zettatron

I think most people are freer than they believe to bring themself to work.

Even at companies in rural areas, people can generally be somewhat "weird" or "alternative" and still be accepted at work if they don't make their personality a weapon to annoy people with.

When I got the last one, I actually laughed.

It's an MBP keyboard

Hilarious. How poor is the talent on the GCP team that is foremost of your grievances?

The democratization of capitalism oversold the benefit of productive output

I'm very glad you have raised this point. This concept of productivity is quite new. Unfortunately, it has not remained flexible enough to offer the same kind of meaning today, that it did for workers at it's inception.

Fortunately, many engineers, among others in technology-centric roles, have co-opted this definition to mean their intellectual output.

Depending on whether or not an individual's intellectual currency is manifested via productive output, this hyper-productivity needn't be unhealthy in itself.

It is when this desire overtakes those who don't derive value from the "hobby" of productivity that it becomes dangerous.

A related anecdote: I lived in very small rural village in Nebraska for about 1.5 years . I worked at a small, sleepy, company that made radio broadcast software. I lived across the street from my office parking lot. The supermarket, gas station, library, and Post Office were all within 3-6 blocks.

Although some opportunities weren't available. The ability to spend essentially 0% of my time commuting for any errands made my life very simple and enjoyable.

I love in Boston now and work for a startup, so there's been quite a stark contrast between my lifestyle in the past year. Luckily I work completely remote now because I told myself then, I would never work or live anywhere that requires me to spend a dozen hours a week driving and doing errand.

My productivity hack is coming to terms with the fact that my life can't, and will likely never, be as optimised as the processes and routines that I like to optimize for work.

There is something about the oppressive guilt of being "unproductive" that, for myself personally, far outweighs any of the benefits gained from being hyper-productive.

Although I do feel a certain "high" when coming off of a full 8 hours of get-$#&+-done mode. I try to realize that isn't a switch that is flipped. It's just a derivative of my current state of mind.

As a biracial and transgender individual working for a startup: I would prefer (and am appreciative of my company's ability to) not discussing these things at work to begin with.

I can't imagine why on Earth anyone would want to bring such a personal topic into the workplace. As a matter of fact, it kind of disturbs the integrity of a professional environment to have these kinds of discussions during working hours anyway.

For the record, I have never felt discriminated against or left-out, or anything other than being another member of my team in a meaningful way.

I think focusing on these kinds of sensitivities can pull a sense of mistrust and underhandedness to the team. I'm not going to invalidate his feelings on the issue, because we are all allowed to feel how we feel; but I would caution anyone in engaging those feelings at work for the benefit of all parties involved.

I've noticed this is one of the internet's new favorite words. Following behind "slams", "narcissist", and "gaslighting"

My personal preference when working is an Ambient collection fron the Silent Hill series: https://youtu.be/Yxd-X8P-GtY

It is incredibly atmospheric (if a bit "depressing") and helps me embody the patience and clarity needed to produce good work.