I’ve worked at a startup and a large big-tech-lite company during the pandemic and worked remotely off and on starting over a decade ago. I’m no stranger to rem

I’ve worked at a startup and a large big-tech-lite company during the pandemic and worked remotely off and on starting over a decade ago. I’m no stranger to remote work, but I’ve come to despise it after the pandemic forced it on everyone all the time. I’ve come to believe it’s absolutely critical for at least juniors to be in-office. The juniors I’ve seen start remotely take far longer to ramp up to speed than in office counterparts. It’s also far more painful for me to help them remotely and communicate via typing than look over their shoulder at their desk. Zoom, Slack, and friends are still a pathetic shadow of what they should be by now, and IMO inadequate. There are definite social downsides to full remote as well. When I started remotely at my current job my teammates really didn’t engage with me as well as I’m used to. That immediately changed when people finally became comfortable with an in person outing. Having a couple of beers with your colleagues makes you an actual person in their mind instead of some abstract avatar that’s so much easier to blow off. Full time in person isn’t necessary either for SWEs, but if it were up to me I would make juniors be in-office and have seniors come in for at least a couple of days per quarter.