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Comment by shortstuffsushi | Hacker News Reader

This seems like an unfairly-condescending post to me. The last line primarily. I don't think that having an open office implies the stereotypical "nerf gun wars, billiards, and foosball" environment (or at least it doesn't at the company I'm working for). Nor does it mean that those who work in it are irresponsible, immature, or self-important. Certainly those conditions exist, but it's not fair to generalize it that far.

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I have yet to work in an open floor plan that was without barking dogs, nerf guns, loud meetings, and the occasional R/C helicopter.

I work from home 75% now. When I'm in the office, I get next to nothing done.

Dogs at work?!

I see all of those things in my office for sure.

Google[1], Pinterest[2], et al let you bring dogs to work.

[1] http://www.mnn.com/family/pets/photos/10-companies-that-let-... [2] http://www.quora.com/What-San-Francisco-startups-allow-emplo...

Add Amazon to that list.

It's rather obnoxious. I suppose some people are really, really, into pets. (Or more cynically, guys have a better pickup rate if they have a dog in public?) But it seems like a popular option these days to show how cool a work environment is.

At one SF shared workspace area, this guy always brought his dog in. Damn thing would go sniffing around and most people thought it was cute. I found it very annoying, especially when I had food. While I could tell him to piss off and keep his dog away, then I'd come off as the dick.

Perhaps this is more of the norm in the Bay Area (I assume that's where you're from, from your other comment), but I've never seen anything as open as that (dogs at least). I don't think anyone would claim that a "bring your dog to work and let it roam around freely" sort of environment would be productive. I'm surprised they would allow that at all, seems like it could cause other problems as well.

I still don't think that sort of generalization is fair, though. I think a normal, sane office could be open, but without the ongoings that seem to be present in the environments you and the parent witnessed. Well, I can definitely vouch for that being the case in the office I work in.

I was interviewing at a company in Chicago with the open office plan, foosball table right next to the engineers, and people blasting the Indiana Jones theme over the speakers.

They said they had trouble finding senior people. If I had been more aggressive I would have told them "have you considered having an adults table?"

As someone who is in no way a senior developer, I can't imagine working in this sort of environment. Then again, I've been working exclusively in enterprise up to this point.

I guess I can't add an edit to my post, but ironically, a day later, a friend of mine posted on Twitter about having his dog at work. So maybe I am the one with the unusual office.

Nor does it mean that those who work in it are irresponsible, immature, or self-important.

Of course it doesn't. Most of them have no choice.

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