4 ms·

I've worked my entire career in open plan offices and if I were ever asked to work in a US style cubicle farm I'd resign inmediately.

ramraj07 4y ago
The only thing that would be more in tune for a HN comment would be someone saying “if someone ever forces me to switch to a modern ide from eMacs I’ll quit immediately.”
- dbalatero 4y ago
  I'll play; if someone forced me to stop using Neovim I'd strongly _consider_ quitting.
- omnicognate 4y ago
  I wouldn't take the job in the first place :-D It's the first letter that's capitalised, BTW. "Emacs", not "eMacs".
  - wishfish 4y ago
    Gave me the fun thought that this person can only be productive working in Emacs on a vintage eMac.
simonjgreen 4y ago
Based on what? It sounds like you have no experience of that environment so this sounds very close minded
- ClumsyPilot 4y ago
  i am in agreement spiritually - they look depressing.
- omnicognate 4y ago
  I've visited a couple of cubicle farms in the US and spent a couple of weeks in a place in Sweden where everyone had a completely separate office. For me, workplaces are more depressing the more people are walled off from each other. I get that some people prefer to be alone, but these days why not work remotely?
  - dijit 4y ago
    Walls == focus. Leave your walls, collaborate in the collaboration areas, care less about how loud you're being when you get animated about something you're enjoying working on or your new ideas; because you're not killing the focus of the people in their focus areas. Good work requires variation, collaboration and focus. So, for me how it sounds when you say this is: "people who are given the capability to focus really bum me out"
    - omnicognate 4y ago
      That's a rather uncharitable way to interpret it. I've merely stated my own preferences, not judged others for theirs. Why would you think it's the fact that others are being given the capability to focus that bums me out like some sort of grinch, rather than (as is the case) that I don't like being physically blocked from interaction with the people around me? As for the requirements of "good work", those vary with the nature of the job. One of the reasons I've always worked in an open plan office, aside from them being much more common in the UK, is that I work in finance, often on or close to trading floors. That's not an environment that benefits from cubicles and I believe they're rare in this industry in the US too. But mainly, it's what I'm used to and what I like. I never said you had to feel the same.
Espressosaurus 4y ago
I've worked in cube farms and in open offices. Cube farms FTW. You can get over-the-wall collaboration on occasion without the visual distraction and the cubicle walls help dampen noise/conversation from further away. It's not as good as a closed office for heads down work, but it's a 100x improvement over open offices where you see every movement, hear every sound, and perpetually feel like you're on display. Open offices are there to save money because you can pack more people into them than cubicles. Cubicles are there to save money because you can pack more people into them than offices. If you like open offices, you'll love when they switch you to hoteling so you have no permanent desk, but still need to come into the office!
- carlmr 4y ago
  >If you like open offices, you'll love when they switch you to hoteling so you have no permanent desk, but still need to come into the office! One does not imply the other. I also prefer open office over cubicle. But not having a permanent desk could be done in a cubicle farm as well. It's an orthogonal dimension of corporate hell. I need my mise en place.
  - dbalatero 4y ago
    > I need my mise en place. Ah thank you for the concise distillation of my feeling.
    - carlmr 4y ago
      I read kitchen confidential by Anthony Bourdain and picked up this concept there, and I thought it was fitting for what I need to be productive.
  - Espressosaurus 4y ago
    They're all cost-cutting measures. It's a tradeoff between what the owners are willing to pay for the physical plant vs. what they think they can force down our throats without people walking out the door. It's the same axis when you look at it as "how do I fit X developers a space that costs Y dollars, and I'm trying to minimize Y."
JohnFen 4y ago
Fair enough. I quit an otherwise excellent job because they had an open office layout. I simply found it impossible to work effectively there, and it made me a nervous wreck.

ramraj07 4y ago

The only thing that would be more in tune for a HN comment would be someone saying “if someone ever forces me to switch to a modern ide from eMacs I’ll quit immediately.”

dbalatero 4y ago
I'll play; if someone forced me to stop using Neovim I'd strongly _consider_ quitting.
omnicognate 4y ago
I wouldn't take the job in the first place :-D It's the first letter that's capitalised, BTW. "Emacs", not "eMacs".
- wishfish 4y ago
  Gave me the fun thought that this person can only be productive working in Emacs on a vintage eMac.

simonjgreen 4y ago

Based on what? It sounds like you have no experience of that environment so this sounds very close minded

ClumsyPilot 4y ago
i am in agreement spiritually - they look depressing.
omnicognate 4y ago
I've visited a couple of cubicle farms in the US and spent a couple of weeks in a place in Sweden where everyone had a completely separate office. For me, workplaces are more depressing the more people are walled off from each other. I get that some people prefer to be alone, but these days why not work remotely?
- dijit 4y ago
  Walls == focus. Leave your walls, collaborate in the collaboration areas, care less about how loud you're being when you get animated about something you're enjoying working on or your new ideas; because you're not killing the focus of the people in their focus areas. Good work requires variation, collaboration and focus. So, for me how it sounds when you say this is: "people who are given the capability to focus really bum me out"
  - omnicognate 4y ago
    That's a rather uncharitable way to interpret it. I've merely stated my own preferences, not judged others for theirs. Why would you think it's the fact that others are being given the capability to focus that bums me out like some sort of grinch, rather than (as is the case) that I don't like being physically blocked from interaction with the people around me? As for the requirements of "good work", those vary with the nature of the job. One of the reasons I've always worked in an open plan office, aside from them being much more common in the UK, is that I work in finance, often on or close to trading floors. That's not an environment that benefits from cubicles and I believe they're rare in this industry in the US too. But mainly, it's what I'm used to and what I like. I never said you had to feel the same.

Espressosaurus 4y ago

I've worked in cube farms and in open offices. Cube farms FTW. You can get over-the-wall collaboration on occasion without the visual distraction and the cubicle walls help dampen noise/conversation from further away. It's not as good as a closed office for heads down work, but it's a 100x improvement over open offices where you see every movement, hear every sound, and perpetually feel like you're on display. Open offices are there to save money because you can pack more people into them than cubicles. Cubicles are there to save money because you can pack more people into them than offices. If you like open offices, you'll love when they switch you to hoteling so you have no permanent desk, but still need to come into the office!

carlmr 4y ago
>If you like open offices, you'll love when they switch you to hoteling so you have no permanent desk, but still need to come into the office! One does not imply the other. I also prefer open office over cubicle. But not having a permanent desk could be done in a cubicle farm as well. It's an orthogonal dimension of corporate hell. I need my mise en place.
- dbalatero 4y ago
  > I need my mise en place. Ah thank you for the concise distillation of my feeling.
  - carlmr 4y ago
    I read kitchen confidential by Anthony Bourdain and picked up this concept there, and I thought it was fitting for what I need to be productive.
- Espressosaurus 4y ago
  They're all cost-cutting measures. It's a tradeoff between what the owners are willing to pay for the physical plant vs. what they think they can force down our throats without people walking out the door. It's the same axis when you look at it as "how do I fit X developers a space that costs Y dollars, and I'm trying to minimize Y."

JohnFen 4y ago

Fair enough. I quit an otherwise excellent job because they had an open office layout. I simply found it impossible to work effectively there, and it made me a nervous wreck.