspect these are the kinds of measures companies take when they want to reduce their workforce without layoffs.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#226

Post by archeantus »

edw519 wrote: post #127

After 38 years of commercial programming, 15 of them remote, here's the thing that almost no one talks about: working remotely actually benefits the company much more that the programmer. Here's why: 1. Profitability manufacturing something increases dramatically when lowering overhead and driving direct labor. Direct labor in software are the programmers. Time spent programming (usually) produces product. Time spent…

Preach! This resonates so well with me, thank you for taking the time to share. My company has started implying they want to move away from new remote hires and I can't understand it.

Good remote workers, who are disciplined (as you said), are so much more productive.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#227

Post by chillacy »

jt2190 wrote: post #98
grardb wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment doesn't read like it was written by a "humbleMouse" :) I don't think this is a healthy attitude to have towards less experienced developers. Literally every experienced developer was once inexperienced, and I think for the vast majority of people, it's hard to become a senior or even intermediate developer without some mentorship along the way. I believe this is especially true for aspects outside of wri…

> I think for the vast majority of people, it's hard to become a senior or even intermediate developer without some [on the job] mentorship along the way. Doesn't this assume that the only mentorship (edit: We're really talking about "job training") is peer mentorship? What about classes, self-training, etc? Why should the onus be placed 100% on the senior employee? Why no onus on the junior employee?

At the few places I've worked I've found a large part of the training was company-specific or team-specific tribal knowledge (here's how you restart our service, here's how our data pipeline works) that was either not actually documented, or documented somewhere in a wiki and despairingly out of date or unfindable. That's arguably the fault of the team, but one of the companies (can't mention names) flat out said that it was one of their strengths to be a "storytelling" company.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#228

Post by ahallock »

CydeWeys wrote: post #86
ahallock wrote: post #43

I've invested thousands of dollars in my home setup (which will never be done), to create an amazing working environment. Why would I want to give that up? Sure, employers may give you a little $ to customize your desk and equipment, but if I'm going to be spending so much of my life at a computer, it'd better be amazing.

My employer's work environment is worth much more to me per year than the entire cost of your home setup thanks to all of the free meals and the gym equipment alone. Just something worth thinking about.

Point taken. If you get amazing benefits and a decent desktop setup, it can make a lot of sense. Where I am, companies definitely don't offer amenities of that caliber.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#229

Post by rhizome »

freehunter wrote: post #100
grardb wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment doesn't read like it was written by a "humbleMouse" :) I don't think this is a healthy attitude to have towards less experienced developers. Literally every experienced developer was once inexperienced, and I think for the vast majority of people, it's hard to become a senior or even intermediate developer without some mentorship along the way. I believe this is especially true for aspects outside of wri…

I completely understand where he's coming from in writing that. Sometimes it feels like my entire day is spent training new hires, repeating the same things over and over again. In jobs where being an expert is a requirement, it's very frustrating to see the company hire employees fresh out of college and expect the senior employees to feed them 10 years of experience in a matter of weeks. And then either they take t…

Other coworkers send the new hires directly to you so your manager doesn't even see the amount of questions you're answering

Well there's your problem, it's a classic multiple-bosses insanity when anybody can put a new task (hire) on your plate. Furthermore, it may also come as bad news to you if you've already been "promoted" to company trainer, informally.

Talk to your boss about how all of this is getting funneled to you. At the very least you should be keeping them informed as to how your day is spent.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#230

Post by ashark »

sigi45 wrote: post #148
skizm wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will name some the reasons I like to work from home and none involve a commute: - I'm in an open office situation. - Standing desk is awkward when everyone else is sitting. - If I make a loud noise eating or sneezing or something like 5 people stare at me trying to figure out what is going on. - I can't have twitch or a baseball game on in the background because nosey co-workers will walk by, see my screen, and com…

What can you really concentrate on when there is commentary somewhere oO?! There is a fucking difference between commentary and music and radio btw.

There's probably some relation between this and growing up with the TV on 100% of waking hours, even when no-one's watching (which is really common).
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