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In my case, seniority. I’ve only been working in industry for around 5 or 6 years, and when you’re new, working remotely is inconvenient — it’s hard to ask impromptu questions, or set up “brain drain” sessions, or even get into the mindset of working. You feel like you need to work those full 8-9 hour days to prove yourself. After a couple of years, I changed jobs. I realized open offices aren’t that pleasant, the food kinda sucks, the beer fridge is full of trash, and my coworker relationships are very superficial compared to my actual friendships. I started working from home 2-3 days a week because my slightly longer commute time on the subway just wasn’t worth being in the office. Then covid hit. Everyone started working from home. I pooled resources with my significant other to put together a great coffee setup at home, nice desks, cooked lunch together every day. I moved cities to be closer to things I want to do (and cut down on the NYC drinking culture). Now I’m actually planning another move to be someplace where I can actually afford a house in the next year or two. I changed, the work environment changed, the world changed, and… work from home works better for me now? When I first started, I had a remote teammate, and it actually really bothered me — I felt like it ruined our team culture because we couldn’t include that teammate in lunches, he forced standups to be on zoom, etc. But now that I’m more established in the field I totally get it. If I had a family, no way I’d want to raise my kids in a US city right now. I’m sure it could work for other people with different preferences but to me it’s just too expensive, too much driving, too dangerous when you try to walk or bike, and cuts me off from the things I really enjoy, like biking on dirt roads in the woods, cross country skiing, downhill skiing (when it’s not busy), and easily visiting family. |