Walked into a coworking space in Austin and noticed nobody was networking

I was in Austin last month visiting a coworking space called Link Cowork. Everyone was just heads down on laptops, no talking at all. It got me thinking about whether open offices actually help careers or just make it harder to focus. On one hand, you might meet someone who helps you land a job. On the other hand, it's tough to get real work done with all that noise. What do you all think - do open spaces help your career or hurt your productivity?

2 comments

2 Comments

lily_sullivan825d agoMost Upvoted

Open offices feel like one of those trends where everyone just copied Google without asking if it actually works lol. I drove for Uber for a bit back in 2019 and noticed the same thing with drivers - everyone sitting in their cars, headphones in, not even looking at each other. People are so fried from constant noise and distractions that they've just learned to shut everyone out to survive the day.

jade6185d ago

@lily_sullivan82 actually open offices make people talk more, not less, since you can't hide from co-workers.