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Comment by tamrix | Hacker News Reader

Who wants to spend all day and night in the same place unless you live in a mansion?

Don't people get sick of staring at the same four walls all day?

Nope. I'm lucky in that I have dedicated home office (ie. bedroom that we don't need for a bed), but I absolutely don't get sick of it. It's much better than even the dedicated offices with a door I've had at some previous jobs. It's comfortable, private, has a window, its climate is controlled by me, it's decorated the way I want (in my case filled with retro computers, my electronics workbench, artwork on the walls, etc). And when I get stuck, or have a hard time focusing, I can get up, go talk to my wife or son, play with my dog, lay on the couch for a bit, go for a walk, etc. Heck, even the 4 walls are painted colors I chose!

I've worked from this room for the past ~9 years, since we've lived in this house, and won't complain at all if I work here for 9 or 39 more.

I could've written your post myself. Every time I see an article about how Apple or some other company is planning to wind down their work-at-home policies and mandate office attendance, I'm tempted to stand up from my desk or workbench, walk over to my window, open it, and simply experience ten or fifteen seconds of fresh air in a peaceful, wooded neighborhood setting.

Maybe once or twice a week, I do just that. It's a basic exercise in gratitude. At those moments, I remind myself that the ability to work at home in a comfortable, quiet, well-equipped environment is an extraordinary privilege, one that I must never take for granted.

My fellow engineers who have to drive, bike, or ride a bus to the Brobdingnagian toroidal panopticon in Cupertino are absolutely among the industry's elite. The best of the best, both respected and envied by their peers at other companies. Most years, the majority of them likely outearn me handily... as they should, because many of them are better at their jobs than I am at mine. I wouldn't trade places with any of them for ten times their salary, and I've told recruiters as much.

I actually feel sorry for those poor souls. Commuting is for suckers and open office plans are for livestock. The progressive companies that will eventually outcompete companies like Apple for engineering talent have most likely already been started in other peoples' garages, spare bedrooms, and basements... where they'll remain.

I live in a generous but small basement, with windows on one side. I work from home 100% of the time. I spend nearly all of my personal time outside, and nearly all of my family (pup and me) time out walking and/or playing, and the remaining part of it cuddling. I’m not sure which four walls I should feel closed in by, but I pretty much only see the walls for the time I’m plopped on my couch or at my desk working, or when I open my eyes in the morning.

You’re allowed to go outside. It’s not hospitable everywhere and I get that. You’re also allowed to go any number of other places that would welcome your presence. If that doesn’t work well for you, by all means go to the office if you’d prefer. I want to spend all of my day at or near home, it’s a nice place to work and I love to spend the rest of my time out and about or snuggling my pup. You can enjoy what you enjoy and I can enjoy what I enjoy.

I can only understand this sentiment if you're stuck in a single room/studio apartment. Many of us have houses, apartments, or condos that aren't anywhere near the size of a mansion.

I'll take the same four walls over the same eight walls plus two hours of traffic per day.

Yes. Thankfully, laptops are fairly portable.

Sometimes I even risk going outside.

And wifi is really common too!

Four walls and some people you care about, sure.

The trick is to have separate work/home spaces. Most fulltime remotes, myself included, either have a dedicated work-only area or work from coffee shops and the like.

The whole point is flexibility! If you don’t want an office, don’t have one. If you want one, have one. But jobs that force you into a specific office remove the choice.

If you make enough money, you can get a place to live that has more than one room.

I have a room with bookshelves along one wall and a large world map on another wall, and it has a desk which goes up and down at the touch of a button. It's such a nice room that I go into it on weekends to spend fun time on my personal computer, but it's also where I go on weekdays to work.

I have a separate living room (with a TV), and kitchen, and bedroom, and so on. Not a mansion, but definitely some variety.

Then again, that's my personality. I don't feel cooped up unless I haven't left the house in a week or so. Other people feel cooped up in a lot shorter period of time.

If you get sick of what you see at home, you have ways to change that. Inexpensive ones, even.

If you get sick of what you see at the office, maybe you can put some funko pops on your hot desk and take them home each day so no one steals them.

People literally got sick of going to the office. It's why working from home became a thing in the first place. I have no wish to see diseased ridden coworkers.

That is literally not at all what happened.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised there are covid deniers here.

Well, that’s a radical interpretation of the text. But I guess someone else must have had the same interpretation, so to be clear: the part I object to was “literally got sick of”. I share your lack of desire to be enclosed in spaces with sick people, and covid has very much amplified my desire never to work in such spaces again. But it wasn’t the going to the office part which made people sick, other than that happened to be where some people got infected. Maybe that seems needlessly pedantic, but I think it’s a disservice to the people infected in public markets, nursing homes, hospitals, their own homes, and plenty of other places they just happened to be, to frame it that way.

When I'm at work, I mainly stare at two monitors (and not four walls).

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