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0 pointsnostrebored1y ago0 comments

You will spend a substantial chunk of your life working. Likely a plurality of your time alive as an adult. Wanting it to be socially rewarding is reasonable.

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dogman1441y ago

With WFH, you get social reward from people who aren’t forced to be there with you, from the sources parent comment mentioned. Conversely, many don’t find that forced socialization you advocate for remotely rewarding and have to suffer through it for the minority that do like it.

Again - a majorly depressing blind spot for the RTO crowd, or the RTO crowd devalues/dislikes their families and communities I guess?

Edit - touched the usual nerve, but it’s the truth and I’ll leave it at this: Work involves people, but not forced friendships and community, in the same way leadership involves people but not friendship. People who expand past that at work tend to get burned and used by management, and have the blindspots I note, IME. People who instead expand into their families and communities don’t. And yes, you can build these community social bonds without slacking at work either. Such a false equivalency.

scottLobster1y ago

I have an infant and a toddler, and a house small enough that I don't get a private office (I've cobbled together a DIY cubicle off to the side of a main living area).

Suffice it to say it's hard to focus on intellectually demanding work when a 2-year-old is throwing a fit because her juice box ran empty.

And I honestly don't mind my co-workers, we have a fair bit in common. It's nice to get some regular social exposure outside of kids + spouse, even if it is mostly surface-level.

dontparticipate1y ago

So you're spending time with your families and communities instead of working during the day then. That thing you're calling "forced socialization" has another name. It's called work. Your ability to have conversations with your coworkers and customers about your work is in fact part of most jobs that involve developing products. Most of us making over $200k don't just pull the code lever at the code factory all day and if your idea of what work in software is doesn't involve people, you've put a permanent ceiling on your career.

dogman1441y ago

Somehow, I manage to work, have an ambitious career ahead of my peers, clear said-pay, pull the ol’ code lever at the code factory as it were… I.e “work and advance,” while seeing my spouse consistently from 9-5 instead of Brad in marketing, and seeing my community consistently because I buy coffee and lunch in town vs StarQdobaDonalds. That adds up, and I hope you get the chance to experience it as well. And those conversations you mention - nothing that can’t be achieved by Zoom, modern Slack usage, and quarterly off-sites or similar models. No ceiling found yet but maybe depends on what ceiling one counts as mattering. But so far, I haven’t found any yet.

toomuchtodo1y ago

I would prefer not to be friends with colleagues, with an employer picking a pool of candidates for social relationships.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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dogman1441y ago

Again - a majorly depressing blind spot for the RTO crowd, or the RTO crowd devalues/dislikes their families and communities I guess?

scottLobster1y ago

I have an infant and a toddler, and a house small enough that I don't get a private office (I've cobbled together a DIY cubicle off to the side of a main living area).

Suffice it to say it's hard to focus on intellectually demanding work when a 2-year-old is throwing a fit because her juice box ran empty.

And I honestly don't mind my co-workers, we have a fair bit in common. It's nice to get some regular social exposure outside of kids + spouse, even if it is mostly surface-level.

dontparticipate1y ago

dogman1441y ago

toomuchtodo1y ago

I would prefer not to be friends with colleagues, with an employer picking a pool of candidates for social relationships.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse