Who here works in office without walls/cubicles?

[Train]

Private cubicles are for social rejects. You need to communicate often to be a productive team. If a company has coders working all day by themselves, they are likely making poor software. Coders should never go dark. The best companies go as far as having coders work in pairs, always looking at the same screen, CONTINUOS communication.

Want to take a break to nef ATOT, check facebook, the news? Go right ahead, wtf is the problem?

 

[dank69]

Where are you supposed to nail the secretary?

 

[Abe Froman]

We have no cubicle walls. While your first inclination is to be scared or nervous about it, it's so much better. Everyone is open about their surfing, you speak to each other. You'll be a much closer work unit with actual relationships rather than just being co-workers. We all sit next to each other and at first I didn't like it. Now I love it.

The rest of our company sits in traditional cubes, they all whisper, we just speak aloud and don't care who hears what. Work is more fun this way.

 

[rudeguy]

I'm in a call center with no cubes or dividers between us.

300+ people talking at the same time, with no dividers makes it challenging sometimes.



EDIT:
as far as tips: Use a dual ear headset and put your mike as close to your mouth as possible

 

[HardcoreRobot]

cubeville. definitely prefer it over an open office. dont mind it really.

 

[Muse]

I've done that (large office with no walls/cubicles), what comes to mind is a job I had with Alameda County.

We have no cubicle walls. While your first inclination is to be scared or nervous about it, it's so much better. Everyone is open about their surfing, you speak to each other. You'll be a much closer work unit with actual relationships rather than just being co-workers. We all sit next to each other and at first I didn't like it. Now I love it.

The rest of our company sits in traditional cubes, they all whisper, we just speak aloud and don't care who hears what. Work is more fun this way.

Could work out great as long as you don't have to do work that demands intense mental focus. When I was doing that I bought some sound blocking earbud headphones and would listen to music so I wouldn't be driven crazy by all the noise my coworkers were making. I was the person who maintained their data and the custom designed program that they used to run the business. It was also my job to modify the application (and data, if necessary), test new versions and to write and test utilities used in conjunction with it all and deploy all this locally and to their reps in different situations all over the country. It could get pretty hairy. It's hard to imagine how angry you can get at people making noise that makes work of this sort a lot more difficult than it already is. But usually the only thing I could do was put in my earbuds, as long as it wasn't important that I pick up on the conversation(s) around me.

 

[moonbogg]

Large, private office with security cam viewing on my PC so I can see what everyone is doing and where they are, and i'm just the draftsman.

 

[hans007]

Private cubicles are for social rejects. You need to communicate often to be a productive team. If a company has coders working all day by themselves, they are likely making poor software. Coders should never go dark. The best companies go as far as having coders work in pairs, always looking at the same screen, CONTINUOS communication.

Want to take a break to nef ATOT, check facebook, the news? Go right ahead, wtf is the problem?

pair programming is complete horseshit.

it always degenerates into, one useless person and one person actually coding. all my coworkers are actually right next to me , but i dont need to be watching them actually physically type. not to mention most companies do not hav ethe luxury of having 2 guys do that.

we communicate with the people in our office on IM. its easier half the time to paste code, and that way both of us can work on different parts at the same time.

i've worked at startups , large companies, etc. i'm a really social person when im not on some coding binge. but the vast majority of people i know who do this for a living need less people talking to them while they concentrate not someone sitting there all day watching them work.

 

[KeithTalent]

They converted our 22nd floor, where our small cap corporate finance group works, to that open layout and it is awful. Makes it feel like a boiler room.

I have an office now, but would rather go back to our old pseudo-cubicles before going to that open concept crap. D:

KT

 

[Train]

pair programming is complete horseshit.

it always degenerates into, one useless person and one person actually coding. all my coworkers are actually right next to me , but i dont need to be watching them actually physically type. not to mention most companies do not hav ethe luxury of having 2 guys do that.

we communicate with the people in our office on IM. its easier half the time to paste code, and that way both of us can work on different parts at the same time.

i've worked at startups , large companies, etc. i'm a really social person when im not on some coding binge. but the vast majority of people i know who do this for a living need less people talking to them while they concentrate not someone sitting there all day watching them work.

It's hard to set up, but when done correctly, beats the pants off of single coders in both speed and quality. Paired coding is not about "watching someone work", its about communication, shared ideas, better focus, and staying on track. It takes experienced coders who have the right mindset. Paired coding can also be when one coder writes tests while the other meets them in a pure TDD fashion.