Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Engineers tend to be extroverted" Where did you get your statistics on that one?
The Big Book of Sarcastic Stats
Reeaally?
CEOs Want Their Offices Back
301–310 of 409 posts
Re: CEOs Want Their Offices Back
#302Earlier quoted context omitted.
The mechanical keyboard people in open offices bother me.
The problem is the open office, not the mechanical keyboards (which are awesome, btw).
In my opinion, if you know you're going to be working in an open office setting, you should try to be courteous and minimize the negative impact you have on your coworkers. I think you should be willing to make the choice to use a quieter keyboard that isn't necessarily your favorite.
So I'd say the problem is with both. The open office is the ultimate source of the issue, but it can be compounded by workers who make choices that exacerbate the situation. The reality is that an open office can be quite pleasant if the people working in it collectively make effective choices that take into account the well-being of the group.
Re: CEOs Want Their Offices Back
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
How would you feel about larger offices that fit ~8, and housed your entire immediate team, but no one else? Your manager would go to another room for their meetings with other parts of the organization, and you all would be free to collaborate as needed, or shut up as needed?
One of the best spaces I ever worked in was at my employer prior to my current employer. When I started work at the company, they had hired a couple of other guys as well, but they didn't have as much experience in software development for an employer (one had done mainly contract work alone, the other was fresh outta college but earned a compsci masters). They didn't have a cubical to put us each in (they were plann…
So here's one of the reasons I dislike not having offices: I actually really like having the lights on. I want things to be nice and bright. I hate it when things are dark and dungeon like. If we had separate offices, we could each make our space as we wish. I could be lit, and you could be dark. No one would have to fight over the setup.
Re: CEOs Want Their Offices Back
#304Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cry me a river. I know a lot of nurses and teachers that feel really bad for the poor software engineer class.
What's your point? Obviously developer pay is enviable. That's the problem (for management). High-status pay risks translating into actual high-status, with the influence and autonomy that implies. Hence the very low-status worker bee seating arrangements. I mean, thank god so many of these developers lean Objectivist or otherwise ultra-individualist or simply haven't given the politics of labor much thought, or they…
All I'm saying is I think you are making it a little more personal/deep than it might be. The seating arrangement in many/most instances may in fact just be a logistics issue of fitting a large number of people into a economical amount of space. Standard corporate structure/org charts determine who gets the offices. If one person serves as the buffer between management above them and the 10-20 developers below them, why shouldn't they? It would seem they would need a private space more often for meetings and such. Hopefully a lot of them sat out on the floor and did their time as well.
As I see it, with great risk comes great reward. Managers are held responsible for the the great successes or great failures of their team(s). I wouldn't work for a manager that I don't respect and feel deserves a position of management above me. If you do, thats your bad.
If you are concerned (or care) that your perceived status isn't living up to your expectations for the work you do and the value you provide, you could always try doing something else that people perceive as more respectable and worthy of awe and special treatment.
Re: CEOs Want Their Offices Back
#305Earlier quoted context omitted.
So you would prefer your coworkers develop RSI symptoms from straining to use a laptop keyboard? Not all of us can use laptops for extended periods of time. Now if I could type with my brain (and I don't mean by smashing my head repeatedly on the keyboard), that's Sam Altman status quo shattering next-level stuff, but I don't think we're there yet. As others have replied, the problem isn't my typing, it's <40 square…
The standard keyboard layout, which every mechanical keyboard I've ever seen (including my beloved model M) is terrible for your wrists. The people using mechanical keyboards are not saving themselves anything. Get a proper ergonomic keyboard like the microsoft sculpt if you actually care about the health of you hands. Mechanical keyboards are cool, which is why I own one, and when I had an office why I used one ever…
I have a Kinesis ergonomic keyboard with Cherry Red mechanical switches, without it I get wrist pain.
Re: CEOs Want Their Offices Back
#306Earlier quoted context omitted.
Noise canceling headphones don't really work that way in my experience. They're good at canceling out droning background sounds to make the overall sound quieter, but they can't "predict" and cancel out less repetitive/droning sounds sounds like conversations and those godawful clacky keyboards some people insist on. In effect, noise canceling headphones make those sounds louder , relatively speaking, because they qu…
Every single item on the list is said tongue-in-cheek...
Yeah but the progression was brilliant. Started out from "I disagree with this, but ....okay...." and then got progressively more absurd. It wasn't until #5 that I realized it was clearly satire, prior to that I figured it was one of those rationalization posts that tech CEOs make to defend these practices as somehow useful or beneficial.
Re: CEOs Want Their Offices Back
#307Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is the open office, not the mechanical keyboards (which are awesome, btw).
The noise is from bottoming out. Put spacers on the keycap stems, and it stops being a problem, no matter what kind of switch you use. This is easy to do and only a little time-consuming. It's easier and faster when you take a cheap Bic pen, pull out the tip and ink tube, and use the body tube to press the spacers down on the stems - it's just the right diameter, and makes the job much faster. The spacers are cheap,…
> The noise is from bottoming out.
Not with my Model M!
/buckling springs ftw...
Re: CEOs Want Their Offices Back
#308We have an open floor plan, and it works like this: * Desk area is for getting work done. Everyone agrees on this. * We have "phone rooms" for small discussions. But we limit those usually to 1:1s or discussing office politics. * Try to limit all discussions at the desk area to 5 people or less. * If someone sighs loudly as they put on their headphones when you're having a discussion right behind them, then that is t…
"Engineers tend to be extroverted" Where did you get your statistics on that one?
For what it's worth, it did seem to be true at my last company. Engineers were outgoing and the artists were all the introverted quiet ones.
Edit: Then again, I was pulling a lot of engineering weight and was the one with headphones on all day...
Re: CEOs Want Their Offices Back
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cry me a river. I know a lot of nurses and teachers that feel really bad for the poor software engineer class.
What's that supposed to mean? RNs and Nurse Practioners make at least as much as the typical software engineers in SV. The $175-$250K+ that some of the senior guys at Google and FB make is not typical. Most of us in the rest of the country are probably making about $100K, and that's when we start becoming over-priced. And teachers? I have respect for them, but I don't consider what they do necessarily difficult, espe…
>And teachers? I have respect for them, but I don't consider what they do necessarily difficult, especially in lower grades.
There's a difference between a "teacher" and a great teacher. Even in the lower levels I think it's hard to know how much of an effect incentivizing great teachers to stick around could have on the world and economy. Grade school years are highly influential years of people's lives and for some, school is the only chance they have to see something different and break the mold of which they've been brought into.
Re: CEOs Want Their Offices Back
#310Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am distracted by your loud keyboard. Frequently, I find myself wishing that you had a quiet keyboard like everyone else in the office. I am particularly irritated by the noise of your keyboard each morning when you write long emails or posts. When you are coding and there are frequent long breaks when you are thinking, it is not quite as distracting, but I still don't like it. I agree with you that open office plan…
"I am particularly irritated by the noise of your keyboard each morning when you write long emails or posts." My E-mails are pretty short :-). However, I don't enjoy you telling your coworkers about your weekend every Monday morning. Open offices are just stupid. They cause conflict where there shouldn't be.
At the same time, other people being inconsiderate doesn't excuse you being inconsiderate as well.