Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I agree that the quality of software has diminished. I don’t think that we can pin that to remote work. I think that’s a yearly deployment schedule + and how FUBAR the radar/feedback mechanism is for the teams.

Before the pandemic was even a glean in the virus’s eye…iOS 11 came out. Did you use iOS 11? Or Catalina?
Yep. Catalina for me was equivalent to Windows ME. I got Kernel Panics every day - 3 or 4 times a day. Did not happen on Mojave and has not happened since the last few updated to Big Sur. It was a Catalina issue - not hardware, confirmed by Apple themselves when I called them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: motulist
Well the flipside is also true. Do not claim that EVERYONE must be in the office due to "collaboration is not working". That is the whole point on why we got on this water cooler discussion. Its not binary on the opposite side of things as well. And that is precisely the point I have been making all along. Its not JUST a physical water cooler that will solve all a company's problems.

I have not interpreted the other posts as everyone must be in the office. It's more calling out to your absolute point that watercooler discussions were superfluous because they can be done over a call. You're presenting your case that remote working is as productive as in-office, so we don't need in-office.

But I think we both agree that all of this is very situational on the company culture. For some companies to move forward, the physical water cooler will work better, and for other companies, the virtual water cooler will work better.
 
I have met new people on Zoom. It was just as effective. Even if we are back in the office, I don't think I will be shaking hands all day long like we were before.
The way your conveying your ideas about zoom it feels like one foot has a cement shoe on. Sure you can move around, but not as effectively with two good sneakers.
 
I have not interpreted the other posts as everyone must be in the office. It's more calling out to your absolute point that watercooler discussions were superfluous because they can be done over a call. You're presenting your case that remote working is as productive as in-office, so we don't need in-office.

But I think we both agree that all of this is very situational on the company culture. For some companies to move forward, the physical water cooler will work better, and for other companies, the virtual water cooler will work better.
Not necessarily. Does a junior developer that was just hired need to be in the office? I mean its possible but the chances of them coming up with an innovative idea just due to a water cooler is very very very low. Why can't that junior software developer work from home 100%?
 
  • Like
Reactions: motulist
Apple should do the following
1) if you wish to work from home then you must accept a 15% pay cut
2) if you wish to return to the office then you will be incentivized with no no pay cut (lol)
3) if you wish to moan and groan and cause dissent among co-workers then expect termination
 
The way your conveying your ideas about zoom it feels like one foot has a cement shoe on. Sure you can move around, but not as effectively with two good sneakers.
What does that even mean? I saw the new person's face, they saw my face. We saw our bodily expressions and facial expressions. Not sure how more effective meeting in person would have been.
 
I agree that the quality of software has diminished. I don’t think that we can pin that to remote work. I think that’s a yearly deployment schedule + and how FUBAR the radar/feedback mechanism is for the teams.

Before the pandemic was even a gleam in the virus’s eye…iOS 11 came out. Did you use iOS 11? Or Catalina?

The scope of software, for example iOS, has increased dramatically over the years, in many different ways. More features, options, better security, and more.
 
I have met new people on Zoom. It was just as effective. Even if we are back in the office, I don't think I will be shaking hands all day long like we were before.

I've met new people as well virtually. But there something to be said that you build a stronger relationship when you actually meet them in-person. Agreed, the elbow touch will be fine

Not necessarily. Does a junior developer that was just hired need to be in the office? I mean its possible but the chances of them coming up with an innovative idea just due to a water cooler is very very very low. Why can't that junior software developer work from home 100%?

Not sure if you're trying to be pedantic here, but for water cooler conversations, no, they don't need to be in the office. However, there are a lot of positive benefits otherwise to be in the office. Those include networking with others, paired device debugging, and saving money on air conditioning in this humid NYC heat ;)
 
Are you freaking kidding me? Complaining because they have to come into work a measly THREE days per week? Is this from the Onion or is this real? Fire their butts and replace them with others. That way they can stay home 7 days a week.
 
