4 ms·

If you truly have never met an eng that complains about open office spaces, I submit that you have not worked in an environment where engineers feel safe to voi

by sky_rw 7y ago

If you truly have never met an eng that complains about open office spaces, I submit that you have not worked in an environment where engineers feel safe to voice their true personal opinions.

jarofgreen 7y ago
Agreed. Especially if when one kinda did once, they were told they might be autistic. Not that there is anything wrong with autism, but you can see how armchair psychiatry would put other people off discussing issues ever again.
- AmericanChopper 7y ago
  Where did you get the idea that I go around telling my coworkers that they’re autistic? I have somebody very close to me quite seriously affected by autism, and I simply see a very strong parallel between how they struggle with sensory issues in perfectly normal environments, and the HN trope of complaining about how open offices are too loud. I’ve worked in more than a hundred offices as a consultant, and the only one that was loud enough to be distracting was a particularly raucous sales floor. Contrary to the baseless conclusions you’ve drawn, the offices I’ve worked in where people enjoyed open-plan the most were the ones with the most open and supportive cultures. The real reason people tend to dislike open plan is screen privacy. If noise is the reason you don’t like it, then you either work in a very loud office, or you’re much more sensitive to sensory input than the average person.
  - jarofgreen 7y ago
    Fair enough then, good for you. Sorry if that was harsher than I should have worded it. I've seen things like that happen before tho, so there definitely are places where staff are afraid to speak up for that reason. > The real reason people tend to dislike open plan is screen privacy. Still going to call citation needed on you tho. I've heard many people complain in person, and this wasn't a big reason I heard. The last place I worked, almost every single person spent a lot of money on noise cancelling headphones.

by sky_rw 7y ago

If you truly have never met an eng that complains about open office spaces, I submit that you have not worked in an environment where engineers feel safe to voice their true personal opinions.

jarofgreen 7y ago

Agreed. Especially if when one kinda did once, they were told they might be autistic. Not that there is anything wrong with autism, but you can see how armchair psychiatry would put other people off discussing issues ever again.

AmericanChopper 7y ago
Where did you get the idea that I go around telling my coworkers that they’re autistic? I have somebody very close to me quite seriously affected by autism, and I simply see a very strong parallel between how they struggle with sensory issues in perfectly normal environments, and the HN trope of complaining about how open offices are too loud. I’ve worked in more than a hundred offices as a consultant, and the only one that was loud enough to be distracting was a particularly raucous sales floor. Contrary to the baseless conclusions you’ve drawn, the offices I’ve worked in where people enjoyed open-plan the most were the ones with the most open and supportive cultures. The real reason people tend to dislike open plan is screen privacy. If noise is the reason you don’t like it, then you either work in a very loud office, or you’re much more sensitive to sensory input than the average person.
- jarofgreen 7y ago
  Fair enough then, good for you. Sorry if that was harsher than I should have worded it. I've seen things like that happen before tho, so there definitely are places where staff are afraid to speak up for that reason. > The real reason people tend to dislike open plan is screen privacy. Still going to call citation needed on you tho. I've heard many people complain in person, and this wasn't a big reason I heard. The last place I worked, almost every single person spent a lot of money on noise cancelling headphones.