I don't know. My first job was in a cubicle and it was in the middle of a large floor. There wasn't any natural light and the cubicles spread in all directions for what felt like forever.
Like, its nice to have your personal space but it sucks to have the hours blend together because you're in a liminal space where you can't tell if you're alive or dead.
Oof, that's rough. Makes me appreciate the law here in germany that employees work stations in an office must be exposed to daylight. Cubicles like you described wouldn't be allowed here.
Then you get the other perfect combination. Window right above your screen, facing west without any blinds or curtains. And you spend half the day with the sun in your face.
I finally got a window and I kept that fucker clear all the time (had blinds, didn't use em). I wore a brimmed hat rather than cover up that beautiful sunshine.
There are plenty of open plan offices with no natural light either - it's really a function of how big the floor is whether light can reach to the middle of it (without a lightwell or something)
The open floors that I've experienced typically have a long tables parallel to the window where everyone is crammed into, with meeting rooms towards the inside of the building.
I had a QA position at a game company and there weren't any windows on the open dev floor, only the break room and lobby. On top of that, they kept us testers in a freezing/sweaty separate room. Crunch dinners in that cramped hell were so fragrant.
Fast paced = we have understaffed and expect you to do more than your share of the work.
Exciting = as people with better prospects leave our untenable work environment you will be expected to take on their responsibilities with no extra pay.
I like our open space plan, personally. It's full of plants and green, which makes it less clinical, full kf sound dampening, which makes it less oppressively noisy and also full of people I get along with well, which makes quick across-the-desks banter more fun.
Yeah, well designed open space is great. One that gives a semblance of privacy and "personality". But 99% of open spaces are not that, so cubicles win most of the time.
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Seriously. Neurodivergent folks like myself stand an iota of a chance of being successful with a cubicle. Open floor plans are an assault on our senses and the wet dream of micromanagers. They are awful and the reason I exclusively work from home.
Would have to agree. I WFH now, with occasional lab testing and site visits for clients. Last place I worked, I shared a “quad” cube with a filing cabinet/table in the middle while everyone faced into their corner. Main problems: I shared it with an intern who constantly asked questions and two admin ladies constantly talking in said quad with all the other admin ladies about little league baseball games and one’s ongoing ugly divorce…yikes lol
Fast pace environments = we didn't do any planning or architecture so you'll be fire fighting 24/7. Oh and our management doesn't understand software development so they'll be blind to the issues
The shared open office thing is pretty much why I quit the profession. I don't know what's wrong with most people, but I need peace and fucking quiet in order to code effectively.
The state of office desks has been continuously getting worse my entire career.
The very first place I interviewed had small private offices with a door for everyone. They weren’t any bigger than a decent sized cubicle but were real separate rooms and most of them had exterior windows. I didn’t get that job though.
My first desk at my first engineering job was in a cubicle with real six foot tall walls, a window with a nice view, big L desk, shelves, filing cabinets, etc.
Then I got the same setup, but in a fabric cube. Honestly, not really a downgrade. I had that setup three times, and the only difference was how good the view was.
Then the same but no windows.
Then a smaller cube with a simple 6 foot desk and a single cabinet.
Then a line of 6 foot wide desks with privacy screens on three sides.
Then privacy screen on left and right only.
Then no screens.
Then four foot desks.
My current office is four foot desks that are hotdesked for most people. But we are also completely remote if you want, so I use my nice desk that I built at home 90% of the time.
At my first job as a programmer I had a full old-fashioned desk. Unfortunately it was in the server room which was kept at 58°F. The servers didn't actually need to be at that temperature any more and I sure as fuck didn't need to be at that temperature since I was writing desktop apps, but that was how that company had been doing things for literally decades. I had to wear a hat and motherfucking Oliver Twist fingerless gloves all day.
Fast Paced: Deadlines and requirements change on a whim for no discernible reason at all.
Exciting Environment: Your job is constantly on the line so you need to deliver on whatever bullshit we give you. Have to work nights to do it? Too fucking bad. You're just grist to us.
We have free sitting at our office, so I sit in different floors throughout the workweek and sometimes get "the bad chair" if all the good ones are taken. It sucks. I would rather be in a cubicle.
