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I feel like the unicorn where I both enjoyed my colleagues in the office and had a lot of fun. Was it _more_ productive? Hard to say but I could easily put on m

I feel like the unicorn where I both enjoyed my colleagues in the office and had a lot of fun. Was it _more_ productive? Hard to say but I could easily put on my headphones and work. The lack of visual privacy I realize but I would never say it hindered my work. Then again nobody was on me if I went on reddit for a bit because the tests are running. I think a bunch of people on hacker news are discounting how much more you can learn in an office with helpful colleagues. When I was a new developer I absorbed so much information in the office just from being able to ask people questions in person. Just from people overhearing a conversation I was having and saying "I think you probably want to do it like X instead" and explaining! In my opinion many people are discounting the development of newer engineers. I'm sure it can happen remotely but remote work requires more intentional coordination and that's one area that I doubt it's happening more effectively than in an office (on the whole). I'm not saying in person meetings are awesome but comparatively, interacting with other people is easier and more enjoyable as opposed to having the same meeting digitally.

urthor 4y ago
I agree, but it depends on a few factors. A hot desking setup where you can't sit next to your colleagues like OP described is a total waste of time.
tomtheelder 4y ago
I'm with you. I was at least as productive, and much happier. I never had audiovisual privacy, and it never bothered me. If I really needed to do something in private I could go to an empty meeting room or booth, or even just find a secluded couch spot or something. I was also able to learn a lot more from my peers and to build work type relationships much more efficiently, many of which have paid dividends over the course of my career. I can also clearly see that the junior engineers at my company are developing much slower than they did when we were in office. I'm pretty sure that can be rectified with better process, but I think it's really significant that being remote makes those sorts of things much harder, and when things are hard orgs will often get them badly wrong.
MrStonedOne 4y ago
BlargMcLarg 4y ago
If individuals can function under these circumstances or even like it, cool, fine, great. I just don't think it should be assumed everyone functions under these circumstances, or that someone who doesn't is dysfunctional, as pre-COVID almost made it seem. Managers seemed all to eager to discount anyone as "not a viable programmer" the moment they balked at the sound of an open office. >I think a bunch of people on hacker news are discounting how much more you can learn in an office with helpful colleagues It's tradeoffs, which I alluded to. It's not "you're forgetting X", it's more "are you really, really sure trading X against Y is the better deal here?" I'm young enough to have started in open offices, it was okay in the first few weeks and afterwards I started wondering whether being open to literally any passerby was worth the upgrade from IM to physical presence. The moment I heard open offices reduced personal interaction compared to cubicles was the moment I casted doubt on anything regarding open offices and their efficacy.
- Ataraxic 4y ago
  Sure I totally agree that people have different preferences. Do you have a link to the study which showed that open offices reduced personal interaction? That wasn't my experience and I'm wondering what their methodology was.
christophilus 4y ago
I loved aspects of my open office job. I had a few really good friends, and we'd play ping pong, video game, Frisbee, just goof off a whole lot. But I hated actually trying to work there. I think this varies dramatically based on many factors, such as ADHD, introversion, etc. When I really wanted to get work done, I'd go home even though work from home wasn't allowed. They never fired me or even reprimanded me because I think they knew the office environment was BS. Also, I was one of the most productive employees in the entire company, and that was due largely to me working from home.

urthor 4y ago

I agree, but it depends on a few factors. A hot desking setup where you can't sit next to your colleagues like OP described is a total waste of time.

tomtheelder 4y ago

I'm with you. I was at least as productive, and much happier. I never had audiovisual privacy, and it never bothered me. If I really needed to do something in private I could go to an empty meeting room or booth, or even just find a secluded couch spot or something. I was also able to learn a lot more from my peers and to build work type relationships much more efficiently, many of which have paid dividends over the course of my career. I can also clearly see that the junior engineers at my company are developing much slower than they did when we were in office. I'm pretty sure that can be rectified with better process, but I think it's really significant that being remote makes those sorts of things much harder, and when things are hard orgs will often get them badly wrong.

MrStonedOne 4y ago

BlargMcLarg 4y ago

If individuals can function under these circumstances or even like it, cool, fine, great. I just don't think it should be assumed everyone functions under these circumstances, or that someone who doesn't is dysfunctional, as pre-COVID almost made it seem. Managers seemed all to eager to discount anyone as "not a viable programmer" the moment they balked at the sound of an open office. >I think a bunch of people on hacker news are discounting how much more you can learn in an office with helpful colleagues It's tradeoffs, which I alluded to. It's not "you're forgetting X", it's more "are you really, really sure trading X against Y is the better deal here?" I'm young enough to have started in open offices, it was okay in the first few weeks and afterwards I started wondering whether being open to literally any passerby was worth the upgrade from IM to physical presence. The moment I heard open offices reduced personal interaction compared to cubicles was the moment I casted doubt on anything regarding open offices and their efficacy.

Ataraxic 4y ago
Sure I totally agree that people have different preferences. Do you have a link to the study which showed that open offices reduced personal interaction? That wasn't my experience and I'm wondering what their methodology was.

christophilus 4y ago

I loved aspects of my open office job. I had a few really good friends, and we'd play ping pong, video game, Frisbee, just goof off a whole lot. But I hated actually trying to work there. I think this varies dramatically based on many factors, such as ADHD, introversion, etc. When I really wanted to get work done, I'd go home even though work from home wasn't allowed. They never fired me or even reprimanded me because I think they knew the office environment was BS. Also, I was one of the most productive employees in the entire company, and that was due largely to me working from home.