5 ms·

Can anyone recommend a method to be happy in a depressing office for 40 hours? I am an outdoorsy active person and it is very hard to code in the coldly manufac

• moltar 8y ago
  Follow the 4 hour work week method and escape the office? :D
• lvturner 8y ago
  Sadly, the only way I’ve found to mitigate this, is to leave the company. Complain about it first though - maybe they will spot the correlation eventually.
• dqv 8y ago
  It's really nice to have an easy to maintain plant like a snake plant to talk to. It can really change your mood in an otherwise uncomfortable place.
  • black-tea 8y ago
    You talk to a plant at work?
    • imdsm 8y ago
      Hey, that guy is talking to a plant - what a weirdo. Anyway, rubber duck, as I was saying...
      • HenryBemis 8y ago
        You should have seen my wife when I took my baby's rubber duck (one of the many) and started talking to it. I had to show her the wiki page [1] to convince her I am not (completely) crazy. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging
    • jimnotgym 8y ago
      Plant, fidget spinner, stress balls, Lego, abacus etc. Bouncing a foam ball off my keyboard (not the keys, the hard bit at the top) onto my monitor. That is much worse for my workmates than a one-way floral chat.
    • DonHopkins 8y ago
      When Sun Microsystems fell apart into SunSoft, SunLabs, etc, Scott McNealy called an all-hands meeting and gave everyone a pep-talk, and said there would be some big changes, so nobody should be hugging their tree. He repeated that several times, making tree hugging gestures to emphasize what we were not supposed to do: No Tree Hugging!!! So I went to my manager and complained that I never got a tree. I promised not to hug it, but I insisted that I wanted my own tree, too.
• maxxxxx 8y ago
  I am in the same situation. I think the only way is to change companies or even change career.
• black-tea 8y ago
  It sounds like you are in the wrong profession.
  • ilikehurdles 8y ago
    It sounds like he is in the wrong office (for him). Not all offices are like this.
    • black-tea 8y ago
      The productive ones are. He's complaining that it's inside and that people work quietly.
      • PhasmaFelis 8y ago
        He's not complaining that it's inside, he's complaining that it feels cold and impersonal and there's not enough windows. Better furnishing and more natural light can make a real difference.
      • maxxxxx 8y ago
        Nonsense. He is complaining that everything is drab and no window view. I work under similar circumstances and I feel more and more that these two things are slowly eating me up. this has nothing to do with productivity.
• nerdponx 8y ago
  Get a remote job?
• chapium 8y ago
  See if you can work remote 1 day a week. Some employers are inflexible about this, but if your work can be done remotely, you might see huge gains from switching up your environment now and then. When you come back to the office you will be refreshed and able to focus on tasks like meetings, social calls, etc that are well suited for cube farms. I always find "office activities" incredibly awful. Nothing like having an icecream social when everyone still steaming from work they should be focusing on. However, you could try starting an office pool for bagels, cookie of the month club, or whatever. It might be a nice diversion that improves your morale and takes little time away from work.
• jib 8y ago
  The easy answer is change jobs. You don’t have to stay anywhere, and you presumably have one of the easiest skills to find work with today. If you actually want mechanisms for being happy no matter what, start realising that none of the stuff you’re stating as issues actually matters, and you can work on accepting that. What does the walls have to do with your happiness? You control if you’re happy or not. Stoicism-like ideas and reading can help (or at least do for me, minus the religious bits) with realising that external factors do not matter for your happiness. Happiness is 100% controlled by your mind. There are unhappy people who have all the things you say you lack and way more, and there are happy people who have none of them, and are in situations that are objectively way worse than yours, so the state of material things is not the defining factor for your happiness. The defining factor is you and how you choose to react to external things.
• drdebug 8y ago
  I have found that adding white, sun-like light, using LED bars for example can help. One can't easily simulate sun light but I found adding several light sources, at least 4 can make a difference. In my experience, working in bursts with "strong" breaks help, for example grabbing a cup of coffee and spending 10min outside every 1.5h.
