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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

#321

Post by jon-wood »

Arizhel wrote: post #307
jon-wood wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having kids doesn't have to be a big problem. The important thing is to have a space which is work, and make sure everyone knows that when you're in that space its like you're at the office. I've got a three year old who is used to me working from home and doesn't cause any problems at all.

That might work for you, but every time this discussion comes up around here, there's a whole bunch of parents complaining how their spouse and kids simply will not stop disturbing them, no matter how much they try to explain that they can't do this.

I'm aware its a problem for some people, I just feel it gets overblown. Maybe those of us who find it OK are the silent majority, or maybe I'm an outlier, but I know quite a few parents who work remote and don't have any complaints about being interrupted constantly by family.

I also know of far more people who complain of being constantly interrupted by managers and noise in an open plan office. Its not like modern offices are an oasis of calm.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#322

Post by dasmoth »

jamestimmins wrote: post #118
BeetleB wrote: post #82

I work in a big company. It's easy to see all the useful things I would have missed out on if I worked remotely. Examples: - Networking: Serendipity plays a bigger role than anything else. And you get a lot less of it the fewer people you interact with. Simply bumping into people at the cafe is quite valuable. - Career coaching: Lots of classes, talks, invited speakers, etc. Some can be done remotely, but roughly hal…

To your first point, Richard Hamming's essay You and Your Research hits on this topic by distinguishing between people who work with their door open and people who work with their door closed. As he put it, the people who worked with the door closed got more work done in the short term, but in the long run had fewer serendipitous strokes of brilliance.

When comparing this to today's workplaces, the most striking point is that they all had doors.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#323

Post by bjourne »

CydeWeys wrote: post #248
bjourne wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with asking questions over email? Is physical presence actually needed for effective mentoring? Your view taken to the extreme would mean that this thread itself is dysfunctional because people aren't face-to-face and instead discussing on a message board.

There are a variety of situations for which direct face-to-face communication, or two people huddling in front of the same computer, is the best low-latency, high-bandwidth mode of communication. I use email all the time, but it's not always the optimal mode of communication. Just yesterday I spent an hour mentoring the most junior member of my team through our tricky dependency injection setup by sitting in front of…

Why couldn't you have provided the same kind of mentoring over email? If you had a guide detailing the steps of the setup your junior developer could follow it. If he or she had any additional questions then he or she could have mailed them to you.

I would understand if you said you didn't like typing or that you enjoyed being in proximity of others. But I don't buy the claim that methods other than face-to-face communication would be objectively inferior.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#324

Post by noway421 »

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…

Interesting perspective, indeed i hear people saying that gathering around snacks makes people talk more. But would they talk about work though? And are people going to think about those snack runs in the same way when the culture would make them "small meetings"?

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#325

Post by noway421 »

kwhitefoot wrote: post #296
return0 wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think working from home is superior (for tech/programming work). In terms of work, it's the best way to not only avoid distractions, but also lay out your time in a way that is conducive to completing a project in the way you intended, and to let your ideas be fully implemented. This means projects finish sooner, much sooner than in a 9-5 environment. I believe that, when you know that you cannot escape the office…

I prefer to work in my cubicle at the office instead of at home even though I am alone in the office for most of the time and all of my development team colleagues are in another country. The reason is that it is simply easier for me to concentrate there, fewer distractions, fewer excuses to take a break. But I'm glad I'm not in the same location as most of my colleagues in the team because they are in an open plan o…

The key here is that no one around and you can concentrate alone.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#326

Post by dasmoth »

samfisher83 wrote: post #240

You 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 spend 8 hours a day working. Why would you want to be isolated from other people?

Some people (myself very definitely included) need some regular isolation. Talking to people all day at work leaves me very poorly prepared to deal with my family when I get home. The idea that I can lock myself away and do productive stuff is awesome (although in practise, a lot of remote work isn't actually that isolating).

As a kid you go to school you are around people

School is the last place on earth I'd want to model my working environment on (although the open office advocates seem to be trying).

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#327

Post by funkymike »

maxfurman wrote: post #19
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?

The lack of commute is a huge part of the appeal. If the office is half an hour away (which really isn't that bad if you live or work outside of a city), and you work from home, you get a whole hour back every day. I don't think I would ever make it to the gym if I had a long commute.

You may even save more than the hour commute. When I work from home I also eat lunch at home. Since I normally go out to eat just to get away from the office for a little while that's even more time before I get home vs. being done for the day when working from home. So the 10 hours out of my day when going to the office with a 1/2 hour commute becomes 8 1/2 hours.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#328

Post by zepolen »

draw_down wrote: post #125
zepolen wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment does not provide any value until you list the problems you have found.

Good thing this boat seats two.

How's that passive aggressive working out for you. There is a reason you're alone.

Hint. It's not everyone else. It's you.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#329

Post by Taniwha »

timmaah wrote: post #297
Taniwha wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've mostly worked at home since my son was born (he's 26 now). I used to go in one day a week, I worked for startups for years and would start full time, drop off to 4->3->2 days a week. These days I never go in (I live 10,000km away at the moment, it's no longer a 1 hour drive in the Valley). I think there's a few things you have to realise about working at home: - you get to avoid almost all office politics - you…

> you will eventually lose at office politics Yup. We are small enough that we all report directly to the CEO. Though anywhere I've worked remotely or not it is always me looking out for me. Never had a manager help with that.

I've found that having that explicit discussion with every new manager helps a lot, eventually you get a crap one and lose, but then that's probably time to move on

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#330

Post by funkymike »

CydeWeys wrote: post #303
matwood wrote: post #292

Earlier 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.

I'm not aware of a single company in the city where I live that provides such perks. Some companies might offer a few, but not at Google or Facebook's level. This is in a metro area with over a million people.
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