Always worth a read, especially if you have (or are looking to build) a team.
This part really surprised me - nearly 60% of respondents would PREFER to work in an office rather than at home. - I always assumed “Fully Remote” was a nice perk companies in our position could offer.
Most of the responses are from full-time developers who work for some company, they used to work from office and typically they don’t have conditions to work from home (lots of distractions, motivation problems, lack of personal communication with colleagues, loneliness etc etc).
Agreed - just a surprise to me as I would have guessed that a much higher % of people would have wanted to work from home than what that survey shows.
Kind of Ironic that they have another question about what stops them performing well and its all things like “noise, interruptions, unnecessary meetings” - all things that are far more common in the typical office environment! Not to mention the personal cost of commuting (which most people massively underestimate).
When I switched to work full time on my business I worked from home. I found there are too many distractions, i.e. opportunities to do more interesting things than to work. Ride a bike, read a book, watch a movie, play a guitar… Or do some home errands. It’s very easy to waste a day. This is multiplied if you’re working on a product, without a boss or a client who would ping you on a regular base and hold you accountable.
Now I go to office and that helps separation between personal and work life. When I’m there, I work (ok, there’s procrastination but it’s better than when I’m at home). And when I go home it’s over, unless something urgent happens. This office I go to doesn’t have problems listed above, there’s no commute, it’s 10-15min walk (which I regard as a positive thing, not a waste of time). I work alone so there are no work-related distractions all the time. There are non-work distractions by friends who work there as well, but I also treat that as a positive thing.
IMHO:
I believe the junior and mid-level programmers benefit from working in office because they can learn very quickly via exchanging ideas with each other and with more experienced folks.
Older folks like me prefer WFH because we value our time more and the commute kills time. We also do not need to learn that much anymore, we’re set in our ways.
WFH also requires a self-discipline which younger folks may not have developed yet.
I listened to a talk last week by the founder of Doist. He spoke of remote work as being superior in every way. But my own experience has been mixed - both as a freelancer and as an employer.
When working from home, the lack of commute and freedom to shape my own work space have both been great.
But I’ve typically found that team problem-solving works better when co-located. Frequently sharing lunch together has aided team cohesiveness. I’ve also made great life-long friends from former work colleagues.
When I was younger and single, I don’t think working from home would have suited my introverted personality. But currently it suits me very well, and having to go to an office each day would not be fun.