the last time i worked in an office was ten years ago, in the infancy of my career, at New Relic. all of engineering was maybe 40 people, but 2.5 years later when i left, there were a few hundred of us. we worked together, ate lunch together, went on coffee walks together… there wasn’t any of that “we’re a family” bullshit, but we were all friends. i don’t think i’d ever want to give up the option of remote work, but my sense of community has only dwindled since then. i really, really miss it.
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💬 Replies (10)
@davidcelis Been back to the office three or four times since we came back from Spain and it’s only heightened the sense of an era past for me.
@jasonrclark how do we go back there? i want to go back to there 😭
@davidcelis it was great and also I can't go back
@ghoulpus yeah i feel like i also can’t go back. even though i kinda want to a little bit
@ghoulpus @davidcelis my last (successful) job in an office was on a team that accidentally trauma-bonded into codependency. I'd be hard pressed to go back to in-person even 2 days a week after that.
@ghoulpus @davidcelis (FWIW, I *have* worked out that it'd cost approximately 1/3 more base salary than I make now, adjusted for comparable standard of living wherever the office may be, for me to consider going back to an office at all)
@mckern i get it, but that just really wasn’t my own experience at all
@davidcelis I feel this so hard. With...a little time to find a new job, there's a big urge to look around Seattle of anywhere doing hybrid 2/3 either 3 in-office or 3 remote. I miss that a lot, the physical camaraderie. there's bad in it, which is why I think hybrid is ideal, but...the option to even exist in the same space as Other People is so enticing.
@davidcelis eventually they tried the "we're a family" thing, then I got in trouble for talking shit about how abusive the family thing was because I was "sewing discontent" then they reminded me I was on a PIP (which to be fair I was grounded most of growing up, so I guess it was like family).
I miss the meet up scene from that era, everyone being in offices nearby meant good participation. Going full remote changed how convenient it was for me, stopped being a regular.
@davidcelis it took me awhile to realize how much I missed the people and environment of that workplace. It’s interesting you also tue it back to that.