4 ms·

I've worked in offices for about 15 years and I've never had a specialized environment even close to as good as the one I have at home. Most companies flat out

I've worked in offices for about 15 years and I've never had a specialized environment even close to as good as the one I have at home. Most companies flat out made us use Windows workstations, even though 100% of our work was developing for Unix/Linux and not for Windows. Another company allowed Linux workstations but only CentOS, and we were stuck with 6 until years after 7 was released. Finally there was the company that let me use whatever software I wanted, but had fixed-height desks that were simply too low to fit my knees underneath. Aside from that, it was the best place I've ever worked, but I had to quit after less than a year because my posture was getting noticeably worse just from having to use that desk. Now I work at home and everything is set up perfectly. I'll never go back to an office, even though I have to give up more than half of my potential income to work at home, it's just not worth it.

souprock 7y ago
The quick fix for desk height is 4 or 8 concrete blocks. You can get half-thickness concrete blocks to make the height 0.5 or 1.5 blocks. For most people, 2 blocks lying flat with the holes horizontal is enough for standing at the desk.
- skookum 7y ago
  At Amazon, for their legendary door desks, the solution was almost this. You'd open a facilities ticket and eventually a guy with a glue gun and slices of 4x4s in various heights would show up. He'd pick the slice height necessary to get your desk to the right height, place a drop of glue on each slice, crawl under your desk and raise it with his shoulders while sliding the slices into place under the legs.
- boring_twenties 7y ago
  This wouldn't have worked at this place because the entire row's was physically one long desk.
thrower123 7y ago
> Finally there was the company that let me use whatever software I wanted, but had fixed-height desks that were simply too low to fit my knees underneath. Aside from that, it was the best place I've ever worked, but I had to quit after less than a year because my posture was getting noticeably worse just from having to use that desk. I have broken down and just grabbed some bricks or cinder blocks to jack up such desks in the past. It does make me wonder why so many businesses draw the line and refuse to spend a couple hundred dollars to keep an employee that they are spending six figures on happy. This kind of penny-wise, pound-foolish thinking is endemic.
- boring_twenties 7y ago
  I couldn't adjust the height of just my desk, it was physically one long piece for the entire row of 5 people.
mech422 7y ago
I find the same...I have a lifetime of equipment, specifically configured for how I work in my home office. Everything from ergo keyboards to multiple os/servers/monitors. I hate working on any other setup - typical office gear just can't compare. Also, with all the cloud stuff, I don't even have to go to the data center anymore, further reducing my need to be on-site. P.S. Lots of places open to tele-commute. You should NOT have to give up half your income to do it. If you get tired of the current gig, I'm sure you'll find a remote position with a competitive salary.
- boring_twenties 7y ago
  Well, competitive is relative, right? It seems to me the going rate in tech hubs is around $400k/yr. I have seen some pretty sweet remote gigs but not yet one that pays that.
  - mech422 7y ago
    Actually - thats total compensation. Its usually around $150-175K cash + stock. And 150K remote jobs are definitely available...AWS was just hiring TAMs at that range. AWS does require travel to onboard new clients though - so its more like 75% remote
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - boring_twenties 7y ago
      Well yes, it's total compensation. That's the only number that matters at the end of the day. $150k remote job with no bonus or stock is still less than half of a $400k total comp package.
      - RussianCow 7y ago
        It can matter a little because of vesting schedules—you don't typically get the stock/bonuses as soon as you start, and it can take ~4 years (depending on the company) to start getting the full comp package. So if you leave a year after joining, you might get very little of the non-salary compensation and the final number may be closer to $150k than $400k. That said, unless you're not planning on sticking around for very long, I agree that the total compensation number is the one that ultimately matters.
saltcured 7y ago
One advantage of the academic/university space is that you may have HR policies where anybody can request an ergonomics review and have facilities provide an appropriate setup. You also often use project-specific funds and have more control over things like computer and monitor purchases. Up and down my office hallway, I can spot height adjustable or convertible standing/sitting desks, various flavors of adjustable chairs, several kinds of adjustable monitor or laptop stand, as well as a wide range of monitor sizes and orientations.
esotericn 7y ago
It sounds more like you're better off with remote work because it allows you to escape a dysfunctional local market. I prefer remote work too, but I'd get sacked before allowing some PHB to dictate my OS, or sit at some weird communal longdesk. It's so far from my experience as to seem like a joke. You spent a _year_ at a place that made you sit at a fucking desk that doesn't fit you? My god.
- boring_twenties 7y ago
  The large companies I've worked at don't even have the notion of letting you install your own OS. You ask the IT department for a workstation, they image you one and give it to you. That's it. If you're a senior developer with friends in the right places, you can get administrator access. > You spent a _year_ at a place that made you sit at a fucking desk that doesn't fit you? My god. Sounds pretty ridiculous when you put it that way, yes :) but after all, what do we expect them to do? Tell the office manager that her beautiful design had to be screwed with just because of some senior engineer doesn't fit there?
  - swish_bob 7y ago
    > what do we expect them to do? Tell the office manager that her beautiful design had to be screwed with just because of some senior engineer doesn't fit there? Yes. Literally that. Seriously. I ruined my hearing sitting in a server room for a year when I was younger. Don't fuck up your body for any company, you will regret it. Also most countries have accessibility legislation of some sort. It's not just for "disabled" people, this sort of thing is normally explicitly part of it.
  - esotericn 7y ago
    I expect them to find another employee. Or not. It's really not my problem. I work for companies and clients that respect their staff. We both do better that way.

