Back in 1984 I worked for a company that had space in a "Business Service".?ÿ This was a group of small office spaces, that could be rented from month to month that shared a single receptionist, coffee room, copier (this was a time before personal computers,?ÿ printers, and plotters), and assorted other common office machines & materials. It was an interesting place to work. There was a lumber broker across the hall from us. There were several mining stock promoters and a couple of Geologists (this was downtown Vancouver, B.C., the heart of mining country) , a few salesmen, etc.?ÿ
Now I'm reading everyday about?ÿ this new transformative revelation called WeWork. It's does seem like a good idea. But it isn't a new thing.?ÿ ?ÿ
Perfectly normal. Our "office" is in a shared office building that covers two floors that shares space with Microsoft, ESRI, Washington University, and Centene. Lots of folks wear stocking caps, sweatpants, yoga pants, and 3-piece suits to work.?ÿ
Here is the link to our space...
?ÿ
?ÿ
I helped permit, design, layout, as-built and re-permit this one.?ÿ https://chathamworks.com/
Plans, videos, panoramics etc. can be viewed at https://www.ese-llc.com/toc-parcels-2/323-orleans-rd
The workspace is slick and they are doing their best to reach out to the Young Professionals.?ÿ?ÿ
WeWork hasn't had the best of times recently. Stories I have personally heard from former employees jive with what I am seeing in the news.
WeWork tried to recruit me about 15-18 months ago, for what seemed to be a pretty cool gig. But I was not impressed with leadership and they could not answer some pretty critical questions about the way they conducted business and why I should take a risk coming on board with them.
Of course, it might have been the fact that the group leader who would have been my boss tried to lure me with stories about company confabs with free beer and Snoop Dogg concerts...
...and then told me that it would be a great "learning experience" for me. The individual was about seven years younger than me (and I ain't that old), had less experience in the specialty that I would have worked in, had a very narrow range of geomatics experience overall, and no professional credentials or licenses. I don't necessarily mind that, but there should be *some* compelling reason to switch jobs outside of "It's cool here, bruh."
?ÿ
That being said, the work-share idea is pretty great and WeWork has done some pretty cool things. I have some family members that do a lot of freelance work, and for them the work-share model is fantastic. I have yet to hear of any geospatial firms that have used such a model, though.
?ÿ
The last engineering firm that I worked at (civil, municipal, land development, etc.) rented out an office to a transportation engineer.?ÿ His scope of work was different than theirs, it was just 1 guy in an office, and they often hired him for their transportation contracts.?ÿ It can sometimes work.?ÿ It seems to be very dependent on the firm/people personalities, though.?ÿ?ÿ
Slightly off topic to the OP, but related to this post, although I do it all the time, I've never seen the appropriateness of signing emails with "Regards ...". However the alternatives of "Yours faithfully, sincerely" seem less appropriate. I'd prefer to just sign off with just my name, but I know some folks would see that as being rude. Anyway, "Regards" is better than I've seen from the recent professional generation signing off with the likes of "Churr Bro".
I generally sign my first letter to an individual with "sincerely," and use "regards" for subsequent correspondence.
