Recently I re-ran an old editorial on annoyances. The world of work has changed for many of us. For the last few months, many of us have previously worked in offices have had to work at home. We often have partners, roommates, spouses, kids, pets, and more that distract us from the environment we’re used to being in while working on the data platform.
I don’t know how the world of work will change, but I do know it will. As I write this, I’m not sure when I’ll actually be able to go back to an office to work. While I don’t go often, I am looking forward to spending a few days here and there with others when I’m able. What I’m not sure about is whether I’ll see lots of people or just a few. Will there be rotations of who’s in the office during the week? Will I, as an outsider, be able to meet with the large variety of developers I’m used to seeing, or am I an infection vector to be avoided?
I suspect that world of remote work will grow for many data professionals. It’s been years since I needed to touch a physical server, and with the changes I’ve seen in many environments, it might not be quite as critical for many of us to show up and meet in a room every week. At the same time, I do think we’ve lost some of the ability to easily collaborate and coordinate our thoughts while we’re remote.
Now that we’ve had a few months of a different way of working, I wonder if you have any new annoyances that bother you. For me, having more people at home has been a bit of a challenge as noise is a problem at times. It’s not bad, but it’s different than it was in 2019.
I’ll also say that while meetings seem to be starting on time more often, I find we still have plenty of audio issues, and sometimes video issues. I also find that it’s hard to decide when to talk and when I want to avoid interrupting someone. It seems that we have different delays in hearing each other at times, so we end up with a bit of a talking collision. Overall, however, I’m impressed and surprised at just how smoothly things are going.
I’m sure many of you are finding new challenges at home. Some from virtual school, perhaps some frustration still from your setup at home, or maybe there’s something else. A few of you might not like the remote meetings and still not be used to them. I think that no matter how you feel, many of us are still going to need to adjust the way we work and learn to cope with our new annoyances for awhile.
Steve Jones
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