April 16, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Hunting Developers
April 17, 2008 at 4:03 am
Hi,
Good article, and very topical for me.
I have recently started in a new company, and have been amazed at the atmosphere! It is silent about 95% of the time. I previously worked in a large org, and there was always a 'buzz' in the office. OK, not always about work, but a mix of work, and non-work related chat and banter.
I'm not really sure I will stay here, as I do feel quite isolated, and often uncomfortable. It is a great shame as the work is much better than previous place. It is also a bit weird, as I don't mind working from home, where of course it really is silent.
April 17, 2008 at 6:59 am
I must say I too would have imagined a cubicle farm, energy drinks and lively discussions at whiteboards. Since it is Microsoft, I wouldn't have thought of Nerf guns, possibly X-Boxes in the break rooms though.
Perhaps someone should put a request in Connect for 25% more fun in SQL Server?
April 17, 2008 at 8:08 am
What do you expect? Microsoft is just a software company liked the rest of the other software companies. I heard Microsoft was very harsh to their employees for the first couple years and made sure they could stand the stress. I wonder how people work at Google and Apple. Steve Jobs is the toughest boss, does he require people work 12 hours a day? But look at the Googleplex, it is liked a spa.
April 21, 2008 at 8:20 am
Of all the places that I have worked, I enjoyed working for Affinity Technology Group in Columbia, SC with plenty of great place for lunch within walking distance. The developers were talented and fun to work with. Those developers on the outside row facing the windows tore down their cube walls to get views of Columbia from the 19th and 20th floor. When we needed a break, out came the rubber bands for a rubber band war.
I just wished the company remained viable.
April 21, 2008 at 10:10 am
For me, cubicles and wide open spaces are productivity destroyers. Some people I've worked with can tune out the phones ringing, people talking, the combined hum of workstations, printers and personal air fans, etc.. Others, like myself find it all distracting, preventing concentration.
Where I work at this time, the noise level is so distracting, I have purchased a noise canceling headset so I can concentrate. It definitely helps.
Private offices do not stop employees from interacting or letting off steam (but company policy, along with the management style certainly will). I congratulate whomever at Microsoft for making the decision that their employees needed, deserved even, private offices.
Regards,
Terry
February 8, 2013 at 7:36 am
"They're productive, but it's boring. Sounds are muted, there's no animation from the employees, it just seems like it could be an accounting firm as much as it could be a software developer. I'm not sure what I was expecting, maybe more people running around with Nerf dart guns..."
Actually, for thinking and concentrating, I prefer a quiet working environment versus working in a roomful of people who basically act like a bunch of raucous seventh graders. The workplace is a "workplace", not a gymnasium, not a game room, and certainly not a pool room.. Do that on your own time. You are paid to come to work to produce for the salary you are being paid for by the company, bottom line. I understand the workplace shouldn't be a dreary place to come to, and there is nothing wrong with taking a little break every once in while, but it shouldn't be a Dave and Buster's or a Gold's Gym either. The workplace should be about "working", not playing silly games, lifting weights, or shooting the breeze all day long. It is not meant to be your living room. You are not being paid to come to work to be entertained IMHO.:-D
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
February 8, 2013 at 9:31 am
I am in agreement with Travis. The workplace is a place of work. But the Developer should be comfortable and for the most part the environment should not be forced to be sterile. My cube is messy, my files are in disarray, I have piles of stuff on the desktop, and I have personal pictures and stuff on the walls. I put us the wallpaper I want on the computer and install any software I think I need. I listen to my music all day long and take a walk when I need to no matter what time it is.
I use to have hair to the shoulder, a long full beard and have had a mustache for the past 40+ years. I wear jeans to work and have not worn a tie for decades. For the most part I am a reformed 70's West Coast Developer. We use to play catch with a football in the office, smoke cigars at the desk, played basketball with a paper ball in the computer room, and worked over 70 hours a week developing software people did not even imagine could be developed. We often slept either on the couch in the break room or on the computer room floor. We yelled in fun and fury and worked on code as if it were the passion of life. We broke ground in some of the most challenging areas of the field with primitive tools that could barely do the job. It was and we were wild.
Over the years we were reformed, changed, we "matured". But many lost the vision, the dream faded and they stopped developing and soon retired or quit. Many walked out of the profession and into oblivion and have not been seen since. But some changed and modified their behavior and conformed to the "civility" of the office. But we still have the glint in our eye!
I really miss Billy the Kid!
Not all gray hairs are Dinosaurs!
February 8, 2013 at 9:54 am
I've always liked working in a busy IT area because it makes me feel like I'm part of the team. My wife says she could never work in the cubicles that I have worked in, she's glad she has her own office. I'm the opposite. I'd feel completely isolated working in an office by myself.
But I think I'm different than others in that when I'm programming, and really into it, I can go for hours and hours without even noticing what's going on around me, hyper focused on what I'm working on.
February 8, 2013 at 9:57 am
I read a blog once about how IT people WANT to get work done. You don't have to manipulate us into actually doing our jobs all you really have to do is get out of the way so we can accomplish stuff.
I think this is very true. I love most of what I do, and I would almost always rather be accomplishing something than goofing off with Nerf guns.
February 8, 2013 at 9:58 am
Miles Neale (2/8/2013)
Over the years we were reformed, changed, we "matured".
I totally understand, Miles. That's called growing up. There's nothing wrong with passion, and I don't think that the workplace needs to to be like a retirement home either. However, I have been in way too many shops in the past where the behavior from the co-workers is like attending a junior high school every day, without any care or concern for the people around them that have real work and deadlines to concentrate on.. Like my late uncle used to say, "There is a time and a place for everything in life, but this is not the time or the place." 😀
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
February 8, 2013 at 10:29 am
TravisDBA (2/8/2013)
Miles Neale (2/8/2013)
Over the years we were reformed, changed, we "matured".
... Like my late uncle used to say, "There is a time and a place for everything in life, but this is not the time or the place." 😀
Travis, I know that you are right, we grew up and it all changed. We have to be productive, and we can no longer be as wild as those days. Simply put, a week of that would probably kill me. We look back at childhood with rose-colored glasses and miss parts of the journey, but we have traveled that road and are at a new place where that time has passed.
It is time not to lament the past and idolize those old memories, but to look to the future and create new memories that will also be long remembered. This train still has a lot of track in front of it, and we are still moving forward!
Have a great one!
Not all gray hairs are Dinosaurs!
February 8, 2013 at 10:39 am
Very well put Miles!:-D
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
February 8, 2013 at 11:20 am
I had the extreme pleasure of working for Microsoft Business Solutions for a few short years and to date it has been my favorite workplace evah! We worked hard and long but we also had opportunities to play hard often enough to keep it very interesting.
I still grieve over the closing of that facility...maybe someday I'll get over it 😉
February 8, 2013 at 1:35 pm
batgirl (2/8/2013)
We worked hard and long but we also had opportunities to play hard often enough to keep it very interesting.
You know, now that you bring that up, I have heard that term before "play hard" and it always kind of confused me. What exactly does "play hard" mean? From what I have experienced and read in the past it refers to people partying after working hard. I think it's just an excuse for bad partying habits like excessive drinking. People with those habits are usually the ones who use the silly expression in the first place. Though, there are many many people who very work hard without "partying". I am one of them. My dog is a different story though. Also, there are those who party all the time without doing any work at all. So, the entire statement sounds a little exclusionary at best. It also seems to be a "trite" or "hackneyed" statement that someone long ago at Redmond came up with and has been long overused by certain individuals since. Personally, I stopped saying "Can you dig it?" long ago. It got to a point where it just sounded silly. 😀
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
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