This reads like a letter from first-time ever young adult employees. Poorly written and trying to gain from the momentum of political correctness regarding disabled people and the environment, see last two „demands“. Cry me a river. Despicable.
True, but this is EXACTLY how you strike back at a woke SJW policy company like Apple. The always eat themselves in the end. As soon as I heard Apple was going back to 3-a-week in person days I knew this was coming. And it's glorious.

Now they are caught between caving to this fully, (because a barter won't be enough) or changing their obnoxious stance on how they virtual signal.
 
$10 says these are all employees who moved to Austin, Boise, Denver, etc with the expectation (based on nothing) they'd be able to go full remote post-pandemic, keeping their higher CA paychecks while enjoying a lower CoL. Whoopsies!
 
Remote is over-romanticized. For many, esp. in tech, 2020 was a year of being an underpants warrior, making a non-adjusted wage while reaping savings from not paying for services that are contemplated in your cost-of-living wage. It was a year of living largely on your terms, reasonable or not. There was zero external mental stimulation, allowing people to live in a bubble of familiarity and comfort. It was an "up" year, almost like a paid sabbatical.

Unfortunately this is not reality. This is life as a 14 yr old, living under your parent's roof, not paying rent, and doing chores because you have to.

Return to the office is not about "I'm more productive at home" vs "watercoolers build products". It is working for a company that is attempting to foster a learning culture where you are surrounded by diversity and around interesting challenges and conversation - something that you can't get talking to your 2 yr old at home. The company is investing in people, and hoping those people will one day lead their organization.

End of the day, if you just want to punch the clock and collect a check, you probably don't like where you work. You just like the money and the self-fulfilling challenges the company pays you to solve. You don't like your office desk, your co-workers, or wearing pants. It's a selfish endeavor, and you end up writing angry letters to your boss lamenting the loss of your bubble.

I happen to like going to the office. It offers structure and a clear delineation of home and work. There's broader mental stimulation, and many forced encounters that are beneficial to me that I wouldn't ordinarily seek out. And I'm surrounded by different people who share a common passion. It's not always pleasant, but I learn more through these encounters than spending the entire day staring at a pane of glass, talking through messaging and awkward video calls.

I hope Apple frees up their desks for those that really want to be a part of Apple. In 2021, we find out who was just in it for the paycheck and was just too lazy to find someplace else to work.
 
Return to the office is not about "I'm more productive at home" vs "watercoolers build products". It is working for a company that is attempting to foster a learning culture where you are surrounded by diversity and around interesting challenges and conversation - something that you can't get talking to your 2 yr old at home. The company is investing in people, and hoping those people will one day lead their organization.

End of the day, if you just want to punch the clock and collect a check, you probably don't like where you work. You just like the money and the self-fulfilling challenges the company pays you to solve. You don't like your office desk, your co-workers, or wearing pants. It's a selfish endeavor, and you end up writing angry letters to your boss lamenting the loss of your bubble.
I like where I work. No I love where I work. The company is really amazing. However, I also definitely enjoy having 3 extra hours in my day. Half of that was in the car going to and from work especially on bad traffic days which was the majority of the days.

As I have said before. Not everyone is suited to work from home. And not all professions are suitable to work from home. But as a single, no distractions individual as a Senior Software Engineer that recently turned a spare bedroom to a full office, I have doubled my productivity vs when I am in the office. When/if we are forced to go back to the office, I might not write a letter but I will definitely talk to my boss about it. I have pretty much decided I want to work remote at all times.

I really don't think its fair for people to complain about this letter. Those saying such things, are you basically saying you can never talk to someone about the state of the company?
 
True, but this is EXACTLY how you strike back at a woke SJW policy company like Apple. The always eat themselves in the end. As soon as I heard Apple was going back to 3-a-week in person days I knew this was coming. And it's glorious.

Now they are caught between caving to this fully, (because a barter won't be enough) or changing their obnoxious stance on how they virtual signal.
“Woke”, “SJW” “virtue signal”…are you sure you got all the dogwhistles in? I think you might have missed some anti-union/anti-worker stuff, haha. I’m sure you meant to include something about the “real world”.

