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Comment by debacle | Hacker News Reader

I love being in an office. I think it makes me more productive (in my role, 10% coding 90% management), I enjoy the face to face communication, and I think it is difficult to do some of what I do from my home office.

That said, I would likely need 30-40k from a company to give up the personal convenience of a <60 second commute, the ability to get fresh air when I want it, etc. And when I am in coding mode, the absolute quiet is a must.

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Managers like being in an office.

Coders like being at home.

I’m a coder that prefers an office with a door and a common area. I actually really miss in person system design meetings - the kind that spill out to the common area and people are passionate and interrupting each other, vs the “wait your turn to talk” online meeting. (I also have not found anything close to a whiteboard wall for design.)

On the other hand I live a mile away from my office and bike in, and I don’t ever want to go back to an hour long commute.

> passionate and interrupting each other

So whoever's loudest, rudest, and wrong wins over someone quiet, polite, and right?

I’ve had the benefit of working with some great managers that made it a point to engage people, but I understand that what I’m describing could feel exclusionary - I actually will take that to heart as well, so thanks. But the fully remote meetings… are completely the opposite of empowering or energizing for me.

If that's how you want to interpret everyday conversation, sure. Making sure everyone gets their word is in another management skill, however. So I'd place that blame on them if the quiet and polite never speak.

For whatever it's worth: coder, like being in the office :)

The organized environment, easy coffee, and not needing to dedicate a bunch of home office space make it a big win for me personally.

Do you live close to the office?

Yes, I do live quite close, although that's because I moved closer on purpose. I enjoyed the office even before I live as close (it used to be a 30m commute, now more like 15), but the longer commute definitely made it a slightly less obvious tradeoff. I'm not required to be in the office; with the shorter commute I'm there everyday, whereas with the longer one I was there maybe 4 days a week.

Yeah, about 15 is the furthest I'd be wiling to go for an in office job. Otherwise you're losing an hour a day just to travel.

are you being sarcastic?

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