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Comment by ctrw | Hacker News Reader

Get a load of this boomer thinking you still have the luxury of a cubicle. Open offices are the norm in tech regardless of salary.

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GOD I KNOW RIGHT. Elder millenial here, I got the luxury of a cubicle ONCE, briefly at the start of my career.... never again.

Never understood Dilbert poking fun of cubicles so much till I realized what they replaced was widespread private offices! For most or all engineering staff, not just the executives!

What really confuses me is -- isn't corporate america in 2025 way way way way more profitable than in 1980? So why can't we afford private offices or even cubicles anymore?

Maybe it’s way way way way more profitable because they got rid of cubicles

Yes, I briefly considered that idea and immediately discarded it. It would only make any sense at all in industries where the cubicles were a big part of the costs and margins were thin.

I'd say most industries do not match this description, and that most of the increase in the S&P500 over the last 40 years was due to real revenue growth, not cost cutting

Because the bare minimum employers can get away with is increasing. They see they can cram more people into a space with poorer conditions and it's not causing a huge backlash, so that's how it becomes common everywhere.

We need a Benjamin button movie set in the work place where you have a 20 something starting today and working back till the 1960s so people can see what we've lost.

I was going to say…I would absolutely love a cubicle.

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