Item — HN Reader

Yes, and for me that choice is to move away from companies that insist on commuting in favour of companies that are less Luddite in their approach to remote work which is what I'm actively doing.

I have zero desire to live in a city and zero desire to ever set foot in an office again, and I know that many other people in our sector feel them same. Provided enough people stick to their guns on this, commuting and office work can be a genuine choice rather than something people are coerced into which I think will be a hugely positive thing for society. I suspect it'll benefit people who actually enjoy the rat race too, because the offices will be empty of people like me who'd rather work in their own space and instead be populated exclusively by people who actually want to be there. I'm not saying people like you shouldn't get to go to the office if you want to, but I am saying that people like me shouldn't be forced to for no reason other than seagull managers fearing their authority might be eroded by remote work.

I literally only live near an urban area because I had to pre-COVID as remote jobs were few and far between. I'd far, far rather be in a cottage in the Welsh mountains or on a sailing boat slowly working around Britain. Urban life in general is something about as appealing to me as a sudden brain haemorrhage, which I think is an aspect in the motivations of many pro-WFH people that a lot of anti-WFH people fail to grasp. Lots of people live in urban areas because they had to, not because they wanted to and WFH provides an excellent route to finally escape the modern "dark Satanic mills" for good.

1 comments

>pro-WFH

>anti-WFH

Many people who like to go to office (including myself) are not "anti-WFH". I don't get where this mind set is coming from. Just because someone likes something you don't does not mean they want you to do it as well.

There is nothing about your position I "fail to grasp". I weight cons and pros and currently full time remote work has more cons and less pros than office work for me. This is very much a personal choice anyone can make. If you like remote work then you should optimize your life around that. That is literally none of my business and has no effect on me. But this is very touchy topic on HN and people are doing exact this "anti" vs "pro" people mind set and using very loaded words like "rat race" or relating other side's opinion to actual physical ailments and other emotion driven arguments which just seems odd for a forums that is suppose to be technical in nature.

You fail to grasp that moving to a city or deeper within a city might be an unacceptable quality of life issue, either because of unaffordable rents and house prices or simply because city life is deeply unappealing to many. People take it personally because not everyone has the means or the desire for city life, and going around acting as though cities are the only place one might want to live comes across as deeply arrogant. It's a very "let them eat cake" kind of sentiment which grates harshly against the ears of people who aren't on high salaries or wages.

For huge numbers of people remote work finally let them cast off the shackles of city life while retaining their professional jobs, the point you're not grasping as someone who actually likes city life is what an incredible improvement that is to many people's quality of life, and how jealously people guard this new feature of their lives.

It is almost as if life was full of compromises. Yeah I too want to do nothing, but still live in a mansion and have infinite money, but that's not part of the reality.

If remote work is the most important aspect of a job for you then you should look for fully remote job. You might need to compromise on some other aspect like pay.

If you just want to eliminate commuting then remote work is one option, but you could also just move closer to your office or change jobs to a company that has office closer to you or to a company that has office in a location you wish to move to.

Again there is nothing I "fail to grasp" about this. There are other jobs than the highest paying one and there are other options than to work than commuting two hours to an office. What you don't seem to grasp is that I am not fighting you and you are fighting some fantasy version of me.