Ask HN: Return to office announcements – what's your plan? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Return to office announcements – what's your plan?

15 pointsA4ET8a8uTh06 comments

Our CEO is about to deliver news in 'everyone should attend' meeting category. Invite already has phrases like 'how great we we will do - together - again' and I am internally cringing already, because I got here precisely when my old company tried to go full RTO. I have been preparing for this eventuality for the past few months in small doses ( wife changed her shift to take care of kids; I started to send feelers out for remote only positions in my area of expertise -- but, not unexpectedly, full remote is THE desired perk so it is actually harder to get ).

I very briefly debated consulting, but I honestly don't think I have the kind of mind to juggle those hats well to thrive in that environment ( then again, having seen some vendor's work, maybe I do ).

I guess the real question is.. how are you preparing?

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My plan is simple. If forced to come to the office, I shall. Once. To turn in my resignation, dated that same day. I have offers on hand that are fully remote and only slightly below my current comp. I have them SPECIFICALLY because of this possibility. I’ve never been as efficient in a loud office as I am now in a quiet home. And the lack of commute makes me happy, both for more time with family and for environmental reasons.

I feel the same way.

My current job tolerates mostly remote work. I only take a day or two at most a week for meetings, planning or something that requires me being there physically (testing that I need to do in-person).

I'm currently quite happy with my two remote gigs. Both are full-time, both employers are fully aware of the situation.

That said, where I currently live there's just not that much opportunity in-person / I'd vastly prefer train commute to driving.

Plan for now is to keep churning at current TC full remote as long as possible, re-evaluate when my lease is up for renewal. I was glad to leave New York in 2021, however it still undoubtedly has the best opportunities in tech for those of us who have no interest in relocating to the Bay Area.

edit - I can without question say I'm glad I avoided the FOMO of buying a home. I love where I live now, but if remote wanes to any significant extent I'd go out of my mind dealing with traffic.

There are plenty of companies out there that are hiring 100% remote. Research + preparation, that’s my plan. I’m not going back to the office.

Start interviewing for your next remote role.

Switch jobs, tell ‘em to fuck off. This is how companies are doing stealth layoffs these days. They know they’ll lose 50% and they want to.

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