I used to work at the Comcast Center in Philly and I randomly ended up working on one of the higher floors where about three-quarters of all the offices were empty. I spent my days alone in a huge corner office that had a perfect view of a battleship. Somehow during this run Comcast was building a second office tower two blocks away because the Comcast Center was supposedly stuffed to the gills. The reality was that it was stuffed to the gills with Indian contractors down on the lower floors and the corporate leadership wanted them out.
Real question: You yourself call it "the edge," so does it feel sustainable enough that you'd start a family and pass your way of life on to your kids? Is it stable enough that it can handle unplanned expenses? Just my opinion here, but if your lifestyle can't accomodate creating the next generation is it actually better?
I'm talking from a position of privilege, with a 9-5 that I enjoy and pays well, which maybe also isn't realistic for the next generation, of course.
Seriously.
Open-plan office dwellers everywhere: "Tell me more about this 'cubicle'. Walls, you say?"
I brought this wall from home!
I don't know. My first job was in a cubicle and it was in the middle of a large floor. There wasn't any natural light and the cubicles spread in all directions for what felt like forever. Like, its nice to have your personal space but it sucks to have the hours blend together because you're in a liminal space where you can't tell if you're alive or dead.
Oof, that's rough. Makes me appreciate the law here in germany that employees work stations in an office must be exposed to daylight. Cubicles like you described wouldn't be allowed here.
Then you get the other perfect combination. Window right above your screen, facing west without any blinds or curtains. And you spend half the day with the sun in your face.
I finally got a window and I kept that fucker clear all the time (had blinds, didn't use em). I wore a brimmed hat rather than cover up that beautiful sunshine.
I would wear a sombrero all day, just because.
There are plenty of open plan offices with no natural light either - it's really a function of how big the floor is whether light can reach to the middle of it (without a lightwell or something)
True. It all depends. That's no better.
The open floors that I've experienced typically have a long tables parallel to the window where everyone is crammed into, with meeting rooms towards the inside of the building.
I had a QA position at a game company and there weren't any windows on the open dev floor, only the break room and lobby. On top of that, they kept us testers in a freezing/sweaty separate room. Crunch dinners in that cramped hell were so fragrant.
It was interesting, but never again.
Yeah, that sounds awful too. I never hear good things about the game industry.
Fast paced = we have understaffed and expect you to do more than your share of the work. Exciting = as people with better prospects leave our untenable work environment you will be expected to take on their responsibilities with no extra pay.
I'd prefer this over the open-floor plan with shared desks we get currently
seriously all these boomers complaining about cubicles like they wouldnt be paradise, the audacity
I like our open space plan, personally. It's full of plants and green, which makes it less clinical, full kf sound dampening, which makes it less oppressively noisy and also full of people I get along with well, which makes quick across-the-desks banter more fun.
Yeah, well designed open space is great. One that gives a semblance of privacy and "personality". But 99% of open spaces are not that, so cubicles win most of the time.
I prefer working at home. I've got the home part currently, but not so much the working.
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Seriously. Neurodivergent folks like myself stand an iota of a chance of being successful with a cubicle. Open floor plans are an assault on our senses and the wet dream of micromanagers. They are awful and the reason I exclusively work from home.
Would have to agree. I WFH now, with occasional lab testing and site visits for clients. Last place I worked, I shared a “quad” cube with a filing cabinet/table in the middle while everyone faced into their corner. Main problems: I shared it with an intern who constantly asked questions and two admin ladies constantly talking in said quad with all the other admin ladies about little league baseball games and one’s ongoing ugly divorce…yikes lol
It gets fast-paced and exciting when the boss has An Idea on a Friday afternoon that must be completed before the end of the week.
And the idea?
✨AI✨
That is a management cubicle.
This is the cubicle you are applying for: (chair not included)
Those walls are awful tall there, cant even see your monitor over it!
they can see your monitor fine with all the "security" software they put on the system.
I'd take a confessional booth over an open office floor.
The notepad lowers the desk neatness score in my workplace.
not sarcasm 😑. 5/5 is empty desk. i dk who thought that was acceptable metric.
You get walls?
Sure, that's how it starts but then all of a sudden you're a Jesus allegory.
Holy shit, they get a LAMP?!
The ability to control your own lighting, that's how I know this image is AI
Also, LEMP but they have to install and configure it themself.
