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Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

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Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#871

Post by Balero »

gnulinux wrote: post #126
BrissyCoder wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I often do/did paired programming, and over-the-shoulder code reviews. These are easier in person I’m sure I’m not the only person who has the exact opposite experience with this. I can’t think and get mentally blocked when I have someone peering over my shoulder or I’m staring at their screen. I find this kind of collaboration so much easier if I’m in the comfort of my own desktop setup, sharing the screen over Te…

I think this has to do with seniority. When I was a lot more experienced than my coworker, doing pair programming was insanely fun. Because it felt like solving a puzzle with a friend, or exploring a video game with my sister. Now I'm occasionally pair programming with my manager -- who's like a 1000x me -- pair programming is mentally blocking. It's because my peer thinks so much faster than I do that it feels like…

I get this a lot as well. Just as soon as you are about to say something, or start typing. Just as the idea is coalescing in your mind, as you are walking down the path of understanding.

From over your shoulder: "Then do this thing cos of this this and this" - yes thank you I know. Eventually I feel downcast and just stop thinking for myself, I'm just a typer at that point.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#872

Post by zenron »

Nbox9 wrote: post #51

I work for another company that is going to do a partial return to office. I will be looking at options for companies that offer full in person office (or 90% in person office) after things settle down. I have worked full remote for a total of 5 years of my career, and I believe working in the office is a competitive advantage. * Overhearing hallway conversations (and joining them) helps spawn invocation. * I often d…

> I save money by spending less on food, drinks, and electricity.

That is more on you being a good steward of your money than anything else. Our development team eats out at restaurants nearly every day when we were at the office. Code together, dine together. Bad boys for life.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#873

Post by tootie »

meken wrote: post #781
tootie wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will always prefer WFH for a critically important reason no one else seems willing to mention. I get to use my own bathroom. Sitting in a stall next to someone noisy is my daily hell. The worst is if the seat is still warm. I think may have actually avoided using a public restroom for 15 straight months.

What? The seat being warm is the best case.

Wow. I guess there's just two kinds of people in the world.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#874

Post by toto444 »

mLuby wrote: post #531
disposablex wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just had this conversation with my parents today. They asked why is working from home so wonderful? The number one reason I had was, because everyone can just be them, it's a lot different than in the office. The job can and should be a lot more inclusive and diverse when you're working in your own space -- home office, cafe, etc. You find what works for you, without having to worry about messing with someone else's…

Exactly. Remote work promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion.

That is a bit ironic that you call inclusion the absence of social interactions.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#875

Post by sepin4 »

gspr wrote: post #661
marcyb5st wrote: post #610

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work for Google and live in Switzerland where food is really expensive so my situation doesn't generalize well. However, if 1) I cook all my food, and 2) try to have a healthy diet I spend easily the equivalent of 30USD/day. Going to a restaurant sets you back around the same amount per meal. So, assuming I work 200 days/year going to the office and get free food would save me 6k USD/year (also assuming I cook 100%…

And you live in a country with a really nicely developed public transport infrastructure, so you don't go through the nightmarish car commutes that most USians probably have in mind. When I lived in CH, I did not mind the days I had to commute – it was mostly a relaxed trainride where I could get work done 75% of the time. I really think a lot of this debate is colored by Americans thinking of the American commute.

Most of Europe has relatively nice public transport. I used to read books while on my way to work. That was 1.5-2 hours per day for my library. My previous office was 30 minutes walking distance from my home. Great way to wake up as opposed to coffee. While I was in the US, they had scarcely any sidewalks. Only in big cities it seemed appropriate to walk to somewhere.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#876

Post by ks6g10 »

drstewart wrote: post #667
bloqs wrote: post #625

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1.Interesting, the vast majority of these are not work related for me. Maybe one a year is in some way useful 2. I would contest that with sufficient quality screen share this simply so marginal it's dismissable 3. This makes several assumptions about personality and socialising and isn't always the case. Forcing people to see each other does not create social closeness. Sustaining good friendships over instant messa…

>I save 4 hours a day lost to transport being forced to listen to podcasts and have more meaningful work and play time as a result. Man, people are really starting to stretch their commute times. Actually no, I save 8 hours a day commuting! No, 16! No, 350395803 hours! Let's be 100% honest: you did not spend 4 hours a day commuting pre-WFH. You just didn't.

Commute

Home Walk train(euston) walk tube walk work

Time required if everything work correctly

~ 1h 10m to work

~ 1h 30m from work, (more since you dont want to miss the train)

Now, a single cancelled/missed train for me is +30m, happened at least once a week due to faulty train etc.

In addition, these things happen all the time:

Is the tube delayed today causing me to miss my train? +30m

Is it hot summer week? expect almost everyday to be cancellations of 1h+++

Someone trespassing/ hit by train, cancellations of 1h+++

Signalling problem, cancellation of 1h+++

Fire next to track cancellation of 3h+++

plus more Many days I have spent more than 4hrs just to get home.

Now this 2h 40m commute easily averages out to 4h

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#877

Post by pnutjam »

Nbox9 wrote: post #51

I work for another company that is going to do a partial return to office. I will be looking at options for companies that offer full in person office (or 90% in person office) after things settle down. I have worked full remote for a total of 5 years of my career, and I believe working in the office is a competitive advantage. * Overhearing hallway conversations (and joining them) helps spawn invocation. * I often d…

Sounds like you need an environment with better collaboration tools and people who know how to communicate.

I was getting a slew of emails related to a project and after a bit of coaching I got most of these updates to go into a teams channel, where we can call out the interested part @user, and keep things in an easier to view format when we need to catch up.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#878

Post by rblatz »

Symbiote wrote: post #750
rblatz wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My electric hits $400+ a month in the summer and it’s just going to get worse when our pool is completed. I live in a new 2500 square foot house in Arizona, our insulation is fine. And we have two pretty nice heat pump/ac units.

A friend's pool in England is almost entirely sustained with solar panels: radiant ones to heat the water (as required), and PV to run the pumps. It seems like a no-brainer to do this in Arizona, but I don't know the economics.

I’m likely going to get solar panels, but building a pool is an expensive frustrating process, and I didn’t want to take on an additional project at the same time. The pool also has an electric heat pump so as long as the solar panel install is large enough solar panels will cover both needs.

Still need to work out the numbers on the solar panels so I can decide if I should buy them, or lease them.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#880

Post by ladyattis »

I think a hybrid approach is good inasmuch as it gives HR less to complain about. WFH has so far proven to work and the whole theory that people must be visibly managed to keep working or just be productive and profitable has been proven false. It's time to let go of the dogmatic approach to how work is done (whether it's wholly WFH or on-site).
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