Nowadays people will try and convince you you're weird and wrong if you say you enjoy seeing other people and not working in silence at home.

I like the office environment. The only thing I don't like is the commute. This is why I think the future is local shared working spaces within towns so that they're in walking distance. I'd much rather have a 15 minute walk to work than a 30 minute drive.

I agree regarding shared working spaces. I had a look at a WeWork and it seemed like a good choice for a remote job.

The best I find it hybrid: a mixture of quiet home time and office meetings to talk with people.

I've never had a horrendous commute, however.

I find it ok to see and visit coworkers now and then, but work is not meant to replace one's social life. Further, some years back, I attended a couple different "Work at a Startup" and related events. Companies pushing "we are a family", "we hang out after work" typically means they have an unreasonable expectation of how much time they expect you to be around - despite productivity.

Do I have colleagues (current or former) that are friends? Yes. Do/did I feel a need to be in the office to spend time with them - no.

Work is a contract between myself and my employer to produce based on a certain set of expectations. Those expectations shall not include (nor exclude) social interactions outside those times.

> I find it ok to see and visit coworkers now and then, but work is not meant to replace one's social life.

Work has been a critical component of social life for many generations now. It is extremely strange to offhandedly dismiss its role like that.

> Do I have colleagues (current or former) that are friends? Yes. Do/did I feel a need to be in the office to spend time with them - no.

I started my previous job in mid 2019. I made multiple friends at the office in 8 months before the lockdowns started that I still keep in touch with. After we went full remote, I worked there for an extra year. During that time, my team have doubled in size. Not only I did not make friends with any of the new colleagues, I don’t even remember their names now.

I finally quit in 2021, because I absolutely loathed full time WFH. I am now commuting to the office every day, with rather arduous 50-60 minutes one way commute, and I am extremely happy, making friends again and feeling very motivated.

> It is extremely strange to offhandedly dismiss its role like that.

Chalk it up as an overreaction to how many startups and large tech companies with imposing corporate cultures alike have tried to foster workplaces designed to keep workers away from home for as long as they could with free dinners and foosball tables.

Do you know if your coworkers like hanging out and talking to you? Are they there to have fun?

I've worked with people who want to have fun and hang and I found them to be a distraction and resented having them around.