I’ve to go to the office mid August in SF for a week, I WFH from across the country and I’m doing quite well in my job. Also my manager is bugging me to make appointments with other developers while I’m in the office so we can talk about work. (Like we already do in slack or meet when needed) So I told my wife that I don’t want to go to the on-site, I’m going because it’s mandatory, but really don’t see the benefit of working in person as I’ve been remote for almost 10 years. She went off telling me how I’m wrong and going to the office is important for the company because it shows loyalty, and how promotions are only given to people that show the abilities to work with others. She worked in HR for like 7 years a long time ago. I answered her that although I like my job, My loyalty consists on “you pay me, I do good work”, and that my personal skills are fine since I constantly get put in charge of teams and projects, and my coworkers don’t have issues with me. But she kept going how this mindset of developers is wrong and all my work relations aren’t personal enough to be really productive. Well, I just wanted to rant and hear if any of you has had this types of discussions. #on-site
Your proven track record means nothing. HR is always correct. And most importantly your wife is always correct. I thought you'd have figured this out by now. The only correct answer is "Yes dear, you're correct"
🤣 , totally agree with this. It's futile to agree with your wife or hr or your boss
This guy f*cks ☝🏽
I agree with your wife. Your boss is pushing you to mentor and meet with the team. You want to be seen as a team player by being physically present. Plus it’s only a week, NBD.
Engineers are not in such high demand now. In fact there are layoffs everywhere
Your wife got a solid point. Just go there and socialize with the team. It goes a long way! Besides, you going onsite for a week has nothing to do with loyalty don’t mix up the two.
More business problems are solved and business decisions made over beers than countless slack messages and zoom calls.
I’ve always been loyal and score the highest on my performance reviews but never got the promotions I was promised. There is no such thing as loyalty unfortunately. They’ll lay you off on a whim nowadays.
Performance and promotions are related but not the same thing. You may be an awesome IC, but may not be a great manager. Or you may be good for one type of work, but may not be able to handle broader responsibility. Promos are about being able to handle the conversation with higher ups. They need someone to listen to them, understand and get things done. You need to be able to have meaningful friendly conversations with your skip level and their manager. If you are thinking “OMG, I cannot suck up to the senior people. I am not a brown nose” then you are looking at this the wrong way and you are not promo material. My 2 cents.
The best way to climb the ladder has always been to job hop. You could sit around waiting for the right opportunity in your org, or you could go out and hunt one down.
You pay me and I do work is a guaranteed way to continue at exactly your current level. Have to play the game if you want to get ahead and can't do that entirely remote.
^^This
You have a good point, but I don’t do just what it is needed to hit the goals, I mentor, work with other teams, lead projects, I get along with my teammates to the point of knowing each others hobbies and kids names, and do all this from home. What do you think I’m missing that can’t be done remotely?
your wife is correct
My gf has the same problem with me wanting to be remote. And maybe she’s half right since I’m introverted and can’t hold a conversation but I really don’t care as long as I’m getting good TC. Like I would switch in a heart beat if you give me 20-30% increase and might do it even if I need to do hybrid. I do like remote even tho I’m early in my career and I believe it’s best to give people options. Btw if it’s company paid and you get to do less work just go and have drinks on company’s tab lol
Better start working on that apology and gift to her
Agree with your wife. Best advice I ever got when I went fully remote was be on campus once a quarter. It helped solidify relationships with people I’d only met remotely, and helped build a network. Plus, I enjoy the campus area. YMMV
what improved for you by being on campus? What changes did you saw in the work you were doing?
Have to ask.. how can you possibly build out a great network with only 4 days on-site a year?