Lonely Last Days in the Suburban Office Park | Hacker News Reader

Lonely Last Days in the Suburban Office Park

nytimes.com

25 pointsres0nat0r12 comments

>Hundreds of cubicles — the spacious old-school kind with the high walls

Remember when "cubicle" was a curse word? I long for those days of some measure of privacy, personalization capability of a space, and greater probability of focusing (i.e., being left alone a little bit longer). Open offices suck, and white noise generators make me want to die, some days.

Sure, having your own office is better than a cubicle, but having a cubicle is much better than this awful dormitory- / prison yard-style of workspace we have now in offices. I can't believe "we have an open office design!" was once pumped as a selling point of a potential employer, like a factory farm slaughterhouse might sell their feces-covered lots by using a big salt lick with nails embedded in it.

I'll never forget the first time a tech recruiter just flat out didn't care about anything on my resume except for the specific years of "experience" for the tech stack she was looking for. What about all the hard work I did in all this other software related stuff? Did that insight not translate at all? Did anything I did in my past jobs even matter at all?!! It was a rebuke of the late nights spent at the office on some tech problem for some enterprise software helping to make a tiny bit more money for some 50 person midsize IT automation company.

These suburban office parks are the personification of the wasted potential of my 20s. I have recently been brought to tears from time to time thinking about those years and the wasted potential. (im 34 so not too long ago)

At the same time the look of these places also brings a kind of nostalgia since they are now slowly going away.

At this point in my life. I wish I was never exposed to the world these office parks exist in but who knows. Maybe in my 40s, I'll be crying about how much I missed those times.

I think you might be putting a bit too much stock in what a recruiter thinks. Recruiters generally do not know the first thing about the industry they're recruiting for, and in my experience, having a history of solving problems across a breadth of domains is received well by hiring managers.

You just need to find the right hiring managers. But the trick is, the ones who don't value that? Aren't the ones you want to work for anyway.

If you are not well connected or well established, I don't know how you could possibly find those correct hiring managers. I don't have anything other than legacy companies or midsized no name enterprise shops on my resume. How does that translate into anything other than the riff raff looking at my resume?

I'm not well-connected, and if you have a bunch of experience on your resume, you're probably established enough. Send your resume out to a bunch of companies. Expect that most of them will reject you, some subset of those will waste some of your time first. From the outside, you can't easily tell which are the good companies to work for. But eventually, if you have good technical skills, you'll find a place that cares about that more than resume buzzwords and FAANG employment history. I have, over and over, and have made a career out of working for those places.

In-my-40s dev here. Believe me, having a parking space you don't have to pay for is far under-rated, and riding a bike to work blows when you're old. Of course, I'd still rather be working from home, by my employer strictly doesn't do this.

Yeah I agree with you. I see my older colleagues prioritize this. The problem with me is that I did it in reverse. In my 20s instead of actually trying, I took the first lame job I could find out of college and took years to leave into something better. Even then the best I could muster is moving to another corporate enterprise shop. (i'm 34). I never did the fast moving startup or the FAANGs even though I feel like I should do so and get it on my resume before I reach 40. Not only did I mess up in not getting any real mentorship I am now in a position where I'm paid fairly well (~120k in an eastern suburb)and have no stress whatsoever. Deadlines are just a suggestion and my team is not tech savvy so no one helps me grow other than myself. Everyone is also super respectful, no gossip, no fighting, no drama, a management meeting load as well. I know this is going to bite me hard down the road, but it is really difficult to give up this position prematurely for something more growth worthy now. I also consider myself to be super lucky to be in this position so i'd feel guilty walking away from it. At least I am working on a tech stack I enjoy. (Angular + Python)

I feel you. I'm in a similar position pay wise (my benefits kind of suck though, especially family health insurance). At least know this, and possibly use it for encouragement: I'm going down the road of re-learning all the data structures and algorithm stuff, aiming at a FAANG job, at this age. It's possibly an easier jump (emotionally) for me, given that I know my earning potential is higher elsewhere, and benefits in my case will be many times better. Nonetheless, it is a challenge, and someone in your age group (older, really) has rightly or wrongly decided to undertake it, so anything potentially is possible :)

"I am now in a position where I'm paid fairly well (~120k in an eastern suburb)and have no stress whatsoever. " well done :). stay in that job while it stays like that :) and enjoy your life :)

Not having supportive, competent peers can be soul-eating. Financial comfort is non-negotiable, but if something else exists with that and other good aspects, that can be a good direction in which to move.

I have worked in both extremes, ranging from a high rise building in the big city only available by subway, to the single campus surrounded by farms only available by car. Both have pros and cons, and suit different types of people. Now I go in two days a week to an office, and prefer working from home, but I might as well experience office life now while it is available just in case we all work from home permanently in the future.

https://archive.ph/mvBru

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