This is just corp-speak for “we will burn you the fuck out”
Fast pace environments = we didn't do any planning or architecture so you'll be fire fighting 24/7. Oh and our management doesn't understand software development so they'll be blind to the issues
The shared open office thing is pretty much why I quit the profession. I don't know what's wrong with most people, but I need peace and fucking quiet in order to code effectively.
Oh, the heart attack telephone.
During the 12 years I had those, one once rang and I almost died of shock.
The state of office desks has been continuously getting worse my entire career.
The very first place I interviewed had small private offices with a door for everyone. They weren’t any bigger than a decent sized cubicle but were real separate rooms and most of them had exterior windows. I didn’t get that job though.
My first desk at my first engineering job was in a cubicle with real six foot tall walls, a window with a nice view, big L desk, shelves, filing cabinets, etc.
Then I got the same setup, but in a fabric cube. Honestly, not really a downgrade. I had that setup three times, and the only difference was how good the view was.
Then the same but no windows.
Then a smaller cube with a simple 6 foot desk and a single cabinet.
Then a line of 6 foot wide desks with privacy screens on three sides.
Then privacy screen on left and right only.
Then no screens.
Then four foot desks.
My current office is four foot desks that are hotdesked for most people. But we are also completely remote if you want, so I use my nice desk that I built at home 90% of the time.
At my first job as a programmer I had a full old-fashioned desk. Unfortunately it was in the server room which was kept at 58°F. The servers didn't actually need to be at that temperature any more and I sure as fuck didn't need to be at that temperature since I was writing desktop apps, but that was how that company had been doing things for literally decades. I had to wear a hat and motherfucking Oliver Twist fingerless gloves all day.
Maybe the building starts sailing through the city like the opener to that one Monty Python film. 🤷♂️
The crimson financial assurance I think it was? Probably my fave python bit
I was so confused the first time I popped in that VHS, thought I'd gotten a mislabeled cassette.
Yeah but the dpi on the mouse is crazy high and no one knows how to slow the pointer down
Just think of all the TPS reports you could process with that sweet setup.
At least this one is clean and tidy. My colleagues like to "decorate" with old dusty circuit boards, cables and stacks of paper
One monitor? You monsters.
(⌐■_■)
Fast Paced: Deadlines and requirements change on a whim for no discernible reason at all.
Exciting Environment: Your job is constantly on the line so you need to deliver on whatever bullshit we give you. Have to work nights to do it? Too fucking bad. You're just grist to us.
my old cubical had a big window view of a hallway block wall painted white.
We have free sitting at our office, so I sit in different floors throughout the workweek and sometimes get "the bad chair" if all the good ones are taken. It sucks. I would rather be in a cubicle.
Free sitting? They don't make you pay? Is that one of the benefits? Lol
*seating, not sitting 😄
I used to work at the Comcast Center in Philly and I randomly ended up working on one of the higher floors where about three-quarters of all the offices were empty. I spent my days alone in a huge corner office that had a perfect view of a battleship. Somehow during this run Comcast was building a second office tower two blocks away because the Comcast Center was supposedly stuffed to the gills. The reality was that it was stuffed to the gills with Indian contractors down on the lower floors and the corporate leadership wanted them out.
You guys are getting privacy dividers and drawers?
No shit. I now work from home, but my last cubicle was half that size and had no walls. That's a god damn luxury cube!
What, you'd rather fight supervillains?
Some people consider "may you have an exciting life" a curse
ok but those are the same cisco phones they have at CTU in 24, I wouldn't get too complacent
It's where they book Casting Couch events. My friend says, anyway. I don't how what that is.
After noon chair race heats down the long hall? Finals every Friday. Is that just me?!
Is your company hiring?
9-5 isn't really a thing anymore.
It's more likely to be 8-5 or 9-6. You get an hour for lunch, but you'll be so busy you usually skip it and work that extra hour for free.
May I ask what you do for a living?
What does that even mean?
Means he's unemployed. "Living at the edge of his benefits check"
Real question: You yourself call it "the edge," so does it feel sustainable enough that you'd start a family and pass your way of life on to your kids? Is it stable enough that it can handle unplanned expenses? Just my opinion here, but if your lifestyle can't accomodate creating the next generation is it actually better? I'm talking from a position of privilege, with a 9-5 that I enjoy and pays well, which maybe also isn't realistic for the next generation, of course.