3 ms·

I wonder if this will last after the pandemic is over. If if ever ends.

by adamnemecek 5y ago

exdsq 5y ago
Access to the global talent pool and no costs on offices? Sounds pretty good to me!
- echelon 5y ago
  > Access to the global talent pool Great for companies. Great for non-Americans. Not so great for Americans earning high wages. This is what happened to our manufacturing sector, and it's absolutely gunning for our knowledge work. It's inevitable.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
tibbar 5y ago
One of the side effects of the pandemic is that there is now a global remote-first tech workforce. Working remotely is a skill that companies might not have wanted to gamble on their people learning, but now everyone has this skill. There's momentum in this direction now and changing it would actually require increased costs for many companies - more office space, fewer employees in low-cost areas, etc.
- jrockway 5y ago
  I like remote work and all, but to be completely honest, I'm not sure we've figured it out yet. All that we've gotten is forced equality; we aren't bringing in remote workers as second class citizens relative to the people that work in the office. That's a good start, and probably a necessary step on the way towards a "tipping point". But people don't have the same rapport that they do in person, decisions are tedious and contentious, and knowledge sharing is harder. We still have much to figure out, and it will be easy for someone to say "figuring it out isn't for us".
  - alar44 5y ago
    As someone who worked for an MSP during the pandemic for a large variety of different businesses... it's figured out. VPN, email, OneDrive/SharePoint, videoconferencing. Unless your job is "guy who gives hugs to people in the office" it's just not that hard. Management just thinks it's icky.
paxys 5y ago
I'd say the pandemic only accelerated the trend which was already in place. My company is headquartered in the Bay Area and the majority of the staff live here, but over the last ~4 years the bulk of our engineering hiring (I'd say over 80%) has been in other offices.

I wonder if this will last after the pandemic is over. If if ever ends.

exdsq 5y ago

Access to the global talent pool and no costs on offices? Sounds pretty good to me!

echelon 5y ago
> Access to the global talent pool Great for companies. Great for non-Americans. Not so great for Americans earning high wages. This is what happened to our manufacturing sector, and it's absolutely gunning for our knowledge work. It's inevitable.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

tibbar 5y ago

One of the side effects of the pandemic is that there is now a global remote-first tech workforce. Working remotely is a skill that companies might not have wanted to gamble on their people learning, but now everyone has this skill. There's momentum in this direction now and changing it would actually require increased costs for many companies - more office space, fewer employees in low-cost areas, etc.

jrockway 5y ago
I like remote work and all, but to be completely honest, I'm not sure we've figured it out yet. All that we've gotten is forced equality; we aren't bringing in remote workers as second class citizens relative to the people that work in the office. That's a good start, and probably a necessary step on the way towards a "tipping point". But people don't have the same rapport that they do in person, decisions are tedious and contentious, and knowledge sharing is harder. We still have much to figure out, and it will be easy for someone to say "figuring it out isn't for us".
- alar44 5y ago
  As someone who worked for an MSP during the pandemic for a large variety of different businesses... it's figured out. VPN, email, OneDrive/SharePoint, videoconferencing. Unless your job is "guy who gives hugs to people in the office" it's just not that hard. Management just thinks it's icky.

paxys 5y ago

I'd say the pandemic only accelerated the trend which was already in place. My company is headquartered in the Bay Area and the majority of the staff live here, but over the last ~4 years the bulk of our engineering hiring (I'd say over 80%) has been in other offices.