I think this may largely depend on facts like whether you are naturally introverted/extroverted, and how you grew up, or learned to program.

For me, I learned to program as a hobby, from ages 10-18, for fun at home. I mostly worked alone. Learning to work on a team took some time, but even now I often times wish I could work remote. I don't mind getting pinged about things people need, but the constant noise and movement of the office makes me far less productive than I would otherwise be.

However, sometimes it offers me the focus I need to actually work, if I'm in a procrastinating mood. And I think some people probably struggle with this more often than I do.

I'm in almost the same situation as you, of learning to program alone at home and introverted in general.

I feel much more productive working in an open-plan office than working alone. :s

I like working at coffee shops because the hum is relatively constant and comes from all around. At an open office plan, in my experience (which is mostly non-mixed: all developers, no sales people), it'll be relatively quiet until someone's phone rings (and invariably they're not at their desk and it rings for a painful 30 seconds)/someone takes a phone call/a group starts talking or joking around. Since there's only one single point of noise, I find it much more distracting than if the entire area was mildly noisy the entire time.

No one should have a phone on their desk in an open plan office.

Honestly, the cell phone ringtones are far worse than the office phones (which everyone has as well).

didn't know i got downvotes and i fat fingered one for you, so i guess i'll contribute...

I agree with your sentiment. Being nearby passionate workers is empathetically energetic, and adds motivation for me to do even mundane tasks. I develop a sort of weak rivalry around my peers and I'll rise to the "highest" level that I perceive. It's very encouraging to be around intelligent and motivated people, and being exposed to them is nice.

Conversation/talking can get out of hand, but that depends on both who's contributing and who's not intervening. I've only had open office conversations go too far when nobody wants to tell those involved to stop/quiet down/etc.

I think for a lot of the professions on HN, the solution to "open office bad" is to work remotely, and I think it's very unfortunate when employers disallow/discourage that options, as many people are genuinely more productive at home and/or working odd hours. While there's a pretty decent stigma of "working" from home, there are some people who genuinely are productive and can actually work from home, no quotes needed.

Yeah, you described it better than I did :)

I contract full time as well as working on my own projects. I'm often called in to augment other teams either IRL or remotely and I genuinely do enjoy that, at least in the short term.

The other days though - I wake up early, a full queue, clear scope, plenty of energy, coffee, work while the sun's rising. 11am hits and all of a sudden it's just...lonely. Hit's me like a brick some days. That's usually when I head to a coffee shop or into some co-working space. It's a funny thing.

Edit - Spelling