October 07, 2002

Cubicle walls

I hate cubicles. The two basic things that a computer programmer needs are quiet and the ability to create a creative environment for themselves (put up posters, listen to music, code with no pants on). The cubicle destroys both of these things by creating an environment where noise seems to be amplified, thus leading to massive distractions. I am bothered all the time by what is going on around me; interaction is fine but only when I have some control over it.

Sitting in a cubicle you can only do so much to make it feel like a place for you to be creative. Your eyes don't have a place to rest that isn't within two feet of your nose; you are basically sitting in a box in a row of boxes. How am I supposed to create here? My only source of diversity is the web; it seems like I go there everyday simply to change the view a little. A place I used to work redecorated so that all the walls, floors, and carpets had this modern colorful appearance. That is great, but I don't work in the hall, I work in the grey box at the end of the hall under the heat lamp.

The other thing that bothers me about cubicles is that they don't even meet their original goal. Cubicles arose as an efficient use of office space; it is simply cheaper to use a cubicle than to build walls. Or so it seems. Large companies use cubicles because it saves them thousands of dollars when they build the infrastructure, and they figure that it has saved them money overall. This is wrong; I easily lose about an hour's work everyday by the noise that being in a cubicle, not an office, allows me to hear. Given that this happens to most people cubicles simply aren't cheaper - you pay everyday for choosing to build cubicles.

October 7, 2002 09:28 PM