[devandstuff]

I like open offices. I grew up with cubicles -- no thank you. I'll take the downsides to open offices to the downsides of being isolated. Just use headphones. And for companies, have rooms where people can go for focused, quiet work when they need that.

I was apprehensive moving from cubicles to open space, but I actually find that I appreciate the social aspect of it. I'd rather not be alone all day in my tiny enclosed corner of the world. There's a good reason movies like Office Space exist.

[ericd]

I don't personally care, but the headphone argument doesn't take into account that many people don't like working with music either.

[rytis]

Also, not everyone likes wearing headphones all day long either. It's like saying "oh, you don't like the smell of cigaretes? wear a gas mask!"

[devandstuff]

True. But cubicles don't completely eliminate noise either. If you're working in a space with people, some noise is inevitable. Unless you have your own complete closed office, which is just really unrealistic in most cases.

[devandstuff]

@ericd If you're working for a small company, and that company can actually find an office space setup like that, good for you. It will not work for larger companies because the real estate footprint would be unwieldy. I have yet to work at a company for which closed offices for everyone was even remotely possible, given the fiscal and office space availability constraints.

[ericd]

The companies I'm describing range from fortune 500s to research organizations to small startups. They didn't have it for 100% of people, but they did for every dev/researcher that I could see. They don't have to be huge offices, and two to an office was fine, it's really the full walls/lack of noise that mattered.

[ericd]

How are offices unrealistic? I've worked at a number of companies where I either had my own office or I shared an office with one other person. It requires spending more on office space, but it's not a huge expense compared to dev salaries.

[varelse]

I also don't want to risk long-term hearing damage by cranking up music just to drown out ambient noise. No job is worth that.

http://medicine.stonybrookmedicine.edu/surgery/blog/headphon...

That said, I think all it would take is one successful lawsuit alleging such damage and the open office plan would die a quick and merciful death.

[jaredmcateer]

You don't have to listen to music with your headphones on. Sometimes I listen to rainy mood, sometimes a podcast or a tech talk, most of the time I'm just wearing them listening to nothing, they are over the ear and noise cancelling.

[philosophus]

"focused, quiet work when they need that"

Aren't you supposed to be doing focused work all day? The "social aspect of it?" Again, you're at work. Work is for working. I don't want to socialize at work, I want to get my job done and go home. That's what I'm being paid to do.