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I work on my company-issued laptop. I do it sitting on my couch that I already had anyway, or at my kitchen table that I already had, or in my car that I alr

I work on my company-issued laptop. I do it sitting on my couch that I already had anyway, or at my kitchen table that I already had, or in my car that I already had, or in the public library where I can go for free, or in the shade of a tree on top of a hill kept as open space by the town where I live. Clearly, there is nothing much that I could be reimbursed for. So my question is, why are so many people so different from me in this respect?

ctvo 5y ago
It's great you're able to do your work with only a laptop. Many of us require a few more things, since we spend 6+ hours a day working, like a quality monitor, desk and chair. Not only that, since we share our space with others (roommates, significant other, children), we may need a dedicated space to not be disturbed. So my question is why is the above difficult to understand?
- chrisseaton 5y ago
  Don't you have a home office anyway with a monitor, desk, and chair for normal life things? For managing your finances, writing to people, planning projects, working on hobbies, and so on?
  - derekp7 5y ago
    I'm actually surprised by the number of people I work with that only work off their company-issued laptop (when remote). For myself, I've always had a dedicated office space. But when I went full WFH after a couple weeks my back was hurting bad. I thought my chair was decent but it was a sub $100 chair from Walmart or OfficeMax or similar. Upgraded to a SteelCase chair ($700), and my back has never felt better.
  - UncleMeat 5y ago
    When I lived in a 1BR with my partner, there was no space for a monitor, desk, and chair. We did all computing on our laptops. My experience with most people who lived in the bay area or nyc prior to the pandemic was that they definitely did not have a dedicated space for a desktop setup.
  - Jyaif 5y ago
    Having a "home office" is not common for people that live in apartments in cities with a high cost of living.
  - jlokier 5y ago
    What you're describing sounds luxurious, but perhaps you mean just the basics, a corner in a room. Often when people say home office they mean a dedicated room, and that's not available to a lot of people. I've wanted a home office for years, as in a small dedicated room, but not lived in a home with enough free space. Right now I do have a setup like you've described due to pandemic lockdown - but it's right next to my bed. I don't like the commute, it's too short, and it's not much of a thinking space. It has not been realistic to work on my preferred non-software hobbies for a long time, as I need decent bench space, ventilation, and to be fair to the neighbours, no neighbours. But I like cities and people too much to want to live in the middle of nowhere. I'm a pacer in better times. I look at pictures of big spaces like the empty Apple building and just imagine walking around all day while doing my thinking occasionally stopping at a desk to break out the laptop. If they ever solve programming while walking I'll be excited to be at the head of the queue. Before the pandemic I tended to work in libraries and coffee shops, except when working with local clients on their projects, then I'd use their facilities. Interesting labs and workshops, I like those. I'm tentatively excited though. I just agreed to a real small office rental. Where I live these are surprisingly rare. I'm looking forward to doing my work, my hobbies and my finances there, instead of at home. I'm looking forward to a decent, private thinking space, where I can write on my own whiteboard. Living the dream! Maybe I'll even start writing to people.
  - gravypod 5y ago
