Comment by breatheoften | Hacker News Reader

Comment by breatheoften | Hacker News Reader

I just started a new remote position. I worked remotely in previous job as well and discovered then that working from home is not actually a good thing for me. I eventually worked exclusively from coffee shops but this isn’t exactly the best way to work everyday — expensive, drink LOTS of coffee, and coffee shops generally make it harder to find flow state, not impossible but just harder.

That previous job was contract work for an enterprise — not super inspiring, lots of structural annoyances in the team that created barriers to getting things done, and team a setup that didn’t quite put remote workers on the same level as the inhouse team members. Even with all the annoyances I found when working from home I had a lot of trouble “stopping” — it felt like I was always at work.

Switching to the coffee shops was definitely better, but with my role on new team (startup and fully remote team — it’s aweskme!) I decided to try out a coworking space. Got a reserved desk at a WeWork walking distance from home and really like the experience so far! Short walk to work, sort of a community feeling at the office (well haven’t made any friends Yet but it at least seems possible to), master of my own space, and whenever I want I can choose to work from a coffee shop or wherever seems convenient ...

Best of all worlds so far!

I want to be at a coworking space, but WeWork is pricey for my situation. A hot desk (not reserved) at my local WeWork is over $4k a year. If that cost were subsidized by my company I might use it, but it's a significant salary hit otherwise. Additionally, it's still a very loud workspace to work in. Even with daily food/drink costs, I spend well under that at the coffee shop.

Libraries are pretty underrated working environments. Generally quiet, and many have conferencing or study rooms for reservations

I can work fine in a coffee shop but for some reason I’ve never been able to work in a library. Or maybe it’s just the ones I’ve been to; they all had dim fluorescent lighting, a musty smell, and lack of decorating/design.

I work from libraries a lot, when I'm at home and when I'm on the road. My biggest disappointment is usually in university libraries because their internet tends to be more locked down then a community library, but hey it's their network.

what city/metro are you in? WeWork seems pricey but there are usually many other spaces available.

I used to have a “hot desk” at The Port Workspaces in Oakland for $125/mo. It’s right near the 19th St BART stop, we had folks commuting from SF with no complaints. I know their rates have gone up but are still probably much cheaper than WeWork.

Now I’m in Charlotte NC and WeWork is expensive here too! I’m about to start a membership at Hygge Coworking for $125/mo; quiet space, great people.

I'm pretty centrally located in Denver.

There are lots of cheaper options than WeWork in Denver: Serendipity Labs, Thrive, Modworks, Shift... just to name a few. They generally average about 200/mo for co-working spaces, which is about half of what WeWork is currently charging.

Try Regus. A businessworld membership is $70/month and let’s you use business lounges everywhere in the world, and gets you WiFi in a lot of places, too.

Different things work for different people, but I'm also a fan of coworking spaces. I like having the social interaction, but also the knowledge that I have a guaranteed workspace, fast WiFi, power points, etc. However, I do think a lot of big coworking chains like WeWork are in danger of morphing into the corporate offices remote working is supposed to offer an alternative to. In London, I'm seeing a lot of places spring up that are more of a hybrid between a coworking space and social space e.g. private members clubs or some restaurants and bars offering a hotdesking membership. There are also a lot of new apps where you can book a space at venues with low footfall in the day. I think it's a really exciting movement to be part of!

> Even with all the annoyances I found when working from home I had a lot of trouble “stopping” — it felt like I was always at work.

I'm curious because I never had this problem...

Did you have a dedicated computer & desk for work? Did you have a work room?

I started without a work room, but I got a work laptop & desk with none of my personal stuff on it; and none of my work stuff was on my personal devices. I put these in the kitchen where I don't normally hang out much. Once I'm done working, I go to another room where most of my personal life is. I never had this feeling that I'm "always at work", and work/life balance got strictly better than it ever was with any commute.

I didn’t have a dedicated room for work — I had a standing desk setup in my bedroom ... a private office would’ve been nice and probably works a lot better but housing in Denver area makes having an own home office not that much cheaper cost wise than just getting a reserved desk at a coworking space ... I also think I might still struggle with “stopping work” if my compute is all right there a room or two away ... it’s the difference between “oh, some email i can take care of this right now” and “oh an email, this can wait until tomorrow” — if I bias myself toward the first I will probably end up expecting that to be the way I behave and eventually punishing myself with internal guilt when I chose the other ...

Libraries are also great options. Downtown branches are usually sprawling and not so busy during the week.

It is great to work where you live, what is terrible is to live where you work! :-)

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