[simmschi]

In my whole professional life (last 15y) there was not a single time where I had anything resembling a private space where I could just close the door and work in peace.

The norm here in German startup world seem to be open floors. And if you do have rooms they get crammed full of people.

It's not the end of the world though. A room full of engineers is tolerable, and if they're on your team this is even desirable.

The trouble only comes when the CEO wants to see everyone sweating, so you get stuffed together with Sales or Ops.

Working from home made things a lot easier though. And if the company is big enough it's usually also possible to just book a meeting room if you need to work in silence for a while :-)

[brailsafe]

> A room full of engineers is tolerable, and if they're on your team this is even desirable.

Until one of the engineers who has no social awareness decides to eat at their desk instead of taking lunch elsewhere, or you just need some silent time and there's just no option for it.

I'm very reluctantly pursuing on-site or hybrid positions as a last ditch (desperate) effort to find some work, and I'm not the slightest bit optimistic about being in a room full of anybody. I used to think an open room full of people was the better choice, but that was when I was young and naive. Serious focus demands control over your senses, and there's a difference between setting up at a bustling cafe and going in every day to sit directly adjacent to the same people with no concept of real private space.

[shiroiuma]

>Until one of the engineers who has no social awareness decides to eat at their desk instead of taking lunch elsewhere

Maybe he's aware, and just doesn't care because the company has already made him miserable by 1) not having an "elsewhere" to take that lunch, and 2) putting his desk right next to the sales team.

[brailsafe]

Could very well be, in which case that would be even worse.

[Loughla]

>no social awareness decides to eat at their desk instead of taking lunch elsewhere

What? How is eating your lunch at your desk a social awareness thing? If it doesn't smell and isn't loud, what's the problem?

[brailsafe]

It requires social awareness to be conscientious of the fact that it might smell or produce noise. I'd wager that anyone who's worked in an open office and is sensitive to these things could attest to the prevalence of people who underestimate how often they chew with their mouth open, for example.

In one case, an adjacent developer was bringing in hard-boiled eggs and cracking them against the edge of his desk while wearing headphones and chewing with his mouth open, while the smell of the eggs wafted over the 3ft to mine, and then he'd get started on the apples. He'd do this 3-5 times a day, so needless to say I'm not enthusiastic about open offices. I did also awkwardly bring this up directly with him, but it's tricky to navigate a situation in which it's not just the food, but also the mouth sounds and occasional burps. If I did get a break from this specific person, it would just allow the sounds from everyone else eating chips or having conversations to be more prominent. By the time covid roled around, I was already burnt out from trying to compensate from all those things, and the respite I could have got from working at home just arrived too late to save me.

[4ggr0]

> If it doesn't smell

I guess that's exactly the problem. The only food which doesn't smell is cold food.

[brailsafe]

Ya that's what I meant there. Someone who is both eating lunch at their desk and who lacks social awareness about the sounds and smells.

[collaborative]

>the CEO wants to see everyone sweating

In all seriousness, sweating is the biggest factor for me. My clothes smell so much nicer ever since I began working from home