Noisy Work Environments?
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Is it normal for developers to have to work on noisy office spaces? I've had a few different jobs as a developer over the past few years. The best one had an office. It was quiet and it was easy to focus on my work. I've had others with semi-queiet cubicles and one with a very noisy environment with people talking on their cell phones while walking around the developers' desks. How am I supposed to concentrate on work when the employer seems to discourage it by the environment? Please tell me that this isn't normal. Are there employers out there that actually encourage productivity? How do I find these jobs? Lately I seem to be having bad luck. Maybe I live in the wrong part of the US?
I work in the UK for a development department at the parent company in Sweden. Over there they have offices with 2 or 3 developers in, all nice and quiet all the time. Over here, I'm the only developer and have to sit in an office full of engineering designers using CAD. 50% of the time its OK, but the other 50% of the time either the boss is away at meetings so everyone just gasses or sales reps are visiting with their voices that only have 1 volume, LOUD! I've resorted to having a good set of headphones to hand and listen to some suitable music. I've found this site quite good: Music For Programming[^] I have video/goto meetings quite regular so the company payed for a decent headset with mic. Sometimes I'm wearing it for 4 or 5 hours at a time.
I don't have a signature!
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Is it normal for developers to have to work on noisy office spaces? I've had a few different jobs as a developer over the past few years. The best one had an office. It was quiet and it was easy to focus on my work. I've had others with semi-queiet cubicles and one with a very noisy environment with people talking on their cell phones while walking around the developers' desks. How am I supposed to concentrate on work when the employer seems to discourage it by the environment? Please tell me that this isn't normal. Are there employers out there that actually encourage productivity? How do I find these jobs? Lately I seem to be having bad luck. Maybe I live in the wrong part of the US?
Everything you've experienced is normal. You just need to find what works for you so you can be productive in each one. My first job was in a noisy environment, so I cobbled together a set of passive sound deadening headphones from some shooting earmuffs and a set of headphones. They allowed me to play music softly enough it drowned out the office noise yet still wasn't a distraction itself.
We can program with only 1's, but if all you've got are zeros, you've got nothing.
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Is it normal for developers to have to work on noisy office spaces? I've had a few different jobs as a developer over the past few years. The best one had an office. It was quiet and it was easy to focus on my work. I've had others with semi-queiet cubicles and one with a very noisy environment with people talking on their cell phones while walking around the developers' desks. How am I supposed to concentrate on work when the employer seems to discourage it by the environment? Please tell me that this isn't normal. Are there employers out there that actually encourage productivity? How do I find these jobs? Lately I seem to be having bad luck. Maybe I live in the wrong part of the US?
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Is it normal for developers to have to work on noisy office spaces? I've had a few different jobs as a developer over the past few years. The best one had an office. It was quiet and it was easy to focus on my work. I've had others with semi-queiet cubicles and one with a very noisy environment with people talking on their cell phones while walking around the developers' desks. How am I supposed to concentrate on work when the employer seems to discourage it by the environment? Please tell me that this isn't normal. Are there employers out there that actually encourage productivity? How do I find these jobs? Lately I seem to be having bad luck. Maybe I live in the wrong part of the US?
FredWi wrote:
Please tell me that this isn't normal.
Sorry, I believe it is. I have had more software engineering jobs than most (and I'm not bragging). While I find cubicles acceptable, the lab where integration occurs is always loud with cooling fans. (hmmm .. but perhaps your kind of software is not 'embedded' in noisy telecom equipment.) I recommend you deal with noise directly. The other respondents have mentioned noise-cancelling headphones, buy good comfortable ones. I got a Bose. One solution(?) no one mentioned ... start a rumor. I once worked in cubes way too close to an obnoxiously noisy mechanical device, some sort of mechanical small component sorter. The team complained to our supervisor. And though he was competent and professional, he later shared something about brick wall, and nothing happened. Later, with no supervisor's permission, one of our team suggested we start a rumor. In 5 minutes of discussion, and a one time walk about in all the buildings we had access to, we found a good location (away from us) for that noisy machine (out by the shipping docs). It turned out that robots delivered the machine output, so no human would be inconvenienced by the location. Note that 'good' rumors are easy to start. Simply share with anyone, "hey I heard ...". In this case, the noisy machine was gone within two weeks. I suppose it could have been a coincidence.
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Is it normal for developers to have to work on noisy office spaces? I've had a few different jobs as a developer over the past few years. The best one had an office. It was quiet and it was easy to focus on my work. I've had others with semi-queiet cubicles and one with a very noisy environment with people talking on their cell phones while walking around the developers' desks. How am I supposed to concentrate on work when the employer seems to discourage it by the environment? Please tell me that this isn't normal. Are there employers out there that actually encourage productivity? How do I find these jobs? Lately I seem to be having bad luck. Maybe I live in the wrong part of the US?
I work in a "noisy" environment. Hardly anyone talks - they all chat to each other on IRC. You think they are beavering away but they're chatting all the time. Half the staff have their headphones on so they can't hear anything anyway. I'm still getting used to the text message spelling.
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What would you recommend with regards to noise cancelling headphones?
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
I would recommend trying the $0.50 foam ear plugs as a first purchase. And they are comfortable enough for me to wear all day. I get a headache wearing any kind of a headset for more than a few hours. Analog cancellation (i.e. foam plugs, headset cups or ear buds) work instantaneously. The foam attenuates the higher frequency sounds as well as active headsets & probably get 50% of the low frequency sounds compared to an active headset. Active headsets work great on repetitive wave forms, the lower the frequency the better. But they don't do that well with random noise like people talking. It needs to "listen" to the sound wave and then calculate a cancellation wave, which does not work if the wave form has changed in the mean time. Before you say "your" active headset works on the random noise, re-read the above - it is the analog ear bud or cup that is killing most of the random noise.
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Cell phone noise problems? Easy fix! Just join in the conversation, ask to have them repeat what they said, or chime in with advice. They might not stop their jabber, but in they will (at least) avoid your vicinity.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
Great Idea. We get too many people who don't set their phones to vibrate. They just let it ring and they usually go of when they are in a meeting. And, the owner doesn't have any respect for the work space. These people need to be reprimanded. But, your idea about asking to join the conversation is a new tactic.
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How are you able to fit the Budweiser cans in your ears? ;) Soren Madsen
"When you don't know what you're doing it's best to do it quickly" - Jase #DuckDynasty
Maybe they're bottles!
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Great Idea. We get too many people who don't set their phones to vibrate. They just let it ring and they usually go of when they are in a meeting. And, the owner doesn't have any respect for the work space. These people need to be reprimanded. But, your idea about asking to join the conversation is a new tactic.
James Lonero wrote:
But, your idea about asking to join the conversation is a new tactic.
Who said anything about asking? Just join in - abruptly - and with an air that it's all perfectly natural.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
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we have to separate parts in our office. One for the QA and support team and the other for developers. The people from the QA call our rooms the 'monastery'... I never see normal development places that where noisy. It seems to me too much...
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is (V).
I used to work in a noisy work environment: nobody talks - they just chat all day on IRC!!! I don't understand how people can face each other and not talk normally. Why do they have to go through IRC?
