There's been a lot of talk about San Francisco and other tech hubs essentially becoming abandoned as their tech workers all go remote and move to better cost of living areas.<p>In the same light, some major tech companies and many startups are pivoting to make remote work software to help the transition.<p>However, most of those tech companies don't have a long term Remote policy except for very special cases like high performers and so on.<p>How will the future of remote work look for ICs/Managers? How do you think cities will be effected, if at all?<p>Is there really going to be a remote work revolution, or are we just saying that because we're all stuck in our homes until COVID is eliminated?
Having a team with someone remote should force remote first communication practices. This pandemic is going to go on for a while, meaning months and months are likely. If you have the factor of someone on your team being in a high risk category, it feels like there is an obligation to let them be remote 100% until the pandemic subsides. Combine those two and I think if I were in charge of a lease on a building/space I might look at reducing the footprint if there are enough people going remote. Why pay for all that floor space?<p>There might be a revolution in the tech sector in the sense that remote only/first could be something to attract workers because they could live anywhere and make the going rate for their skills. There are a lot of engineers that don't really care about perks like relaxation pods, meals provided, snacks or whatever.<p>It might also give some companies a competitive advantage - no leasing office space.