Working From Home - Impacts of Coronavirus

[EEVblog]

But at the end of the day, I'm just happy I work in something considered essential so at least I still HAVE a job, and I'm getting paid.  Sad to see so many companies using this as an opportunity to do mass layoffs.   Lot of people are going to be jobless after all this is done.

Unfortunately that's the reality of business. Majority of businesses do not operate with much cash reserve. So a shutdown of weeks or a month or two could ruin them. They often have no choice but to cut staff in order for the company to survive longer. The business equivalent of "flattening the curve".
For my company it's now kinda fortuitous that David decided to leave last December, as my cash burn rate is now much lower. I probably wouldn't have had to let him go because of this, but he was my biggest company expense and I'm now glad I have less expenses. Particularly as I've now been stuck paying rent on my 100sqm place just for me and my old lab isn't being rented out and I'm paying the outgoings on that. I'm fairly lucky (so far) in that advertisers have decided to stay and people are still buying products, but that could change.

[EEVblog]

   Stop throwing out bull shit to defend your position.

Chill out.

That's how progress is made, not by waiting for a bunch of EU type regulators to approve things that they know nothing about.

Go start a medical devices company and let us know how you get on avoiding all the red tape.
Just because you might be able to get away with it in a small area of the industry does not extend to industry as a whole.

[langwadt]

But at the end of the day, I'm just happy I work in something considered essential so at least I still HAVE a job, and I'm getting paid.  Sad to see so many companies using this as an opportunity to do mass layoffs.   Lot of people are going to be jobless after all this is done.

Unfortunately that's the reality of business. Majority of businesses do not operate with much cash reserve. So a shutdown of weeks or a month or two could ruin them. They often have no choice but to cut staff in order for the company to survive longer. The business equivalent of "flattening the curve".
For my company it's now kinda fortuitous that David decided to leave last December, as my cash burn rate is now much lower. I probably wouldn't have had to let him go because of this, but he was my biggest company expense and I'm now glad I have less expenses. Particularly as I've now been stuck paying rent on my 100sqm place just for me and my old lab isn't being rented out and I'm paying the outgoings on that. I'm fairly lucky (so far) in that advertisers have decided to stay and people are still buying products, but that could change.

here the government will pay a substantial part of salaries and also some fixed expenses for businesses
have been forced to stay closed, in return hoping they will try their best to keep people.

They can of course not keep doing that forever and we all know we'll be paying the bill later, but it might
soften the blow

[nctnico]

The hospital that I was in made a small but significant improvement in neonatal respirators after they noticed that infants that used one particular respirator had better results than infants on any of the other respirators.  They tore it down and found that one valve wasn't opening fully and it maintained a slight amount of positive air pressure. They modified the other respirators to do the same and found that all of them gave a better survival rate. Since then that modification has become standard in all neonatal respirators.  That's how progress is made, not by waiting for a bunch of EU type regulators to approve things that they know nothing about.

And how long ago was this? Nowadays doctors work based on fixed procedures and tools. Very very few have any wiggle room to be 'creative'. Creativity can also lead to more deaths. Do you want your doctor to experiment on you with an unproven method / tool?

[SilverSolder]

[...] They modified the other respirators to do the same [accidentally discovered improvement] and found that all of them gave a better survival rate. Since then that modification has become standard in all neonatal respirators.  That's how progress is made, not by waiting for a bunch of EU type regulators to approve things that they know nothing about.

A lot of progress has been made fortuitously/accidentally... and that will continue.  But you shouldn't dismiss the power of regulation, for example regulation has improved emissions of cars dramatically over the decades.  It is also wrong to assume that regulators don't know what they are doing - often regulators are senior people from the industry involved, or they draw on industry resources.

For every question, there is an answer that is simple, intuitive, and... wrong.  Keep a lookout for those, and you'll do OK!

[james_s]

Regulation in itself is neither good nor bad. Some regulation is needed, some regulation is better thought out and more effective than other regulation. It's certainly possible to have too much of a good thing and there are certainly examples of people trying to regulate things they know very little about.

[Mr. Scram]

And how long ago was this? Nowadays doctors work based on fixed procedures and tools. Very very few have any wiggle room to be 'creative'. Creativity can also lead to more deaths. Do you want your doctor to experiment on you with an unproven method / tool?

New procedures are developed but generally in conjunction with researchers who see the bigger picture and they're often performed on patients who have exhausted more conventional options or to whom those options don't neatly apply.

[Tomorokoshi]

I've been working at home for around a week. Things are getting figured out. Equipment is mostly set up to support the work. Video meeting etiquette and protocol are falling into place. Networking issues are resolved. I'm probably at 90% capability when working remotely. The remaining 10% can be scheduled for later.

Jira is still more of a hindrance than a help.

[Yansi]

Well, I was also already set up at home. But bummer, today morning a call, that  there is no work for us, home office cancelled to all. Staying at home with 60% salary. (That is actually a thing based on law available in our country. The employer then may ask the state for the money. We have quite a generous social system).

Not really thrilled by this, but at least, more time for my personal projects. As long, as the supply chain will not fall apart. Usually I have quite special components on order and need PCBs manufactured.

Hopefully shit will not hit the fan round here thaaat bad.   