Other than grinding a political axe, have anything to say about the tangible merits of remote v. in person work?!?

Or should we all grovel happily at the boot of our corporate overlords?

“Thank you boss, may I have another?”

If you get "snowflake" and "job creators" in, we can all complete our bingo cards!
 
Last edited:
I’m not sure why there is such a backlash towards WFH in this forum. Maybe it’s from people who don’t have the flexibility to do so having sour grapes.

It is feasible for all types of roles at Apple? Most definitely not. The R&D teams working on new hardware and software for said hardware obviously aren’t going to be working from home. And the reality is they never actually stopped working at the R&D facilities at Apple Park when they were allowed to based on state restrictions.

But for the rest of the company many of them have been able to accomplish their work remotely without an issue.
I don't disagree with your comments, but I think there is quite a lot of people out there that look at bad examples rather then good example of working from home. A lot of people don't have a well-rounded background of doing everything remotely, therefore you tend to view they really need to be at the company learning more to become a better resource for their involvement with the company then simply staying home and not getting that exposure. I look at experienced staff performing work quite effectively as no loss for the company. But others that have less experience becoming less desirable because they lack that by working remotely. Kinda like how kids learn restricted to online versus in a classroom. You just don't get the same feedback, or attention remotely as you do at work.
 
You really cannot compare this to an actual work in home environment.

We essentially went from very small percent (maybe 0% for CD Projekt Red company not sure) working from home to nearly everyone working from home. There will obviously be growing pains. But AFTER you change things around, incorporate new tools and get a plan forward, it really wouldn't be much different. Once you learn and adapt to the growing pains - changing processes as you go will make working from home much better than it was day one.

Apple, Microsoft etc already had the tools for remote work, remote desktops, etc

They’ve been doing it for 20 years.

There is nothing ‘new’ for them to introduce.

But they have always known what is the right amount to work remotely, or in different buildings, or which campus, and how many to have in the HQ.

They already have the many years of trial and error and even then we have so many bugs in operating systems that take ages to fix.

Anymore slowdowns and bottle necks and it becomes worse.

There’s nothing else to say. This whole thread is full of millennial stupids who don’t know that remote working and remote departments across the world already exist for many years.

Apple, Microsoft, Google etc already know what’s the right amount of people to work remotely and the right amount to work in person for hands on tasks.
 
No.

Apple, Microsoft etc already had the tools for remote work, remote desktops, etc

They’ve been doing it for 20 years.

There is nothing ‘new’ for them to introduce.

But they have always known what is the right amount to work remotely, or in different buildings, or which campus, and how many to have in the HQ.

They already have the many years of trial and error and even then we have so many bugs in operating systems that take ages to fix.

Anymore slowdowns and bottle necks and it becomes worse.

There’s nothing else to say. This whole thread is full of millennial stupids who don’t know that remote working and remote departments across the world already exist for many years.

Apple, Microsoft, Google etc already know what’s the right amount of people to work remotely and the right amount to work in person for hands on tasks.
Your comment mentioned Cyberpunk 2077. Apple and Microsoft did not make that but CDPR did. And my response was about your Cyberpunk - not Apple and Microsoft.
 
What does that even mean? I saw the new person's face, they saw my face. We saw our bodily expressions and facial expressions. Not sure how more effective meeting in person would have been.
It’s a metaphor, figure it out. Again zoom is great and a paradigm shift has occurred because of it. That doesn’t mean that having a workforce in the office isn’t better than zoom.
 
It’s a metaphor, figure it out. Again zoom is great and a paradigm shift has occurred because of it. That doesn’t mean that having a workforce in the office isn’t better than zoom.
I have been trying for the last 10+ minutes since you posted to try to figure it out. I don't show my feet on Zoom, I don't look at someone's shoes in person. I am not sure what the metaphor is supposed to mean, which is why I asked.
 
