| Introvert vs extrovert. I couldn't disagree more strongly with the author of the linked article. I'd almost call it pro-remote-work propaganda. But, I say that as a software developer who is extroverted (at least relative to the profession as a whole), and is in my early 30s. Working from home can be super isolating and depressing, and I would rather leave a lucrative career than start another remote job (I already quit my previous remote job, currently living off savings rather than work remotely). I know some people who like working remotely. But I also have friends who hate it as I do, and are super eager to return to the office (some already have, at least on a part-time/hybrid basis. The two biggest factors are see are introversion vs extroversion, and whether they live with other people. My extroverted friend whose wife works at an in person job, and is thus alone all day, hates it. Another friend who lives by herself hates it. A third whose social life centered on work hated it, and wound up moving in with her parents despite being in her 30s just to have some other people around. Productivity-wise, I agree with the studies I've seen showing more time, but no more results. I think of my friend who is not confident in his job security and is working at least 50% more hours than in his pre-pandemic in-person job; I've told him several times his colleagues probably don't realize how many hours he is putting in or how effective he is, because he only interacts with about three people and it's all remote. In the first couple months of his job, before his workload went sky-high, he complained that some of his colleagues were completely burnt out and unproductive; now it's no mystery why some of his colleagues are like that. Another reason I think it's introvert vs extrovert is my conversations with recruiters. I'm that odd software developers who enjoys talking with recruiters, at least the ones who take the time to get to know you. Almost if not 100% of the recruiters I talk with miss being in person. Most of them are young. And guess what, recruiting is a highly extroverted profession. My prediction for the software industry is there are going to be a lot of people switching jobs over the next year or two, as the people who want to be in the office but are stuck at remote gigs leave, and similarly the people who want to be remote but are stuck at in office gigs leave. Some people will probably prefer hybrid too, but most of the people I know have strong opinions on the topic, and I wouldn't be surprised if hybrid mostly falls by the wayside once uncertainty around covid protocols subsides. |
On the team I joined mid-pandemic, one of the ways this evidenced itself was higher turnover among the people who joined after March. The tech lead also noticed universally slower uptake on team-specific knowledge among the new folks, compared to when previous folks had joined. None of the new folks became team experts in the year I was there, despite having the past experience that would suggest it would be likely they would. And generally, the team continued to rely on its pre-pandemic experts.
All this is having joined a remote team where I think I would have really enjoyed being on the team in the office, and which I know from industry colleagues was a successful team pre-pandemic. Even with those advantages, joining remotely was rough.
In other words, I think we may still be in the honeymoon period for remote work appearing productive among the industry at large. For some people, it may work well in general, and if you specifically recruit those people you may be able to build a successful remote team (some companies did it pre-pandemic, after all). But across the industry, I suspect remote teams will become less productive over time as experienced members switch jobs, and (if they aren't the type that naturally likes being remote) experiences the slower uptake and more isolating experience of being on a team where they've never met their colleagues in real life.