They want to give me an office!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

First, a little background:

I work for a small (<50 people) company. When I first got hired nearly 4 years ago, I was one of about 10 people in that initial hiring boom. A bunch of them have since left, but we’ve been largely stable around 35 employees, and there are still four of us “junior engineers” left from the hiring boom. We occupy four of the six small cubicles along the north side of our little building, with windows that open and a good view of the parking lot and trees outside.

Now we’ve been hearing rumors for weeks about plans to hire a bunch of recent grads but it looks like things are finally coming to fruition. One of the directors came around asking (rhetorically), “how’d you like an office?” The one they’d give me is one of the larger ones, but I’d be the only one in the company sharing an office with someone (it’s currently occupied by a more senior engineer and our IT guy). The reason he gave for this particular office is that they’re trying to organize us into “functional groups.” It’s a little more centrally located, it has a window, but it opens into an enclosed breezeway, not to the “outside.”

So, I know this isn’t IMHO, but anyone have an opinion on this? Should I feel stiffed for getting moved to a shared office with no view, or feel blessed for getting to leave Cubicle Row, my home for the last 3 1/2 years? Since my choices are to go or stay, I don’t have too many other options. I’m going to miss the natural light, however.

2

Feel blessed. Decorate freely. Play music whenever possible. Have your group buy a bar fridge and keep it stocked with your-room-only goodies. Start a minor cult.

3

I will be much closer to the fridge stocked with soda and candy.

I hope Adam (IT guy) likes my taste in music.

4

Here’s hoping you like his[/ taste in hygiene, too. :slight_smile:

5

Offices are overrated.
I felt cut off from my staff.
Even though I had the stero, the toaster, the fridge (appropriately stocked), thw massive windows to the outside and opening into the corridor which I could close out if I shut the curtains, the 8 seat conference table, plus my desk, two bookshelves, etc, etc, etc, I felt lonely.
I will never work in an office again.

6

I will never work in a cube unless I have to. One thing I hate about your typical cubicle farm or “bullpen” is that the ceilings feature row upon row of bleak flourescent lights. It’s like a cliche negative feature of office life.

The other thing is that you get more respect in an office. Anyone, even if he or she is my boss**4, will generally knock on my partially open door before barging in. Whereas, whenever I have a cubicle, people just walk up behind me. I hate that.

And what everyone else said about playing music, decorating, and so on. I love not using my flourescent overheads and instead relying on a small desk lamp and a torchiere in the corner for my light.