Remote is over-romanticized. For many, esp. in tech, 2020 was a year of being an underpants warrior, making a non-adjusted wage while reaping savings from not paying for services that are contemplated in your cost-of-living wage. It was a year of living largely on your terms, reasonable or not. There was zero external mental stimulation, allowing people to live in a bubble of familiarity and comfort. It was an "up" year, almost like a paid sabbatical.

Unfortunately this is not reality. This is life as a 14 yr old, living under your parent's roof, not paying rent, and doing chores because you have to.

Return to the office is not about "I'm more productive at home" vs "watercoolers build products". It is working for a company that is attempting to foster a learning culture where you are surrounded by diversity and around interesting challenges and conversation - something that you can't get talking to your 2 yr old at home. The company is investing in people, and hoping those people will one day lead their organization.

End of the day, if you just want to punch the clock and collect a check, you probably don't like where you work. You just like the money and the self-fulfilling challenges the company pays you to solve. You don't like your office desk, your co-workers, or wearing pants. It's a selfish endeavor, and you end up writing angry letters to your boss lamenting the loss of your bubble.

I happen to like going to the office. It offers structure and a clear delineation of home and work. There's broader mental stimulation, and many forced encounters that are beneficial to me that I wouldn't ordinarily seek out. And I'm surrounded by different people who share a common passion. It's not always pleasant, but I learn more through these encounters than spending the entire day staring at a pane of glass, talking through messaging and awkward video calls.

I hope Apple frees up their desks for those that really want to be a part of Apple. In 2021, we find out who was just in it for the paycheck and was just too lazy to find someplace else to work.
My 1.5 or so years of working remotely wasn't living in a bubble as a 14 yr old. We collaborate, plan, and execute on-site ops with internal and external partners equally as effectively. And when I'm on-site, it's all Webex/Teams/etc anyway. When not needed on-site, there's no difference between us planning or working on planning or ops in a cube, or from the home office. I don't need to see someone's micro expressions to know if they've done their jobs, either the network is functioning or it isn't. Just speaking from my experience though. I don't know what you've directly observed of course.
 
Also, that would also mean that American workers could be hired by Asian and/or European companies—for example—remotely as well.
I think you're missing the point that American companies could hire Asian workers at a cheaper hourly rate.

I doubt the people beating on the employees in this thread have jobs or ever worked in a big corporate environment.
Yeah, so many of us are homeless and unemployed. I manage servers and databases for a 5000+ workforce, one person in my team has been working from home permanently for 15 months. He should have been fired years ago. If I decided I would permanently work from home, my employer would definitely not like it. I would retort about the useless **** that did little work when he was in the office and is doing even less now he's "working" from home. But I prefer to commute because it's only 10 minutes, I have free parking and my own office, and we have a great cafeteria with lots of great options.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PotatoLeekSoup
Not necessarily. Does a junior developer that was just hired need to be in the office? I mean its possible but the chances of them coming up with an innovative idea just due to a water cooler is very very very low. Why can't that junior software developer work from home 100%?
I would say for both junior and new hire positions, on-site time is absolutely needed. I typically pair a Sr. Engineer with a new Jr. one for the first 6 mo and keep them on-site as much as possible ... know the people, know the culture, know the code and know how to navigate the org. A virtual orientation and a chat buddy is not the same. A new job is not just joining a new Slack channel.

From there, remote is an option, but it's fluid. In general, having some IRL friends in the office makes that the exception, not the norm. People come to the office because they like the people there and they get value out of being there. They actually hang out after work too. But if they need time out of the office, they take it and there's trust.
 
So for every 1 person at Apple that wants to keep working from home, there are 100 equally qualified tech workers who aren't emotionally weak and are updating their resumes and are looking at available local residential real estate in neighboring Cupertino.

I know it.
You know it.
They know it.
Tim Cook knows it.
 
know the people, know the culture, know the code and know how to navigate the org
All of that can be accomplished remotely just as effectively. I got a new job and switched teams during the pandemic. Our team bonds are quite strong and I know all of what you listed. I even play some games with some of the team members after work.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.