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Comment by tempestn | Hacker News Reader

I'd say it depends a lot on the company and team. We've been all-remote for 10 years now, and I'm certainly biased, but I don't think evidence suggests it's been less than good for young, ambitious members of the team. Our lead front-end developer had no previous paid experience as a developer, but stood out in our interview process (which is based on a series of short, real-work-like assignments done asynchronously), and has continually impressed since then. If leadership is competent, I don't think it's necessary to have fortuitous in-person run-ins and such to demonstrate one's drive and ability.

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This is so true. Those "fortuitous in-person run-ins" are also highly correlated with looking the part and having the same hobbies and friends as well-connected people.

I think there's a chance we're going to see all-remote employees be subconsciously judged on things like the quality of their lighting, audio, background, mute etiquette, etc. IMO that's a lot better than the current approach of judging based on similar appearance, hobbies, lunch schedules, golf club memberships, etc.

Being all-remote is a wonderful equalizer.

When I started working remotely I felt like I had to prove myself. I had to produce something useful every day.

Whereas when I was in the office I saw lot of people doing mostly nothing but hanging out in the lunch-room. I guess they felt like if they take the trouble to arrive in the office that's a lot of work already. And they did not make the choice they are just doing it because they were told to do it.

I agree there is value in talking to people in person and having wide-ranging conversations about everything but there has to be a balance. But all in all I thought me working from home gave the employer much more than if I had come to office every day, and hung around in the lunch room with others.

How is subconsciously judging based on lighting, audio etc. any better than whether or not you play golf? The only spot for me to put my desk means that, in video conferences I look like an anonymous whistle blower from a news report. How is being subconsciously ignored because of how my apartment is laid out any better than being ignored because I prefer to swim than play golf?

Based on your examples, all-remote isn't an equalizer, it's changing the rules by which you are judged.

A good lamp for your desk might be cheaper than that golf club membership at least!

Maybe, doesn't make the judgement criteria any less arbitrary though. And given how dark my corner of the room is, I suspect I'd need a pretty expensive lighting setup to make it any better :)

These are mostly things you can control and easily fix.

At the same time, it sucks for friends and coworkers around here in 1 bedroom apartments with both partners working from home or 3 kids and no yard and social events to structure around. My manager is going insane working and sleeping in the same (high cost) room while locked into a lease. I was lucky to move to a place with 2 bedrooms recently so 1 is the office and I'm so glad to not have kids.

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