251–260 of 348 posts
In some civilized countries natural light is actually a requirement, by law. Not in the server closet etc, but in your office it is. You can, of course, adjust the curtains or whatever to get the exact amount you prefer (which typically changes throughout the day, as the sun passes)
No nationalistic swipes on HN, please. Your comment would be fine without that bit.
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I don't want to condescend but have you tried talking to the person switching on the lights? Maybe you could come to a compromise.
Then I’m just the whiny asshole or primadonna or something. It’s not possible to have these preferences treated in an adult way in modern corporations, and anyone the issue got escalated to will just see it as whining. You have to keep your head down and act like it’s Candide: whatever your company currently does is the best possible thing they could ever do.
The way you approach doing this goes a long, long way toward how you're perceived.
"It’s not possible to have these preferences treated in an adult way in modern corporations, and anyone the issue got escalated to will just see it as whining."
I imagine you think this is the case because you see others asking for similar types of things as also being "whining". All you have to do is ask politely and calmly, and things should be fine. You might not get your way, but asking for something isn't automatically seen as "whining" by most people.
Currently working alone in my own windowless office in an almost completely windowless building. Compared to the previous 'open-plan' gig where I sat opposite opposite Jill-from-Comms and Sales-bro Bryan, it rules so hard. So yeah,"the #1 office perk" for me is not getting interrupted with inane shit every ten minutes.
I (previously) had the worst of both worlds, sharing a windowless closet with 5 other people.
Currently working alone in my own windowless office in an almost completely windowless building. Compared to the previous 'open-plan' gig where I sat opposite opposite Jill-from-Comms and Sales-bro Bryan, it rules so hard. So yeah,"the #1 office perk" for me is not getting interrupted with inane shit every ten minutes.
Oh yes please. I work as a games programmer at a massive studio and it looks like 90% of people here prefer complete darkness during the day, to the point where they have these umbrella-like covers above their desks to cover any light from the lamps that somehow miraculously are still on. Me and few other people occupy a little corner next to a window that we stubbornly refuse to close the blinds on, despite bi-weekl…
I did some contract work with some mushroom people. I was in the minority of staff that wanted sunlight. We got a large office for the four of us, the other 30 were in almost complete darkness in a sea of cubicles. They actually blacked out their spaces with material. We had plenty of plants, fishtank and my customary giant Pac-Man. Good times.
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My solution was to buy a pair of headphones with good sound isolation. The building could be burning down and I'd wouldn't give a shit.
Here I feel the need to share what I feel like is my ultimate setup: put in earplugs first, then cover with sound deadening/isolating headphones, finally play white noise. I don't hear shit. Added bonus: put your chair and feet on a mat with vibration deadening material such as sorbothane, so you don't even feel people walk by. Next I am planning on experimenting putting up a tri-fold poster board to block out visual…
Currently working alone in my own windowless office in an almost completely windowless building. Compared to the previous 'open-plan' gig where I sat opposite opposite Jill-from-Comms and Sales-bro Bryan, it rules so hard. So yeah,"the #1 office perk" for me is not getting interrupted with inane shit every ten minutes.
If I don't get enough sun I fall in to depression. It's why I moved to California -- every winter I'd get really down; I'd self diagnosed as having seasonal affective disorder. Since being in California for five winters this hasn't happened yet. I also spent a summer working in a windowless office while my company was preparing for a classified DoD project (we lost the bid, but one of the requirements was "no windows…
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I will never work in an open plan building again. It left me absolutely brain dead and begging the clock to go faster because I couldn't think at work anyway.
I'm with you, it's like my brain turns off when I'm there, no amount of noise-cancelling headphones can stop me noticing movements in my periphery or the feeling of possible immediate jarring interruptions if I have my back to the room. I get all my day-work done in the evening, when I'm in the office I just browse reddit or read HN because; unless I'm in a meeting or talking to a colleague- I cannot possibly be prod…
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I will never work in an open plan building again. It left me absolutely brain dead and begging the clock to go faster because I couldn't think at work anyway.
I feel the same way, but I'm just not sure I'm to the point where I can demand to not work for an open plan company; it's how it is pretty much everywhere I've interviewed. I'd be curious to see percentages in terms of tech companies that still have office rooms for their engineers.