souprock 7y ago

The quick fix for desk height is 4 or 8 concrete blocks. You can get half-thickness concrete blocks to make the height 0.5 or 1.5 blocks. For most people, 2 blocks lying flat with the holes horizontal is enough for standing at the desk.

skookum 7y ago
At Amazon, for their legendary door desks, the solution was almost this. You'd open a facilities ticket and eventually a guy with a glue gun and slices of 4x4s in various heights would show up. He'd pick the slice height necessary to get your desk to the right height, place a drop of glue on each slice, crawl under your desk and raise it with his shoulders while sliding the slices into place under the legs.
boring_twenties 7y ago
This wouldn't have worked at this place because the entire row's was physically one long desk.

thrower123 7y ago

> Finally there was the company that let me use whatever software I wanted, but had fixed-height desks that were simply too low to fit my knees underneath. Aside from that, it was the best place I've ever worked, but I had to quit after less than a year because my posture was getting noticeably worse just from having to use that desk. I have broken down and just grabbed some bricks or cinder blocks to jack up such desks in the past. It does make me wonder why so many businesses draw the line and refuse to spend a couple hundred dollars to keep an employee that they are spending six figures on happy. This kind of penny-wise, pound-foolish thinking is endemic.

boring_twenties 7y ago
I couldn't adjust the height of just my desk, it was physically one long piece for the entire row of 5 people.

mech422 7y ago

I find the same...I have a lifetime of equipment, specifically configured for how I work in my home office. Everything from ergo keyboards to multiple os/servers/monitors. I hate working on any other setup - typical office gear just can't compare. Also, with all the cloud stuff, I don't even have to go to the data center anymore, further reducing my need to be on-site. P.S. Lots of places open to tele-commute. You should NOT have to give up half your income to do it. If you get tired of the current gig, I'm sure you'll find a remote position with a competitive salary.

boring_twenties 7y ago
Well, competitive is relative, right? It seems to me the going rate in tech hubs is around $400k/yr. I have seen some pretty sweet remote gigs but not yet one that pays that.
- mech422 7y ago
  Actually - thats total compensation. Its usually around $150-175K cash + stock. And 150K remote jobs are definitely available...AWS was just hiring TAMs at that range. AWS does require travel to onboard new clients though - so its more like 75% remote
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - boring_twenties 7y ago
    Well yes, it's total compensation. That's the only number that matters at the end of the day. $150k remote job with no bonus or stock is still less than half of a $400k total comp package.
    - RussianCow 7y ago
      It can matter a little because of vesting schedules—you don't typically get the stock/bonuses as soon as you start, and it can take ~4 years (depending on the company) to start getting the full comp package. So if you leave a year after joining, you might get very little of the non-salary compensation and the final number may be closer to $150k than $400k. That said, unless you're not planning on sticking around for very long, I agree that the total compensation number is the one that ultimately matters.

saltcured 7y ago

One advantage of the academic/university space is that you may have HR policies where anybody can request an ergonomics review and have facilities provide an appropriate setup. You also often use project-specific funds and have more control over things like computer and monitor purchases. Up and down my office hallway, I can spot height adjustable or convertible standing/sitting desks, various flavors of adjustable chairs, several kinds of adjustable monitor or laptop stand, as well as a wide range of monitor sizes and orientations.

esotericn 7y ago

It sounds more like you're better off with remote work because it allows you to escape a dysfunctional local market. I prefer remote work too, but I'd get sacked before allowing some PHB to dictate my OS, or sit at some weird communal longdesk. It's so far from my experience as to seem like a joke. You spent a _year_ at a place that made you sit at a fucking desk that doesn't fit you? My god.

boring_twenties 7y ago
The large companies I've worked at don't even have the notion of letting you install your own OS. You ask the IT department for a workstation, they image you one and give it to you. That's it. If you're a senior developer with friends in the right places, you can get administrator access. > You spent a _year_ at a place that made you sit at a fucking desk that doesn't fit you? My god. Sounds pretty ridiculous when you put it that way, yes :) but after all, what do we expect them to do? Tell the office manager that her beautiful design had to be screwed with just because of some senior engineer doesn't fit there?
- swish_bob 7y ago
  > what do we expect them to do? Tell the office manager that her beautiful design had to be screwed with just because of some senior engineer doesn't fit there? Yes. Literally that. Seriously. I ruined my hearing sitting in a server room for a year when I was younger. Don't fuck up your body for any company, you will regret it. Also most countries have accessibility legislation of some sort. It's not just for "disabled" people, this sort of thing is normally explicitly part of it.
- esotericn 7y ago
  I expect them to find another employee. Or not. It's really not my problem. I work for companies and clients that respect their staff. We both do better that way.