3 ms·

I hate it. I get less work done, drop out of my schedule and start waking up five minutes before standup, don't recognise half my the people I work with, and ju

by strken 5y ago

I hate it. I get less work done, drop out of my schedule and start waking up five minutes before standup, don't recognise half my the people I work with, and just generally don't have a fun time. My commute is a 10 minute train ride followed by a 30 minute walk. I never realised it was actually a net positive, but it forces me to do a minimum amount of exercise every day, which significantly improves my life now we're back in the office.

julianlam 5y ago
Agreed. In my situation it's an hour long train ride that I use to do email catch up and general community engagement, so by the time I'm at the office, I'm ready to work. Whereas at home I have a toddler and a newborn climbing on me.
- sarchertech 5y ago
  If you were considering 2 equal job offers, one that was 5 minutes away, and one that was an hour away, you'd take the farther offer? >Whereas at home I have a toddler and a newborn climbing on me. You could always find a co-working space.
  - GekkePrutser 5y ago
    Where I live in a busy city these are also ubiquitous. But many people live in small towns where people have never heard of those. Just saying :)
    - sarchertech 5y ago
      The small town where I grew up in has one now. Also if you’re in a small town without a co-working space, there probably aren’t many software employers either. So you’re either working from home, commuting to an office, or commuting to a co-working space.
  - julianlam 5y ago
    No, I'm not insane, all things being equal of course I would take the closer job :) A co-working space was considered (and is still being considered), though we find our current strategy of 4 days wfh and one in-office day to be a good mix. Additional considerations involve the geographic make-up of our staff. This context, of course, wasn't in my original reply up above. My main point in my previous reply was to provide a counterpoint to the argument that a commute is completely wasted time, in specific situations, it can be very useful, and not wasted at all.
- Apocryphon 5y ago
  I understand kids can be a big distraction during the work day, but isn’t a good thing to have more time with them after work, without the hour lost to the commute? Isn’t it desirable to be nearby during their formative years?
  - julianlam 5y ago
    No. On the train ride home I sleep, because without it I am a literal zombie and one could make the argument that I am a worse parent. As is typical, another drive-by HN commenter will now say I should plan my day better, but without knowing my day, how can one judge?
    - Apocryphon 5y ago
      I don’t know anything about you, nor am I saying anything about you. I am simply speculating that parents would seek to maximize time with their children, having seen my share of poor WLB that keep parents at the office and away from their children.
      - julianlam 5y ago
        Yes, I know. I'm just being rather cynical at the moment. Given I'm at 50% work capacity right now, I actually do spend many hours of most days of the week with my children. I'm not saying there's a recommended maximum of time to spend (24 hours a day seems to be the ideal number recommended by mommy blogs), but after a certain point, I am out of energy to thoughtfully and meaningfully engage with my children. It really puts into perspective the work childhood educators do on a daily basis, actually.
        Apocryphon 5y ago
        That’s fair. Perhaps there’s a tendency to lionize the preindustrial era, paleo parenting, that emphasizes maximum amount of time spent.
GekkePrutser 5y ago
That 10 min train ride is pretty exceptional though. I had about 20 on the metro + 20 walkwhich was amazing. In other jobs I've had 1 hour driving commutes which could go up to 3 hours due to heavy traffic in the area. It was absolutely exhausting and depressing. So this depends a lot of your circumstances. Also, many people love to drive. I hate it and it stresses me out especially when I'm stuck in traffic.
- strken 5y ago
  It's either a 40 minute commute with a 2km walk at the end, or a 40 minute commute involving a changeover to a bus. I never realised I could just... ignore Google maps and walk. Prior to this I've done 1hr+ public transport commutes, and I'm not willing to say they're a net positive, but they're better for me than no commute.
  - GekkePrutser 5y ago
    Oh yes I often ignore the whole metro and just walk. Especially since Covid. It's actually better than it sounds for me because the metro makes a huge detour during those 20 minutes. Walking is a lot shorter than the metro route. It takes me about 1 hour. 7km or so (some uphill though :) ) Problem is where I live it gets quite hot in summer and it makes a 1-hour walk after work exhausting. In winter I do it more often.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

by strken 5y ago

julianlam 5y ago

Agreed. In my situation it's an hour long train ride that I use to do email catch up and general community engagement, so by the time I'm at the office, I'm ready to work. Whereas at home I have a toddler and a newborn climbing on me.

sarchertech 5y ago
If you were considering 2 equal job offers, one that was 5 minutes away, and one that was an hour away, you'd take the farther offer? >Whereas at home I have a toddler and a newborn climbing on me. You could always find a co-working space.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  Where I live in a busy city these are also ubiquitous. But many people live in small towns where people have never heard of those. Just saying :)
  - sarchertech 5y ago
    The small town where I grew up in has one now. Also if you’re in a small town without a co-working space, there probably aren’t many software employers either. So you’re either working from home, commuting to an office, or commuting to a co-working space.
- julianlam 5y ago
  No, I'm not insane, all things being equal of course I would take the closer job :) A co-working space was considered (and is still being considered), though we find our current strategy of 4 days wfh and one in-office day to be a good mix. Additional considerations involve the geographic make-up of our staff. This context, of course, wasn't in my original reply up above. My main point in my previous reply was to provide a counterpoint to the argument that a commute is completely wasted time, in specific situations, it can be very useful, and not wasted at all.
Apocryphon 5y ago
I understand kids can be a big distraction during the work day, but isn’t a good thing to have more time with them after work, without the hour lost to the commute? Isn’t it desirable to be nearby during their formative years?
- julianlam 5y ago
  No. On the train ride home I sleep, because without it I am a literal zombie and one could make the argument that I am a worse parent. As is typical, another drive-by HN commenter will now say I should plan my day better, but without knowing my day, how can one judge?
  - Apocryphon 5y ago
    I don’t know anything about you, nor am I saying anything about you. I am simply speculating that parents would seek to maximize time with their children, having seen my share of poor WLB that keep parents at the office and away from their children.
    - julianlam 5y ago
      Yes, I know. I'm just being rather cynical at the moment. Given I'm at 50% work capacity right now, I actually do spend many hours of most days of the week with my children. I'm not saying there's a recommended maximum of time to spend (24 hours a day seems to be the ideal number recommended by mommy blogs), but after a certain point, I am out of energy to thoughtfully and meaningfully engage with my children. It really puts into perspective the work childhood educators do on a daily basis, actually.
      - Apocryphon 5y ago
        That’s fair. Perhaps there’s a tendency to lionize the preindustrial era, paleo parenting, that emphasizes maximum amount of time spent.

GekkePrutser 5y ago

That 10 min train ride is pretty exceptional though. I had about 20 on the metro + 20 walkwhich was amazing. In other jobs I've had 1 hour driving commutes which could go up to 3 hours due to heavy traffic in the area. It was absolutely exhausting and depressing. So this depends a lot of your circumstances. Also, many people love to drive. I hate it and it stresses me out especially when I'm stuck in traffic.

strken 5y ago
It's either a 40 minute commute with a 2km walk at the end, or a 40 minute commute involving a changeover to a bus. I never realised I could just... ignore Google maps and walk. Prior to this I've done 1hr+ public transport commutes, and I'm not willing to say they're a net positive, but they're better for me than no commute.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  Oh yes I often ignore the whole metro and just walk. Especially since Covid. It's actually better than it sounds for me because the metro makes a huge detour during those 20 minutes. Walking is a lot shorter than the metro route. It takes me about 1 hour. 7km or so (some uphill though :) ) Problem is where I live it gets quite hot in summer and it makes a 1-hour walk after work exhausting. In winter I do it more often.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]