I hate remote work, should I leave?

That does sound great other than the lack of social interaction, so I would not be in a hurry to leave if I were you.

There are other ways to find / generate social interaction, inside or outside work.

At work, you can always find reasons to interact more with your coworkers. Schedule an occasional virtual coffee chat or happy hour with your teammates. Find a reason to have a meeting over video instead of handling it over chat or email. Do you travel for fun? Find an excuse to visit a city where one of your teammates lives and meet up with them while you're there.

Of course, if there really is no practical way to get more social interaction with your coworkers, that may just be a sign that you're also suffering from a lack of it outside work. And there are many more ways to remedy that without the constraints on work-related interactions.

> I've been told team meetups, even once a year, are not possible

Look, if you really love the environment except for this remote thing, here's a couple things you can do before you quit:

1. Earnestly say that you love the place, but getting some mixed purpose face time with coworkers is a make or break issue for you. If you convey that you really mean that (you seem to), and they think you're a good fit too, they may revisit what they told you above. Think of it as a salary renegotiation, but you're looking for an essential benefit rather than a raise.

2. Just suck up the cost and organize those "meetups" yourself (i.e. make plans with your coworkers privately). Here, if you wanted to, you can think of the cost as a deduction from your salary. Do you still feel well-enough paid once you account for that deduction?

I have been working remote for the last few years and have been thinking of leaving too

I am a part of a "team" of developers that I am never able to directly work with unless I go out of my way and sacrifice time on my own projects to get involved with theirs

That said, even in this role, I'm an unusual case because all of my other coworkers get put on projects with each other. The side effect is that when I have code that needs to be reviewed, the other developers are hesitant to do it because they don't want to sign off on projects that they haven't been assigned to. My boss says this might change once his boss decides how the teams should be reorganized. Argh

It feels like I'm being punished and have been put into solitary confinement. But at least the pay is good, so that makes it all worth it. ...Right?

Here’s a few ideas:

- Try scheduling explicit hangout time, either 1:1 or group (have a happy hour, play some games, just chat).

- Ask if any of your coworkers would be interested in coworking in person. Doesn’t have to be a whole company thing, fly to one coworker or maybe a few people live in one spot. Most major cities have coworking spaces with reasonable day pass rates or you can use a coffee shop if budget is tight.

- There’s a lot of virtual office products out there (e.g. Gather, Remotion), see if there’s any interest in trying one out.

(I've been told team meetups, even once a year, are not possible)

This is bizarre, even open source projects do brainstorming retreats and get-togethers.

BTW folks, when you see a worthwhile Ask HN, don't forget to upvote as well as comment, otherwise it's likely to die before many people see it due to appearing to HN's algorithms as flamebait.

I've seen articles that claim that remote work is less productive. But, your experience here matches mine.

When I'm in an office, I spend a good portion of my time socializing. When I'm working remote, it's mostly work only.

Some aspects of the economy, such as software development, are hard to find work because of massive recent layoffs. You might do a job search and/or talk to some recruiters before taking the jump. Otherwise, your need for belonging/companionship could be overcome by your need for security.

Also, as other people inferred, management might be a problem. People often leave their jobs because of bad supervisors.

I agree that it's pretty awesome when you get to work with a great team of people, though you might want to watch the risks as you make a next move that is in your best interest.

> I'm the rare person who like to work from the office (some of the time).

It's not rare, that's just what shouty people on tech social media want you to think.

You can have both of the worlds.

Go to a coworking space, or try to reach other remote workers in your city and invite them to your place (or go to theirs).

If you left your current job for a job where you see coworkers, how would you guarantee that your future coworkers aren’t all assholes?

Why did you take an entirely remote job if you prefer to work in an office?

Work out of a coworking space. Best of both worlds. It's what I do.

Wish I could switch places.