    > Don't you have a home office anyway with a monitor, desk, and chair for normal life things? I'm 24 and just starting out my career but currently a house is completely out of my price range. I live in NJ and the cheapest house around is ~340k + ~15k/year tax. That's going to be well outside of my purchasing power for quite some time in the future. I currently live alone in a 1br apartment. > For managing your finances, writing to people, planning projects, working on hobbies, and so on? Many of the people around my age are living either at home with their parents or with their significant other + roommates. It's very difficult to find space for 2+ people's desks in a 1br apartment. If, however, people were guaranteed WFH available positions for some time and we could disperse so that all software engineers aren't crammed into ~6 cities in the world it would be fairly easy for me to get a mortgage on a house in the middle of nowhere for less than what I currently pay on rent [0]. ~3 acres of land, 3 rooms, 2 floors. It's a dream. I'm personally looking forward to the "fan-out" of talent in the US. As people relocate startups might even start popping up in random locations around the US. People in my age range might be able to start affording houses. [0] - https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/88-Rambler-Rd-Thomasville-PA-17364/60436927_zpid/ https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/88-Rambler-Rd-Thomasville...
- swiley 5y ago
  The company I work for already had a much more expensive chair and monitor than I would buy and let me just take them home. I'd be surprised if that was unusual.
wpm 5y ago
I couldn’t do my work on a laptop in a car. I don’t even like to eat in a car. I deal with confidential materials I doubt I’d want to work on in a place like the library, and need very high speed Internet to be productive. I need a separate space for work otherwise I very quickly devolve into depressing “work from bed” scenarios and end up working all day. I need a place that clearly signals “work” and “not work”. I’d never want to infect my kitchen with work bullshit. That’s my happy place.
faxmeyourcode 5y ago
A good standing desk, a good chair, 2 or 3 other monitors. These are all standard at my office, but I had to give them up working from home. Total investment if I would have replicated my office environment would have been 2 to 4 thousand USD easily.
- tolbish 5y ago
  Why didn't you take those monitors home with you? Wouldn't they otherwise go sitting unused at the office?
  - Rebelgecko 5y ago
    At my company in California IIRC we were told that we were being sent home for just for the duration of a 2 week lockdown. Some people took this at face value. The amount of hardware I'd be willing to haul home for 2 weeks vs 18 months is very different.
    - tolbish 5y ago
      So then pick up your hardware when you learn that it will be longer than 2 weeks.
      - Rebelgecko 5y ago
        Office was closed except for essential pickups (like medication)
  - faxmeyourcode 5y ago
    They were installed and mounted to the desk in such a way that it would have been a nontrivial task getting them home. I'm at a large company and they didn't want us going home with them unfortunately.
UncleMeat 5y ago
> So my question is, why are so many people so different from me in this respect? Ergonomics are important. Working from my couch on a laptop would destroy my hands. There are other people in my house that need to access the couch and kitchen table. Working from these locations interferes with their lives. There is no wifi on top of the hill.
sleepybrett 5y ago
My current employer tuned a couple of our current benefits to more remote appropriate when the pandemic hit. Our commuter benefit was turned into a home office equipment benefit and another heath and wellness spending benefit got expanded to cover homeoffice stuff as well.
schwartzworld 5y ago
They have different homes, setups, jobs and bodies? I can't work on my couch for more than an hour or two, so I had to set up an office space, and sometimes for UI work I need a monitor. I could do it in the dining room, but I eat there with my family. Working in the car or under a tree is similarly limiting (and why would you want to work in the car?) Maybe even more limiting when you account for bad weather, sun glare and lack of outlets. Libraries near me haven't had workspaces or even seating for a year now. I wouldn't want to do my job on their wifi anyway. I'
m-p-3 5y ago
Personally I got used to two monitors, and I find laptops to be ergonomically awful if used for an extended amount of time. If I'm going to work on a computer for 8 hours a day, I want to make sure I'm not hurting my body with a bad posture. A good chair, a desk suited to my height and monitors set at the correct height is important.

