I’m a coder that prefers an office with a door and a common area. I actually really miss in person system design meetings - the kind that spill out to the common area and people are passionate and interrupting each other, vs the “wait your turn to talk” online meeting. (I also have not found anything close to a whiteboard wall for design.)
On the other hand I live a mile away from my office and bike in, and I don’t ever want to go back to an hour long commute.
I’ve had the benefit of working with some great managers that made it a point to engage people, but I understand that what I’m describing could feel exclusionary - I actually will take that to heart as well, so thanks. But the fully remote meetings… are completely the opposite of empowering or energizing for me.
If that's how you want to interpret everyday conversation, sure. Making sure everyone gets their word is in another management skill, however. So I'd place that blame on them if the quiet and polite never speak.
Yes, I do live quite close, although that's because I moved closer on purpose. I enjoyed the office even before I live as close (it used to be a 30m commute, now more like 15), but the longer commute definitely made it a slightly less obvious tradeoff. I'm not required to be in the office; with the shorter commute I'm there everyday, whereas with the longer one I was there maybe 4 days a week.
Coders like being at home.