Comment by dangus
6 years ago
> How to survive an open office
Step 1: Instead of working, write a blog post about how you don’t like it and post it to Hacker News.
Step 2: Cash your $5,000 paycheck and spend it on service employees who live with 3 roommates in order to make rent.
(I call the latter concept “open homes,” and I plan to write a blog post about it later)
This was advice for those who might struggle like I do.
I even admit that it's the first worldiest of first world problems. But that doesn't make it not a problem.
I don't make $5,000, and I have made it part of my negotiations when entering companies before but there aren't any non-open-office companies anymore. So I make my peace and live with it.
The point of the blog post is to bring this topic up because there might be advice I'm missing, obviously I'm not the only one, others must have other coping mechanisms.
I honestly can’t figure out what’s wrong with open offices. If they’ve got carpet and enough conference space they’re golden.
I’ve been in a state government cube center, you don’t want that.
As they say, silence is deafening. So are awkward doctor’s office calls taken in cubicles.
Being around that level of dust and hoarding wasn’t my jam, either.
Noise and distractions. You must be one of those lucky people who can think without the narrative of others talking over their internal narrative. I can't program if I can hear people talking, or any other kind of intrusive noise.
> As they say, silence is deafening. So are awkward doctor’s office calls taken in cubicles.
If anyone here thinks that either cubicles, or an open office are an appropriate place to discuss your medical history with your doctor...
I think that, like in high school, their cellphone privileges should be taken away.
I've been in a cube center and I greatly prefer it to open offices.
> I honestly can’t figure out what’s wrong with open offices
You mean other than the noise and lack of privacy?
> enough conference space
In my experience, open office floorplans and enough conference space go together like peanut butter and blue cheese.
I’m glad for you. You can tune it out. Some of us can’t tune it out, no matter what.
Well, not until we either put on our maximum NR headphones and play our music at hearing-destroying levels. Maybe by the time we are completely and totally deaf, we will be able to tune it out.