I was curious about the actual cost of doing this.

   Average annual rent $/sqft = $30 (US), $40 (Seattle), $70 (SF/NY) [1]
   Average private office space: 196 sqft [2]
   Average cubical: 90 sqft [2]
   Price of upgrade: $3180 (US), $4240 (Seattle), $7420 (SF/NY)

Another way of looking at this is ~$2-4/hour.

This ignores that if you did actually give every developer an office, prices would increase due to lack of space. It also likely ignores a slew of other factors from the real world.

[1]: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/real-estate/seattle-re... [2]: https://www.thercfgroup.com/files/resources/Revisiting-offic...

I would agree that I’m willing to take a slightly lesser pay for having a private office or at least a cube. I have never felt comfortable working in an open floor plan office.

But, somehow, the non-engineers who make these decisions praise the open office and think it is best for us. Meanwhile, they always get themselves the corner and most private desk, and some even have their own cubicles and private offices.