5 ms·

I will probably get downvoted for stating an opinion contrary to the HN groupthink but I would not work from home for a few reasons: 1. Facetime/Relationship b

I will probably get downvoted for stating an opinion contrary to the HN groupthink but I would not work from home for a few reasons: 1. Facetime/Relationship building - If you're seen more and have better relationships, on average, you will get tapped for better jobs/projects more often than people who are in another state/country. If you are the only remote worker on your team then you are at a serious disadvantage relative to your non-remote team members who see your boss every day. 2. Ease of communication - Working from home, for me, is frustrating because when I want to walk over to someone and ask them a question or set up a physical meeting ASAP I can't. Phone calls and e-mails are great but there really is nothing like a physical meeting when it comes to hashing out problems on a white board or building a working relationship. This is also a negative because it can be very distracting to have people able to contact you any time you're at the office, but for me it is a net gain. 3. I love people. I love working with them and getting to know them and having conversations with my coworkers. This is very easy to do when you are collocated. For me, working at home is lonely. 4. Knowledge synergies - This almost falls under number 2. It is really nice to bounce ideas off people without having to stare at a chat screen waiting for a response. I really enjoy when my coworkers ask me a question and a discussion ensues between all of us about the best way to do things. This is easier than waiting for someone to type a response or getting everyone on the phone. Many of these things are possible to do over slack or meeting up once a week but it really does not beat being in the office every day. Perhaps I am very career oriented but just #1 is enough for me to not want to work from home.

RussianCow 11y ago
> Working from home, for me, is frustrating because when I want to walk over to someone and ask them a question or set up a physical meeting ASAP I can't. As someone who gets interrupted several times a day by this at the office, I don't miss it one bit when I work remotely. Being able to defer responding to a question by a minute or two so that I can finish my train of thought is one of my favorite things about working remotely. At the office, the cost of me trying to recover my thoughts afterwards is much greater than those two minutes my colleague would have waited for a response. > If you are the only remote worker on your team then you are at a serious disadvantage relative to your non-remote team members who see your boss every day. That seems like a problem with company culture much more than with working remotely.
- ambicapter 11y ago
  > At the office, the cost of me trying to recover my thoughts afterwards is much greater than those two minutes my colleague would have waited for a response. To you. Your colleagues train of thought will be disrupted. I guess you deserve to keep your train of thought because you're smart enough to not have to ask questions.
  - RussianCow 11y ago
    When you get used to working remotely (or with people who are remote), I've found you learn to try to avoid being bottlenecked by questions. It doesn't always work, of course, but I think it's an important skill to have either way. And for questions that are urgent enough, a phone/video call is about the equivalent of walking up to someone and asking, and doesn't take any more time. Edit: typo.
  - sologoub 11y ago
    There is no need for personal attacks when someone is expressing their genuine opinion. Collaboration requires courtesy and both parties should respect each other's train of thought for it to work, regardless of the venue, be it office or remote.
  - tzs 11y ago
    The colleague's train of thought was already disrupted by stopping what he was doing and walking over to the person he wants to question. Waiting a couple minutes will not be any more disruptive to the colleague.
- Nicholas_C 11y ago
  >That seems like a problem with company culture much more than with working remotely. I agree with you. And from talking with others in my profession I've concluded that it exists at corporations more often than not. But is also a lot harder to work on special projects with people in different locations so it is somewhat understandable in that regard.
- sologoub 11y ago
  PG really summed it up well - Maker's schedule is quite different from Manager's schedule: http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html. From OPs profile he is more of a manager than a maker.
Mithaldu 11y ago
Just one hint on what you may not know: Any useful and good remote-work-included companies set up company-wide group chat networks of some sort. I've seen multiple companies use IRC networks for this purpose, as well as Slack, in combination with occasional phone calls or Hangouts/Skype when necessary. All of these companies had much more effective and close communication styles than any office company i ever worked with, since it was super easy to communicate to everyone at once (at their convenience) while at the same time being engaged in an honest and direct 1:1 conversation with someone else. > I am very career oriented Also yes, holy shit. Your post is so "career-oriented" that i needed to consciously force myself to write the first part of my post in a way that acknowledges that you may be a real human.
ryandrake 11y ago
I agree for all the reasons you mentioned, and another one: Clear separation between home life and work life. I differentiate between my work persona and my home persona. It is pleasing to have a clear line between them. My long commute gives me time to get into "work mode". I dress up (more formally than my work requires) in order to further get me into the "I'm working now" mindset. A sterile, gray cubicle with no "homey" distractions lets me focus on my work. My reptilian brain needs this clear line separating my two worlds. If I worked from home, I'd be blurring the line and both my work performance and my "familytime performance" would suffer.
- Mithaldu 11y ago
  On one hand i can understand this. Occasionally i need to wind down from coding brain to people brain when i've been in the flow. Gotta admit though that putting myself in that state intentionally sounds amazingly horrifying to me. 1984 comes to mind.
- RussianCow 11y ago
  Remote doesn't necessarily mean at home. I know a few guys who work remotely from coffee shops and other areas with free wifi, for this reason. Personally, I love being able to run to the kitchen and make myself a snack if I need it, or take an hour-long break and run to the gym if my brain is fried (and not have to worry about all the logistical issues of doing this at the office).
  - itsybitsycoder 11y ago
    Some people also convert a spare bedroom into an office and when they leave "work", they leave the office and close the door. The "fun" computer lives somewhere else.
kspaans 11y ago
> 3. I love people. I love working with them and getting to know them and having conversations with my coworkers. This is very easy to do when you are collocated. For me, working at home is lonely. On my team this is solved by pair programming. Audio chat plus some form of shared screen (whether it's video or shared tmux/screen) closes the gap between colocation and remote, IMO. I ackowledge, however, that not all teams accept pair programming as a thing. And it is indeed an extra skill that you have to develop in order to be productive with. If you have a chance, I encourage you to try it! :D Even in the same office you can both put on a headset and have a remote pairing session without needing to sit beside each other.

RussianCow 11y ago

> Working from home, for me, is frustrating because when I want to walk over to someone and ask them a question or set up a physical meeting ASAP I can't. As someone who gets interrupted several times a day by this at the office, I don't miss it one bit when I work remotely. Being able to defer responding to a question by a minute or two so that I can finish my train of thought is one of my favorite things about working remotely. At the office, the cost of me trying to recover my thoughts afterwards is much greater than those two minutes my colleague would have waited for a response. > If you are the only remote worker on your team then you are at a serious disadvantage relative to your non-remote team members who see your boss every day. That seems like a problem with company culture much more than with working remotely.

ambicapter 11y ago
> At the office, the cost of me trying to recover my thoughts afterwards is much greater than those two minutes my colleague would have waited for a response. To you. Your colleagues train of thought will be disrupted. I guess you deserve to keep your train of thought because you're smart enough to not have to ask questions.
- RussianCow 11y ago
  When you get used to working remotely (or with people who are remote), I've found you learn to try to avoid being bottlenecked by questions. It doesn't always work, of course, but I think it's an important skill to have either way. And for questions that are urgent enough, a phone/video call is about the equivalent of walking up to someone and asking, and doesn't take any more time. Edit: typo.
- sologoub 11y ago
  There is no need for personal attacks when someone is expressing their genuine opinion. Collaboration requires courtesy and both parties should respect each other's train of thought for it to work, regardless of the venue, be it office or remote.
- tzs 11y ago
  The colleague's train of thought was already disrupted by stopping what he was doing and walking over to the person he wants to question. Waiting a couple minutes will not be any more disruptive to the colleague.
Nicholas_C 11y ago
>That seems like a problem with company culture much more than with working remotely. I agree with you. And from talking with others in my profession I've concluded that it exists at corporations more often than not. But is also a lot harder to work on special projects with people in different locations so it is somewhat understandable in that regard.
sologoub 11y ago
PG really summed it up well - Maker's schedule is quite different from Manager's schedule: http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html. From OPs profile he is more of a manager than a maker.

Mithaldu 11y ago

Just one hint on what you may not know: Any useful and good remote-work-included companies set up company-wide group chat networks of some sort. I've seen multiple companies use IRC networks for this purpose, as well as Slack, in combination with occasional phone calls or Hangouts/Skype when necessary. All of these companies had much more effective and close communication styles than any office company i ever worked with, since it was super easy to communicate to everyone at once (at their convenience) while at the same time being engaged in an honest and direct 1:1 conversation with someone else. > I am very career oriented Also yes, holy shit. Your post is so "career-oriented" that i needed to consciously force myself to write the first part of my post in a way that acknowledges that you may be a real human.

ryandrake 11y ago

I agree for all the reasons you mentioned, and another one: Clear separation between home life and work life. I differentiate between my work persona and my home persona. It is pleasing to have a clear line between them. My long commute gives me time to get into "work mode". I dress up (more formally than my work requires) in order to further get me into the "I'm working now" mindset. A sterile, gray cubicle with no "homey" distractions lets me focus on my work. My reptilian brain needs this clear line separating my two worlds. If I worked from home, I'd be blurring the line and both my work performance and my "familytime performance" would suffer.

Mithaldu 11y ago
On one hand i can understand this. Occasionally i need to wind down from coding brain to people brain when i've been in the flow. Gotta admit though that putting myself in that state intentionally sounds amazingly horrifying to me. 1984 comes to mind.
RussianCow 11y ago
Remote doesn't necessarily mean at home. I know a few guys who work remotely from coffee shops and other areas with free wifi, for this reason. Personally, I love being able to run to the kitchen and make myself a snack if I need it, or take an hour-long break and run to the gym if my brain is fried (and not have to worry about all the logistical issues of doing this at the office).
- itsybitsycoder 11y ago
  Some people also convert a spare bedroom into an office and when they leave "work", they leave the office and close the door. The "fun" computer lives somewhere else.

kspaans 11y ago

> 3. I love people. I love working with them and getting to know them and having conversations with my coworkers. This is very easy to do when you are collocated. For me, working at home is lonely. On my team this is solved by pair programming. Audio chat plus some form of shared screen (whether it's video or shared tmux/screen) closes the gap between colocation and remote, IMO. I ackowledge, however, that not all teams accept pair programming as a thing. And it is indeed an extra skill that you have to develop in order to be productive with. If you have a chance, I encourage you to try it! :D Even in the same office you can both put on a headset and have a remote pairing session without needing to sit beside each other.