• itronitron 8y ago
  I'd put up a photo montage around your desk of outdoorsy things, and bring in a small floor mat tiled with pebbles then take your shoes off while you work and just rest your feet on the pebbles. That might produce enough sensory stimulation to keep you from going crazy.
• amelius 8y ago
  VR goggles? You can set it up so that it seems your desktop is on a sunny beach, or a mountain peak, a train, ...
• abledon 8y ago
  change your job to something different. if in a year or so you don't like it. change again. Change into a job where its social.
• Zenst 8y ago
  Plants, lots of plants. Cactus also good, least back in the CRT days as they helped absorb emissions. This and headphones with your music. Also and above all, do take regular breaks and plenty of virtual cigarettes (as in going thru the process but not smoking - as in just get out of the office for a few minutes).
  • mikro2nd 8y ago
    Came to say just this. Also, add a desk-lamp with a solar-immitating/"daylight" spectrum. (In the bad old days of incandescent bulbs that was one of the blue "daylight" bulbls. I don't know what the LED equivalent would be.)
    • jimnotgym 8y ago
      Have a look at the Phillips range at any popular electronics store. You can have any colour you like (except black)
  • DonHopkins 8y ago
    Back in the day I developed a Palm app for taking virtual smoking breaks: https://i.imgur.com/7FlQ6Bj.jpg https://i.imgur.com/7FlQ6Bj.jpg
  • EForEndeavour 8y ago
    > Cactus also good, least back in the CRT days as they helped absorb emissions. I've never heard of this; could you elaborate? What health-relevant emissions do CRTs give out, and how would having a cactus in the vicinity of the CRT help?
    • Zenst 8y ago
      https://emfacademy.com/5-indoor-plants-that-absorb-radiation/ https://emfacademy.com/5-indoor-plants-that-absorb-radiation...
      • EForEndeavour 8y ago
• bluthru 8y ago
  Make sure you step outside for lunch everyday, even if you pack your own lunch.
• shodan666 8y ago
  Why do you care what is around you? You are supposed to WORK at your workplace. And as programmer all you need to do is look at the screen. Job is NOT suppose to be fun. Solution: just focus on your job and your time fill fly very very fast. THEN you can carry on with fun activities. Listing to music doesn't hurt tho.
• scarecrowbob 8y ago
  I know it's a crappy answer, but "change jobs". Making a dysfunctional situation work is way more difficult than just finding a different situation. The good thing is that compared to folks who are plumbers or truck drivers or cooks, it's much easier to do that for folks working on code. It is wholly anecdotal, but the biggest quality of life improvement I've ever had was finding a full-time, 100% remote job that had good boundaries on how much work was expected. At this point, I've negotiated the workload to 30 hours a week and I can sit in an environment that I've setup with only my personal needs in mind. The pay and benefits are not as good as they would be for the same job with a larger company, but the work is still fun and interesting and expectations on quality are very high. I had to join a climbing gym because I want to find folks to socialize with, but that's had a lot of other good benefits.
• DoubleCribble 8y ago
  Anecdotal quick fix: Adding a sit/stand desk[0] and regularly switching posture throughout the day has personally resulted in significant improvements both mentally and physically. [0]https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=122&cp_id=12240&cs_id=1224001&p_id=33384&seq=1&format=2 https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=122&cp_id=12240&cs_id...
• Forge36 8y ago
  Ask for laptop, work next to Windows. Ask for work at home days, remote in. No luck? Design on paper first, write out your ideas. Spend time in sun outside writing. Wear graphics like headphones, listen to music, get a "sunlight" lamp. Bring a space heater, wear heavier shirts/sweaters. You might need to be the fun person. Invite the team on a hike, plan a picnic. Set a timer, 8 hours in? Just leave I don't want to suggest "change jobs". However: if you can't find a way to make your work better. Set an end date and go for three drastic change. If you can, move to a new city. Downsize your current living situation.
