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The very term "work from home" suggests separation. That's the wrong model. This is not about introverts and extroverts. Working with a remote team is not a

The very term "work from home" suggests separation. That's the wrong model. This is not about introverts and extroverts. Working with a remote team is not a choice about whether to collaborate or not. When a team is set up properly, remote work is no less collaborative than any other kind of work. The tools are there, widely available, and free. Everyone on a team needs to be using them, yes, but duh. As near as I can tell, there is a shortage of talent. Smart companies will exploit the newly available infrastructure and realize that they can have "face time" remotely. Then, they'll have access to a much wider pool of talent. Win! Is it me or are silicon valley companies -- startups, in particular -- really not into hiring remote people? Seems like, with the cost of living in the valley and the dramatic shortage of talent, and the volume and enormity of ideas, they'd have the most to gain. If I'm right about not liking remote hires, anyone have any ideas why? Provincialism? If you were worth hiring, you'd live here already? Hahahahaha.

onemorepassword 14y ago
I'm all in favor of letting people work from home and facilitating remote work for certain kinds of projects, but if you seriously think remote work is no less collaborative or technology can replace "face time", I assume you're missing a lot of human communication skills. Not only does physical interaction have a much higher bandwidth, it goes well beyond just the work. The more you interact, at lunch or in the hallways, the better you will be able to communicate with each other on all levels, and the better you'll be able to collaborate. And this is not a one time thing, this is a continuous process. I would never hire people who lack the ability to recognize that vast difference to work remotely. For one thing, you don't have the ability to compensate if you don't even understand there is something to compensate for. Hell, I wouldn't even hire a person like that to work on site. And the fact that there appears to be a strong overlap between people who favor remote work and short-sighted people who seem unable to recognize its disadvantages is not exactly encouraging companies to hire remote workers. Yes, hiring managers read HN, and these kinds of comments aren't helping to promote remote work. Quite the opposite. The pro remote working crowd comes across as a bunch of immature self-entitled whiners.
- Illotus 14y ago
  Similarly pro office crowd come across as bunch of draconian overlords with little regards to the nature of the work and circumstances of other people. Such is the joy of the internet. Both crowds are likely to be much more middle ground in real life conversation. Perhaps that highlights your points even more. That aside, in my experience working at a good office is much more fun and a lot of the time nearly as productive as remote working. However I currently work remotely as the two hour daily commute is way too much, though I find that visiting my own office or other, nearer offices tends to help brighten up the work week. It certainly seems to me that communicating mainly via text makes it harder to restrain negative comments as you don't get the facial and body language cues. It takes much more effort to be polite and consider other peoples feelings. I wish it wasn't so.
- Executor 14y ago
  This sounds very disrespectful. I would flag this comment, if I could :-/.
- methehack 14y ago
  Let's just say I'm not rushing to hire you either :) Seriously though, I agree that -- obviously -- there are aspects of human interaction that collaborative tech can't touch, as it were. My primary point is that working at home is not working alone. Further, the collaboration tools (including video conferencing which helps more than you might think) have become very good. How much physically together time a team needs seems to me to depend quite naturally on what they're doing together, for how long, the individuals involved, etc, etc. Maybe its once a week, once a quarter, or never. But, it is most definitely possible to work closely together without ever being physically together. ymmv.
- RougeFemme 14y ago
  This is not referring to you, since you seem open to a mix of remote and onsite work, but. . .the flip side of this argument is that there are hiring managers who believe that employees can only be effective when their "butts are in the chairs" from 9 to 5 each and every day - don't know any other way to measure their productivity. And, unfortunately, there are also hiring managers who don't know to effectively use "face time" and, of course, don't know to help their employees who may also be lacking in that skill.

onemorepassword 14y ago

I'm all in favor of letting people work from home and facilitating remote work for certain kinds of projects, but if you seriously think remote work is no less collaborative or technology can replace "face time", I assume you're missing a lot of human communication skills. Not only does physical interaction have a much higher bandwidth, it goes well beyond just the work. The more you interact, at lunch or in the hallways, the better you will be able to communicate with each other on all levels, and the better you'll be able to collaborate. And this is not a one time thing, this is a continuous process. I would never hire people who lack the ability to recognize that vast difference to work remotely. For one thing, you don't have the ability to compensate if you don't even understand there is something to compensate for. Hell, I wouldn't even hire a person like that to work on site. And the fact that there appears to be a strong overlap between people who favor remote work and short-sighted people who seem unable to recognize its disadvantages is not exactly encouraging companies to hire remote workers. Yes, hiring managers read HN, and these kinds of comments aren't helping to promote remote work. Quite the opposite. The pro remote working crowd comes across as a bunch of immature self-entitled whiners.

Illotus 14y ago
Similarly pro office crowd come across as bunch of draconian overlords with little regards to the nature of the work and circumstances of other people. Such is the joy of the internet. Both crowds are likely to be much more middle ground in real life conversation. Perhaps that highlights your points even more. That aside, in my experience working at a good office is much more fun and a lot of the time nearly as productive as remote working. However I currently work remotely as the two hour daily commute is way too much, though I find that visiting my own office or other, nearer offices tends to help brighten up the work week. It certainly seems to me that communicating mainly via text makes it harder to restrain negative comments as you don't get the facial and body language cues. It takes much more effort to be polite and consider other peoples feelings. I wish it wasn't so.
Executor 14y ago
This sounds very disrespectful. I would flag this comment, if I could :-/.
methehack 14y ago
Let's just say I'm not rushing to hire you either :) Seriously though, I agree that -- obviously -- there are aspects of human interaction that collaborative tech can't touch, as it were. My primary point is that working at home is not working alone. Further, the collaboration tools (including video conferencing which helps more than you might think) have become very good. How much physically together time a team needs seems to me to depend quite naturally on what they're doing together, for how long, the individuals involved, etc, etc. Maybe its once a week, once a quarter, or never. But, it is most definitely possible to work closely together without ever being physically together. ymmv.
RougeFemme 14y ago
This is not referring to you, since you seem open to a mix of remote and onsite work, but. . .the flip side of this argument is that there are hiring managers who believe that employees can only be effective when their "butts are in the chairs" from 9 to 5 each and every day - don't know any other way to measure their productivity. And, unfortunately, there are also hiring managers who don't know to effectively use "face time" and, of course, don't know to help their employees who may also be lacking in that skill.