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AWS cloud application architect. Had an on-site interview with AWS a few days ago and just got an email saying they want to talk to me about next steps. The role is cloud application architect but I want to ask them about the senior cloud application architect role. I have all the relevant experience for that role and feel like I’d be a better fit for that senior role. How should I approach this conversation? Is this even possible? Amazon
My base loc is Bengaluru, but currently I am not mandatorily required to work from office, and have been working from home since I joined Deloitte in July. Should I talk to my manager and go back to my hometown Kolkata and work from there? Staying in PG all day and working from here is not quite feasible for me. Suggest pls. Deloitte India
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I’d prefer bonding and building culture during team vacations to Hawaii. Cheaper than paying for unused office space too.
Singular black male opinion here: being in office just meant I got to be excluded in all sorts of fun microagressive ways. Working remote, being able to toggle my camera off and on I've had way more traction meeting people and making connections that would've been hard to do because I make people uncomfortable simply by existing near them.
Also people seem chiller, happier, more willing to grab a coffee and do something other than bitch about work.
Chief
Nothing is going to make me want to commute 3 hrs a day again. I can make my own gourmet buffet at home for what it costs me in gas to slog to work.
Same here 3 hours 50 bucks w bridge toll and parking too.
Rising Star
OP, you’re making the mistake in thinking these ad agencies could evolve to be as hospitable as tech companies, who have been providing their employees food perks for over a decade. Never gonna happen. Every single C-suite in the ad biz is too self-absorbed to ever consider adopting a more nurturing on-site environment. Plenty of hollow rhetoric, but zero action.
Rising Star
Oh, I’d rather have a sane and flexible WLB, too. I’m just saying if agencies are going to ask people to come back in, the least they could do is create a more hospitable environment.
The pandemic isn’t over. I think it’s a mistake to use current attendance as a guide for how people will behave when anxiety about this thing isn’t hanging over them.
v much this, and fall is right around the corner with free testing and free boosters phasing out. expect some type of spike
Were ad agencies not doing this pre Covid? It’s giving 2016 office perks. Not that I disagree with what you’re saying but I think we can raise the bar for agencies who want to make their employees work more from the office than at home. Free bagels and coffee is the bare minimum for me lmfao.
Needless to say that…as a mom…WFH I am absolutely better at being a mom and an employee. I don’t need to leave the office earlier, hurry to get in traffic and get to daycare. I even have more time to work because I am home more often, rather than running around. I am more stable, my mental health is more stable. I can take my kid to the doctor in the morning, drop him at daycare, work enough time to get my work done and be back to pick him up happy. Not stressed out of my mind. Bagels would not give me my sanity back… or the eternal guilt of having to be at two places at once. 2 days a week I would go into the office but then I have to leave earlier for daycare pickup….so…I would be working less.
Again, the patriarchy and capitalism wanting all us back…
This 1000%
Normalize not giving two craps about free bagels. The world has changed. Change with it.
How about no mandates on days and have a collaboration space that is available to teams as needed. (More meeting spaces, fewer cubes)
This this this this. I think part of the reason we all upped our productivity is that pre pandemic we alll wasted half our day futilely wandering around the office trying to find a place to discuss something or brainstorm without (for longer than 15-20 min spurts) … without bothering the 20 people in earshot of open our “teamwork boosting” open office plans. 🙄
If agencies want people back in the office they need to dramatically renovate - open floor plan has been proven to be a total disruption. But once companies (agencies included) figured out they could spend less with fewer doors, walls, hardware, etc., it was over. They’ll never go back to the time when everyone had an office (of various sizes).
WFH exclusively, I have become more productive and engaging with colleagues on the work and almost zero time spent on any kind of office gossip. It’s been a thrill.
I miss the bullshit of being in the office (laughs, jokes, wasting time but having fun) and not the actual output of work that occurred. The output almost always happened after hours when the office emptied and became quiet…or at home.
Food and beverage are a minimum, especially making up for commutes associated with major metros.
Agencies are finally paying the price for all that open plan misery.
Unfortunately in my experience that doesn’t seem to drive people into the offices post-covid. We tried ordering those things in office for many weeks (and emailed we’d have those amenities) and the same 10ppl were coming in. The problem is, at least with our company, I can’t get the budget to have those things unless people are actually coming in…
To be more specific, I’m thinking, like, we want people in Wed and Thurs – Wed we’ll have breakfast and coffee for everyone, Thurs we’ll do a big catered family lunch together. This is for a smaller size shop, btw.
*FOR AGENCY LEADERSHIP FOLKS*
My agency is supposed to be going in Tues & Thurs starting after Labor Day, for “company culture”. And something major that seems to have been forgotten in this transition back to the office is MEETING TIMES.
They haven’t been adjusted to reflect a world of commuting again. Pre-COVID, meetings rarely started before 10a and occasionally after 6.
Last week on our current once-a-week office day, Thursday, meetings were scheduled for 9am and there as 630p creative review! And last week wasn’t the first time that our office day has had this happen.
I won’t go back to 1.5 hours commutes AND days that are barely even a reasonable length when working from home. Fuck that.
IN SHORT…if you want us to come in, the least you could do is respect our time and be cognizant of the fact that we’ve spent 2.5 years becoming accustomed to MORE personal time.
Being seen as encroaching on personal time will not be taken lightly moving forward and will cause attrition from your agencies.
As an employer I would be mandating core days (keep ‘em short days) and everything else is remote. Best of both worlds. Maybe tues-thurs. Or MWF mornings/mid days. Downsize the building space or consolidate it to be a really cool workspace.
@md1 Of course you can’t rent an office space for specific times, but you can have a smaller space with hotel desk (hot desks), conference rooms, get rid of offices, (keep a few but have them double as private conference rooms, and increase flex rooms. All I’m saying is that you have a smaller more active space. Very similar to college and university common areas. And when it’s not used as an office space the entire space can be used as a gathering and celebration space.
Most people are in meetings for a significant of time. They don’t need their own office or cube unless you are an individual contributor who needs to be firmly planted for hours at a time.