Maybe it's the fact that I don't have a separate "office", I just sit where I would do my computer stuff at home anyways.
If I need to be "remote", I go to a coffee shop or a library, anywhere but stay home. It's essential for my brain to have that distinction between "I'm at work" and "I'm at home".
At GitLab, we don't force you to work from home, if you want to work from an office, we’ll pay for that. You can probably find an office space pretty close by, so you don't have to commute long. A lot of people when it's their first time remote working, they first do the office thing so that their family gets adjusted to it. And then also enjoy the benefits of your kids barging in on a meeting and distracting you, it's the best distraction in the world.
There was one guy who was allowed to work remotely when he moved out of state and when he was on a conference call, there were frequent interruptions from his toddler. It's not professional and it happened often.
Perhaps the first N times. When it happens the N+1st time it is no longer the "best distraction in the world"
AFAICT this comment is indistinguishable from saying nothing at all
The atmosphere was great, lots of chatting and collaboration with colleagues. I really liked it. It felt like going to work and hanging out with mates.
Now I work in a shared office space 4 days a week. I would rather be at home, it's depressing as shit when you are in a busy office and have no one really to talk to. So the days when no one else is there from my company, I just don't go and work from home. It's a bit tougher to motivate myself to work but I have a nice work space / home office setup and the work computer is a seperate computer to my personal one. So when it gets turned off, I'm done.
At the same time, I love being able to work from anywhere. I can visit family more often, take weekend trips with Tuesday flight pricing, save $500+ every Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I wonder if the (long-term) winning model will be something like self-organizing hubs + remote workers. If enough employees are in one location and express interest, create a local office.
Most companies flat out made us use Windows workstations, even though 100% of our work was developing for Unix/Linux and not for Windows.
Another company allowed Linux workstations but only CentOS, and we were stuck with 6 until years after 7 was released.
Finally there was the company that let me use whatever software I wanted, but had fixed-height desks that were simply too low to fit my knees underneath. Aside from that, it was the best place I've ever worked, but I had to quit after less than a year because my posture was getting noticeably worse just from having to use that desk.
Now I work at home and everything is set up perfectly. I'll never go back to an office, even though I have to give up more than half of my potential income to work at home, it's just not worth it.
I have broken down and just grabbed some bricks or cinder blocks to jack up such desks in the past. It does make me wonder why so many businesses draw the line and refuse to spend a couple hundred dollars to keep an employee that they are spending six figures on happy. This kind of penny-wise, pound-foolish thinking is endemic.
Also, with all the cloud stuff, I don't even have to go to the data center anymore, further reducing my need to be on-site.
P.S. Lots of places open to tele-commute. You should NOT have to give up half your income to do it. If you get tired of the current gig, I'm sure you'll find a remote position with a competitive salary.
That said, unless you're not planning on sticking around for very long, I agree that the total compensation number is the one that ultimately matters.
edit: remove unnecessary 'actually'. too much time on imgur :-P
Up and down my office hallway, I can spot height adjustable or convertible standing/sitting desks, various flavors of adjustable chairs, several kinds of adjustable monitor or laptop stand, as well as a wide range of monitor sizes and orientations.
I prefer remote work too, but I'd get sacked before allowing some PHB to dictate my OS, or sit at some weird communal longdesk. It's so far from my experience as to seem like a joke.
You spent a _year_ at a place that made you sit at a fucking desk that doesn't fit you? My god.
> You spent a _year_ at a place that made you sit at a fucking desk that doesn't fit you? My god.
Sounds pretty ridiculous when you put it that way, yes :) but after all, what do we expect them to do? Tell the office manager that her beautiful design had to be screwed with just because of some senior engineer doesn't fit there?
Yes. Literally that. Seriously. I ruined my hearing sitting in a server room for a year when I was younger. Don't fuck up your body for any company, you will regret it.
Also most countries have accessibility legislation of some sort. It's not just for "disabled" people, this sort of thing is normally explicitly part of it.
It's really not my problem. I work for companies and clients that respect their staff. We both do better that way.
The more decentralized nature of coworking spaces means you can choose whichever one is closest to you, shortening the commute and decreasing traffic.
Sure you can choose a home near your company if you're just starting out your career or moving to a new city, but once you're in that city for a while, it's not feasible to move to a new home every time you move companies. Coworking spaces allow you that flexibility.