On Going Back to the Office

My workplace has asked everyone to start coming to office at least thrice a week. Each team picks which three weekdays are best suited to them.

This means that I will be moving to Bengaluru this week and find a place to stay somewhere close to work.

I, for one, am excited about this.

Work From Where?

There’s a narrative that says knowledge workers no longer need offices, because they are equally productive working from home. While I respect their choice, I find myself to feel much better about my job — and life in general — while working from an office.

For one, it helps you set a clear boundary between work and not-work. Your mind gets into either mode based on where you are.

Furthermore, as a developer, you do much more than just write code. You spend a lot of time talking to people. You discuss requirements, ask for help, give help, clarify things and review code to name a few.

All this is possible to do over the internet, no doubt. But I find it much more organic, much more human to do it in person.

Our brains are more accustomed to reading facial expressions and body language than they are at processing words. And it is much easier to showcase your intent through these. Heck, it’s harder to hide your intent.

For example, while providing critical feedback, you don’t want to come across as bossy or arrogant. No matter how good you are at language, this is hard to do with mere words and emoji. But wearing a kind, friendly expression on your face is so natural that you don’t even stop and think about it. Think about it.

There’s a reason people are regularly misunderstood on social media.

Note: I am saying all this from a subjective, neurotypical viewpoint. I mean no disrespect to people who cannot or don’t want to work from an office for any reason.

Not-work Work

Moving from living with my parents to living on my own also comes with an advantage. I get more time and space to work on things that matter the most to me: side projects, open source and pixel art.

I have been procrastinating for far too long, and it’s about time I went back to following my own advice.