So many companies require you to relocate to work for them, and then fail to provide an acceptable office environment that allows concentration, so they let you work from your (new) home. It's bizarre.
Programmers are most likely to work from home
311–320 of 377 posts
Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home
#312I 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?
Right, this isn't the only reason but is the biggest reason for me.
Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home
#313Earlier quoted context omitted.
My god this sounds exactly like academia: your job as a professor at a research university is to obtain grants, publications, and donations. Pretty much everything else is incidental. "Service" to a department, to students, etc. is "emphasized" in reviews, but if push comes to shove, the asshole with a bunch of big grants is going to steamroll the "nice" junior faculty who "mentors" the asshole's students. If you're…
Just like academia the onus of learning is on the individual in all settings. The senior guy or the professor owes nothing to the junior folks or students, if they themselves don't care. The issue in a corporate setting is you are expected to make up for other people. Same in college. Sorry but almost all forms of failure have individual liability. Merely knowing this helps a lot of people take their situation seriou…
Or lack of documentation/communication within the company.
When key information regarding how you're supposed to do this thing or where that thing is located or how you're supposed to test Y, or how should this particular bit that wasn't communicated in the user story but was talked about in a meeting you weren't at be tackled, or whatever is locked inside people's heads you need to consult with them to get that information out of there.
And yes having information locked inside of senior employees is a bad idea for the company overall, but that's been the case to some extent at pretty much every company I've worked for.
Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home
#314Earlier quoted context omitted.
I respectfully disagree. The justification for my high pay is because I integrate complex systems with shitty vendor web service api's and automate the transmission of sensitive data. The work I am doing has a huge impact on profitability of my company - much more than the joke of a 6 figure rate they are paying to keep me around. I avoid being a fulltime employee because I don't want to have some unwritten commitmen…
> The justification for my high pay is because I integrate complex systems with shitty vendor web service api's and automate the transmission of sensitive data. The work I am doing has a huge impact on profitability of my company - much more than the joke of a 6 figure rate they are paying to keep me around. be that as it may, mentoring, helping others, and setting examples are high-leverage. you may become 10x more…
I completely disagree about him becoming 10x more valuable. That only works if he's actually evaluated on these things. He probably isn't, nor are most technical workers. Now, if he were a manager/team leader, this would be very different: those are absolutely core aspects of the job and things to be evaluated on in your performance review.
Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home
#315Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you handle discussing complex code, data structures and such concepts over online? In such cases, I find that being in the same room and using a white board makes it easy to communicate across. Maybe some programming domains that type of issue if less common?
In some cases people literally point their camera at a whiteboard!
You laugh, but it works really well to do this so long as you remember to stand out of the way of the camera.
Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home
#316Earlier quoted context omitted.
Before responding to these sorts of threads it's important to recognize that Google/FB/etc... are so far outside the norm for any company and not just tech. Most people working do not have access to full suite of gourmet food for every meal, a private gym, labs, etc...
A significant proportion of the overall HN readership has access to these perks. It's not unreasonable to discuss them in the context of the pros/cons of working from home.
The linked page / disucssion is not for the small percentage of google/fb workers.
You are still a minority.
Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home
#317Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, all but one of your complaints would be solved by a door[1]. Are there actually programmers who prefer the open-office setting? It's not like I magically stop socializing if you put me in an office. The only thing worse than open-office for me is a setting where my back is to a space that people are walking through. I can't even have my back to an open doorway in an office (assuming the hallway outside is somew…
Well also, my preferred attire (work or otherwise) is barefoot+gym shorts+shirtless, I would enjoy nothing more than consecutive full days without human contact during the week, the ability to fart and pick my nose without hesitation, and not having to worry the bathroom stalls are full when I need to take a shit, but I realize most of those are unreasonable to ask of an office so I left them off the list. However, t…
You forgot climate control too. Office buildings always seem to have their HVAC poorly calibrated and controlled by some mysterious ghost.
There are so many reasons... I think you either get it, or you don't.
Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home
#318I 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?
That, and the snacks I buy and put in my fridge are better than the free snacks at work. Also I can take a shower in the middle of the day. Which is the best time.
And I can take my ~4pm quick nap to recharge and reset.
Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home
#319I think I'd be utterly depressed if I worked from home. Every day without any human interaction. Plus I really love the clear boundary between work and home. Wouldn't want to pollute my home with work.
This is why lots of people like to work at coffee shops. You get to be around other people, but it's generally pretty quiet: there's no loud conversations about some stupid sports game the night before; any conversations are usually between two people sitting quietly together, not groups; the people there are total strangers and not coworkers or bosses so it's easy to tune them out mentally and concentrate. In addition, you can go buy yourself a tasty drink or snack and eat it (I can't easily make myself a chai latte at work). The lighting and ambiance are far, FAR more relaxing than any office I've been in.
Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home
#320You spend 8 hours a day working. Why would you want to be isolated from other people? As a kid you go to school you are around people. Working from home seems like you are kind of isolated from people. Its not the same as over skype or slack.
You aren't isolated. You just interact online. Its not the same, but its also not isolation.