Fresh grads, interns, and apprentices typically uproot their lives to move to tech hubs, as do older populations. That is the terrible effect - getting dropped in a strange new location with minimal network. Of course letting "locals" work remotely would make that situation worse, agreed.
So completely do away with tech hubs. People can continue to grow organically, they are free to stay or move as makes sense to them individually.
As a society, we should be striving to continue decoupling work from our identity.
I like that workers themselves need to “rebel” against the powers that be to solve this as we are completely incapable of improving the housing crisis otherwise. Nimbys, geriatric government ineptitude, and corporate investment is actively working against new home owners. It’s complete generational theft that seeks to turn everyone into a renter for life.
The thing is, the supposed mentorship and office culture that fresh grads and neophyte employees believe they are missing largely never existed even before COVID.
- Companies just aren't interested in training people if they can hire someone trained somewhere else.
- Project-based time accounting doesn't account for time spent mentoring and transferring knowledge.
- Some older workers withhold knowledge and aren't punished for it. Some older workers share knowledge and aren't rewarded for it.
All this existed prior to COVID and expansion of work from home.
There's nothing precluding people from mentoring others over the net, through chat and video.
I see people mention in these threads that in-person mentoring and networking is somehow "just better", but no source or wide-population evidence is ever provided. It's always "trust me bro" and "it helped me", whereas the reality is a lot closer to what you described.
There are lots of companies with shitty in-office cultures where new employees get hazed and bullied, but never productively mentored. Either way, for the last 15-20 years at least, the burden of learning has been almost entirely on the employee, regardless of whatever corporate PR drones may say.
I lived with my parents like three years into working a full time, decently paid job. We'd always lived in rentals and I wanted to help with the bills. After moving out I realized that, man, I was saving so much money!
This anecdote to say that I'd probably been terrible at a remote job while in the old structures. Now I'm married with a child, but I get to call the shots on daily routine, so to speak. I can even work late nights without mom coming to admonish.
Then, isn't the long duree view of technology about replacing apprenticeship learning (sit with the master welder, clean the shop, watch him work -- this doesn't cut in software)? Sometimes with explicit learning (linear algebra), sometimes just with low-friction entry points into professions.
So completely do away with tech hubs. People can continue to grow organically, they are free to stay or move as makes sense to them individually.
As a society, we should be striving to continue decoupling work from our identity.