HACKER Q&A
📣 cardosof

Do you have plans for staying fully remote?


It seems to be the case that a great number of workers do not wish to come back and I'm curious to know if/how HN users are preparing for a 2022 divided between companies returning and companies not returning.


  👤 pitched Accepted Answer ✓
I have a feeling that being in-office is a competitive advantage for the product and being remote is a competitive advantage for hiring. And also that being in-person amplifies the benefit of being in a good company where being remote lessens the blow of being in a bad company.

I still haven’t decided where I want to fall on those trade-offs but I think being somewhere that embraces remote but tries its best to get everyone together as often as possible might be the best trade-off.


👤 f0e4c2f7
I was full remote for some time before the pandemic. Remote jobs used to be easy to find in software. Now they're really easy to find.

👤 antasvara
What is there to plan for? If your company is staying remote, you either have to be a remote worker or find a new job.

If there's an option for either, I personally will be opting to go back to the office. This is primarily out of a concern that I'll be less likely to be promoted if I stay remote. There's some evidence [1][2] that this is the case, and it's just not worth risking despite my enjoyment of remote work.

[1]https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/orsc.2018.1265

[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwor...


👤 codingdave
To be honest, I'm not seeing any problems - there are people who want stay remote, and people who want to go back to offices. Companies likewise vary in their desires. We'll all just switch to a new employer if the particular company we work for today doesn't land on the answer we prefer.

👤 yhavr
No way going back to office.

- You can choose to work from the place you like, regardless of the local IT market.

- Commute. Nuff said.

- Having your own schedule is magic. Waking up early in morning and doing all important work till noon/lunch is my goal now.

- Boring things suddenly become awesome. Imagine, you work at a really boring enterprise with low load, but the pay you like. You still have to sit 9-5 and watch youtube. Let's move stuff remotely. Do your chores in a couple of hours and your day is done!

- Socializing: being remote encourages to go out to meetups and find your real friends. And you still can visit coworking spaces.


👤 tra3
Since being remote for the duration of the covid, I'm ready to put a premium on being remote. I'm willing to compromise on compensation by not having to go to the office. I'm not interested in any "perks" that are tied down to a physical location, or anything that requires me to travel more than 15 minutes one way.

👤 randomopining
They're gonna have us back. But I think I can just kinda come in once in a blue moon and do my own thing.

The only thing I could see is the big corp HR people saying that I need to come in. Then it might get tough.


👤 EricE
Luckily my company fully embraces remote work - indeed I need to get back to getting my house ready to sell so I can move closer to family.

👤 moooo99
I will do a hybrid model with one to two office days a week. I'm just starting my professional career in an fairly traditional organization, so it seems kind of mandatory for my own development. Also, I feel like a little bit of regular social interaction with my coworkers would really be beneficial to me

👤 aaccount
Going back to office as soon as possible. I hate working from home. There is no separation between the two now

👤 muzani
A lot of people like remote because of low living costs and no commute. I wish there was a middle ground, where companies put their offices in some nice suburban area, where employees can just bicycle or walk to office.

👤 fhaldridge7
I've already moved out of the city to a more rural area and don't plan to find another onsite job. It's quiet, the rent is cheap, I don't have to commute.

👤 aynyc
It’s not all or nothing. I’m doing hybrid. Go in maybe once a week or something. I have no desire going full time back in the office.

👤 hammyhavoc
Remote before, remote forevermore.