Its 2018, why are you still going to the office?

#discuss

Top comments (9)

It's easier to get into work mode when you are physically in a different environment. To be as productive from home, I would have to dedicate a room to being a home office. Which means first of all I'd have to move into a bigger home, and then spend some money furnishing it.

Besides, even with all the communication apps we use, for collaboration nothing beats sitting ten feet away from your co-workers.

Also, social interaction (even if it's just saying hello) and getting outside (even if it's just a walk to and from your car) are both good for the mind. I have worked remotely for a few months and it was pretty soul-crushing being alone in a small room for hours a day, sometimes not even going outside while the sun was up.

Emmanuel Obogbaimhe • Jun 20 '18 • Edited

Because I'll probably lose my job if I don't lol (joking). but more seriously some companies still have the policy were developers need to be present in the office. I've come to realize that in person meetings are more effective than over the phone or video conference. There's a level of seriousness with in person meetings and communication is better because your face to face. That's my take away from it and just basic human interaction with your co workers are priceless.

Dave Jacoby • Jun 20 '18

I work around a physical thing, a gene sequencer. I am helpdesk and write code for the people who use it. Little ties me to where I am except I need to be able to look over people's shoulders and explain why their tools are broken.

Thomas H Jones II • Jun 21 '18

Screen-sharing FTW!

ｅｎｄａｎ • Jun 21 '18 • Edited

Hi @heithemmoumni , It's a shot in the dark here, but did you ask this question because you advocate working remotely?

To answer your question, yeah. Not because I want to though. Most of the companies in my country requires working at the office. Though at my work, at least they don't require us to dress formally (which other companies strictly enforce).

Thomas H Jones II • Jun 21 '18

When working with data-sets that are subject to "compliance" legislation, the custodians of that data often don't want you working remote (even if they could set up a within-their-own-network (X)RDP server accessed via HTML5 for you to work through).

JeffD • Jun 21 '18

Good reasons:

I deploy my work to a 'physical big machine', I can not host it in my flat :)
Remote work is good but (see Ryan response). Moreover in my opinion, commuting time is a good way to "disconnect", forget problems and avoid burn-out.

Bad reasons:

In my country (France) our boss want to see people, he think something like "if they are here they are working, remote worker are probably not".
In a public company if any worker can not do remote-work so all others should stay at the office (because the first could be disadvantaged (everyone should have the same rights) But I don't think it's a good reason, many employers uses this argument to keep their workers inside a building ;).

Frank Carr • Jun 21 '18

Some managers, particularly in old school corporations, have to have everyone in their location so that they can manage (aka micromanage). You even see this in tech companies where management draws inspiration from folks like Marissa Mayer.
Some managers are convinced you can't do Agile/Scrum remotely and have it be effective.
Some jobs require interaction with physical devices that require one to be onsite, for example manufacturing or medical equipment.
At smaller companies, programmers may end up doing general IT support duties and need to be onsite for that.
Bad experiences with remote work in the past can cause companies to prohibit employees from using it.