  • Forge36 8y ago
    Someone else suggested stoicism. Try meditating, take walking breaks (helps warm you up). Take a week cut all caffeine.
    • maxxxxx 8y ago
      You have to careful with stoicism. If you have nothing that feeds your soul then stoicism can also deplete your psychological reserves. There are plenty of stories of high ranking Buddhist teachers who had a breakdown after many years because they just pretended to be OK with their circumstances but deep down weren't. I used to work from home but the last 6 years I have worked in an office with brown cubes, no windows, tons of useless meetings, noise and I more and more realize that this is starting to eat me up from the inside. I think I am pretty good at dealing with adversity, I live healthily, I exercise, I meditate, but this is slowly killing my spirit and my motivation. I don't think changing my attitude would help.
  • HenryBemis 8y ago
    +1 on change jobs/employer/go remote. If this is not feasible it could be that you 'just' need to change the room/floor/corner of the building. Perhaps move closer to a window. Something facing West will give you natural light after 11am, or East for the early walk-ins. I remember I was working in one of them new skyscrappers in London a few months ago. We were given a meeting room so the whole team can stick together for a massive project. The room's name was "engine room". EVERYONE was sick all the time. The room was cold, with minimal light, and we were pulling 12 hours shifts in there. The £ was great, but we all almost got pneumonia. When that project was finished and we were "free" to wander on other floors (or work remotely), I found a desk right next to the windows and haven't coughed since.
• microcolonel 8y ago
  If talk to boss, then change jobs if there's no remedy, is not an option: Maybe try getting better quality lights in your cubicle, and adding a few medium sized potted plants. I put some high CRI LED lights and some ferns and such in my nook at one of my workplaces, and it made a pretty big difference in my mood. The lights I've gotten from YujiLEDs[0] tend to work well, and measure well for this purpose, but they're pricier than commodity LEDs. [0]: https://store.yujiintl.com/ https://store.yujiintl.com/
• PhasmaFelis 8y ago
  > coworkers are quiet at least, but not welcoming or fun At my current job, I'm making an effort to invite my coworkers to lunch once or twice a week. Chances are they feel just as unwelcomed as you do. It only takes one person to break the ice, and it makes a difference.
• redcalx 8y ago
  Maybe a longish walk at lunchtime? Depends on where the office is of course.
  • HenryBemis 8y ago
    I remember in HP/Compaq offices in Houston when we wanted to take a break, we were going for a walk; anyone who has been in those HQ knows what I mean. A 45mins (slow) walk around the entire thing, and you could see anything from boring offices to assembly lines from that promenade!
• maxander 8y ago
  I hope someone with authority over their company's office leasing/layout planning see's this and the various replies- th overwhelming sentiment is approximately "engineers hate dreary corporate office design to the point where they'll quit over it." Set up an office in a nice building with high-quality architecture[1] and you'll be able to retain a much higher degree of engineer, per-dollar. Maybe the tradeoff doesn't work in SF's insane property market, but anywhere else it seems like a no-brainer. [1] Which for some reason almost always means buildings that are more than half a century old- our culture has gone big into the dreary corporate office building thing.
• Angostura 8y ago
  Buy yourself a nice plant
• z3t4 8y ago
  As the rock-star programmer I am, I like to dance while I code. Jokes asides, it does get more blood to your brain and work becomes more fun. If coworkers find it annoying, just ask for your own office. But be careful if you have a funny manager or you might get an elevated glass cubicle.
• FooHentai 8y ago
  Daylight lamps make a big difference to my mood. Placing on of those on the side of your desk may help with mood and making the working space feel less cooped up. Plants are also a great idea. If you have a fixed desk location you can get pretty elaborate with fairly high-maintenance potted plants (since you're next to them all the time). Scheduling exercise during your lunch break, if possible, should also help.
• lvs 8y ago
  An actual recommendation I got from a boss once: act dumber. If you look around, it actually works!
• lancefisher 8y ago
  From my experience, move to Missoula. Go running through the woods at lunch and work from home on occasion. It’s really a great place to live and work.