ctvo 5y ago

It's great you're able to do your work with only a laptop. Many of us require a few more things, since we spend 6+ hours a day working, like a quality monitor, desk and chair. Not only that, since we share our space with others (roommates, significant other, children), we may need a dedicated space to not be disturbed. So my question is why is the above difficult to understand?

chrisseaton 5y ago
Don't you have a home office anyway with a monitor, desk, and chair for normal life things? For managing your finances, writing to people, planning projects, working on hobbies, and so on?
- derekp7 5y ago
  I'm actually surprised by the number of people I work with that only work off their company-issued laptop (when remote). For myself, I've always had a dedicated office space. But when I went full WFH after a couple weeks my back was hurting bad. I thought my chair was decent but it was a sub $100 chair from Walmart or OfficeMax or similar. Upgraded to a SteelCase chair ($700), and my back has never felt better.
- UncleMeat 5y ago
  When I lived in a 1BR with my partner, there was no space for a monitor, desk, and chair. We did all computing on our laptops. My experience with most people who lived in the bay area or nyc prior to the pandemic was that they definitely did not have a dedicated space for a desktop setup.
- Jyaif 5y ago
  Having a "home office" is not common for people that live in apartments in cities with a high cost of living.
- jlokier 5y ago
  What you're describing sounds luxurious, but perhaps you mean just the basics, a corner in a room. Often when people say home office they mean a dedicated room, and that's not available to a lot of people. I've wanted a home office for years, as in a small dedicated room, but not lived in a home with enough free space. Right now I do have a setup like you've described due to pandemic lockdown - but it's right next to my bed. I don't like the commute, it's too short, and it's not much of a thinking space. It has not been realistic to work on my preferred non-software hobbies for a long time, as I need decent bench space, ventilation, and to be fair to the neighbours, no neighbours. But I like cities and people too much to want to live in the middle of nowhere. I'm a pacer in better times. I look at pictures of big spaces like the empty Apple building and just imagine walking around all day while doing my thinking occasionally stopping at a desk to break out the laptop. If they ever solve programming while walking I'll be excited to be at the head of the queue. Before the pandemic I tended to work in libraries and coffee shops, except when working with local clients on their projects, then I'd use their facilities. Interesting labs and workshops, I like those. I'm tentatively excited though. I just agreed to a real small office rental. Where I live these are surprisingly rare. I'm looking forward to doing my work, my hobbies and my finances there, instead of at home. I'm looking forward to a decent, private thinking space, where I can write on my own whiteboard. Living the dream! Maybe I'll even start writing to people.
- gravypod 5y ago
  > Don't you have a home office anyway with a monitor, desk, and chair for normal life things? I'm 24 and just starting out my career but currently a house is completely out of my price range. I live in NJ and the cheapest house around is ~340k + ~15k/year tax. That's going to be well outside of my purchasing power for quite some time in the future. I currently live alone in a 1br apartment. > For managing your finances, writing to people, planning projects, working on hobbies, and so on? Many of the people around my age are living either at home with their parents or with their significant other + roommates. It's very difficult to find space for 2+ people's desks in a 1br apartment. If, however, people were guaranteed WFH available positions for some time and we could disperse so that all software engineers aren't crammed into ~6 cities in the world it would be fairly easy for me to get a mortgage on a house in the middle of nowhere for less than what I currently pay on rent [0]. ~3 acres of land, 3 rooms, 2 floors. It's a dream. I'm personally looking forward to the "fan-out" of talent in the US. As people relocate startups might even start popping up in random locations around the US. People in my age range might be able to start affording houses. [0] - https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/88-Rambler-Rd-Thomasville-PA-17364/60436927_zpid/ https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/88-Rambler-Rd-Thomasville...
swiley 5y ago
The company I work for already had a much more expensive chair and monitor than I would buy and let me just take them home. I'd be surprised if that was unusual.

wpm 5y ago

I couldn’t do my work on a laptop in a car. I don’t even like to eat in a car. I deal with confidential materials I doubt I’d want to work on in a place like the library, and need very high speed Internet to be productive. I need a separate space for work otherwise I very quickly devolve into depressing “work from bed” scenarios and end up working all day. I need a place that clearly signals “work” and “not work”. I’d never want to infect my kitchen with work bullshit. That’s my happy place.

faxmeyourcode 5y ago

A good standing desk, a good chair, 2 or 3 other monitors. These are all standard at my office, but I had to give them up working from home. Total investment if I would have replicated my office environment would have been 2 to 4 thousand USD easily.

tolbish 5y ago
Why didn't you take those monitors home with you? Wouldn't they otherwise go sitting unused at the office?
- Rebelgecko 5y ago
  At my company in California IIRC we were told that we were being sent home for just for the duration of a 2 week lockdown. Some people took this at face value. The amount of hardware I'd be willing to haul home for 2 weeks vs 18 months is very different.
  - tolbish 5y ago
    So then pick up your hardware when you learn that it will be longer than 2 weeks.
    - Rebelgecko 5y ago
      Office was closed except for essential pickups (like medication)
- faxmeyourcode 5y ago
  They were installed and mounted to the desk in such a way that it would have been a nontrivial task getting them home. I'm at a large company and they didn't want us going home with them unfortunately.

UncleMeat 5y ago

> So my question is, why are so many people so different from me in this respect? Ergonomics are important. Working from my couch on a laptop would destroy my hands. There are other people in my house that need to access the couch and kitchen table. Working from these locations interferes with their lives. There is no wifi on top of the hill.

sleepybrett 5y ago

My current employer tuned a couple of our current benefits to more remote appropriate when the pandemic hit. Our commuter benefit was turned into a home office equipment benefit and another heath and wellness spending benefit got expanded to cover homeoffice stuff as well.

schwartzworld 5y ago

They have different homes, setups, jobs and bodies? I can't work on my couch for more than an hour or two, so I had to set up an office space, and sometimes for UI work I need a monitor. I could do it in the dining room, but I eat there with my family. Working in the car or under a tree is similarly limiting (and why would you want to work in the car?) Maybe even more limiting when you account for bad weather, sun glare and lack of outlets. Libraries near me haven't had workspaces or even seating for a year now. I wouldn't want to do my job on their wifi anyway. I'

m-p-3 5y ago

Personally I got used to two monitors, and I find laptops to be ergonomically awful if used for an extended amount of time. If I'm going to work on a computer for 8 hours a day, I want to make sure I'm not hurting my body with a bad posture. A good chair, a desk suited to my height and monitors set at the correct height is important.