[Red Squirrel]

So we are finally all setup to work from home now.  They want someone in the office 24/7 though so based on shifts we have someone there. One 12h  day/night person stays at office with everyone at home.  Downside of this is having to drag PC back and forth from home to work when you switch to a different shift.  To save myself a bit of trouble I bought myself 2 28" 4k monitors.  Been wanting to upgrade to 4k at home anyway... so it was an excuse to do so.   That way my 3 work 4ks stay at work, and at home I can manage with only 2, since the 12h shift guy will open everything while at home we only really need to open what we watch as we divide the tasks.  Normally at work we just all open everything anyway but we compromise now working at home.  Some people brought one of their work 4ks and will just use 2 at work, some brought everything.  Everyone kind of did what they felt was best. I'm the one with no kids that can afford to just go and buy 2 4k monitors.  Freaking millennials right?

Only worked 2 at home shifts so far since I was working from the office for a bit, but I have to say this is pretty awesome.  I wish it became the norm tbh.  Not the pandemic   Just working from home.


I also took the opportunity to redo my cabling setup at home.  This is what my setup looks like now:



Centre monitor is just a 1K and acts as the primary for work, home and gaming machine so I can use KVM, and right now the two vertical ones are my new 4ks which are dedicated to work.

I could not get 4k out of the work PC if I use display port to HDMI which I need for the KVM so that's why I went that way.  Kinda works out anyway since all the stuff that's important is always up while I can be watching YT videos or chatting on forums etc on the middle one.

The other side monitor was originally going to be for just putting on a news stream or whatever but I never realized how slow the Raspberry PI (even 3) is for actual normal usage as a desktop and it will barely do anything.  I have a 4 that was originally going to be to replace the one hooked up to my TV but I might keep it for up here instead.  Will have a separate mouse so I can be KVMed to the work PC the majority of time and do my browsing or show watching on that one.     Still ironing out a few things to make quality of life better but overall it's working out.  Really loving working from home.

[james_s]

I absolutely love working from home, though I prefer to still have an office to go to some of the time. Personally I find that going in 2 days a week is just about perfect, gives me the face to face time with my coworkers and time to have meetings and such, then I get most of my actual work done on the days I'm at home.

[nctnico]

Last week I called the service desk from the postal service. I heard someone having lunch in the background so I asked the lady whether she was working from home and it turned out she did. I also had my first 'friday afternoon drinks' through video conferencing and my very first Skype call ever. Still need to buy a better headset though.

[Muttley Snickers]

I don't think staying at home is helping to flatten the curve, in fact I think I've put on a kilo.   

[bitseeker]

 

[EEVblog]

Mrs EEVblog remarked today that she now talks more regularly with her office co-workers from home than when she was in the office.

[Electro Detective]

FYI to Chromers: 

forget the so passe gasolene/petrol bag thing, just go store hopping instead,
free awesome stone/s from all the alco based cleaning fumes,

put some on your hands too, cover the face and go for it   

[bd139]

Mrs EEVblog remarked today that she now talks more regularly with her office co-workers from home than when she was in the office.

I can confirm the same. Also idiots who don’t do anything other than talk a lot have nowhere to hide now.

[langwadt]

Mrs EEVblog remarked today that she now talks more regularly with her office co-workers from home than when she was in the office.

we should practice physical distancing not social distancing or we'll all go crazy

[coppice]

Mrs EEVblog remarked today that she now talks more regularly with her office co-workers from home than when she was in the office.

we should practice physical distancing not social distancing or we'll all go crazy

You need to get in touch with your inner hermit. Normally when we go outside there is a gentle murmuring in the background from a highway that is about a kilometre away. Now when we go outside its so peaceful. Enjoy the solitude.

[bd139]

Completely agree with that on all points.

The irony being that some of the best places to find proper solitude and safety here will probably get you sent home or fined at the moment. I was considering doing some illegal camping here during the lockdown if I'm honest. I can quite happily lurch around and never be within 100m of another human.

What could be better than spending a night out here? (This is The Ridgeway near Wendover)

[mrflibble]

FYI to Chromers: 

forget the so passe gasolene/petrol bag thing, just go store hopping instead,
free awesome stone/s from all the alco based cleaning fumes,

put some on your hands too, cover the face and go for it   

A-ha!

I've always been wondering what substance are you constantly on.

[coppice]

The irony being that some of the best places to find proper solitude and safety here will probably get you sent home or fined at the moment. I was considering doing some illegal camping here during the lockdown if I'm honest. I can quite happily lurch around and never be within 100m of another human.

If you camp somewhere, doesn't that become your home and make the police unable to move you on right now? 

[bd139]

The irony being that some of the best places to find proper solitude and safety here will probably get you sent home or fined at the moment. I was considering doing some illegal camping here during the lockdown if I'm honest. I can quite happily lurch around and never be within 100m of another human.

If you camp somewhere, doesn't that become your home and make the police unable to move you on right now? 

Good question.

Been looking for an excuse to buy a ghillie suit for a few years as well. Can't move you on if they can't see you 

[thinkfat]

Someone in our company set up a rogue Jitsi server. Works surprisingly well for casual chat and collaboration, too.

[nctnico]

Been looking for an excuse to buy a ghillie suit for a few years as well. Can't move you on if they can't see you 

Chewie's sister!

You need to get in touch with your inner hermit. Normally when we go outside there is a gentle murmuring in the background from a highway that is about a kilometre away. Now when we go outside its so peaceful. Enjoy the solitude.

Unfortunately highway nearby me seems to be used as a racetrack by motor cyclists. Not happy with the noise.