Avoiding a cubicle position?

College Majors Engineering Majors
10

<p>Dilbert has really given cubicles a bad name. Undeserved however.</p>

<p>My office/cubicle history for for a large aerospace company.

  1. 10 years in a cubicle. The latter years by myself in a 2 person cubicle so I had a conference table in addition to my desk and lots of space. The more senior engineers were given this setup on a space availble basis.
  2. 15 years in a walled office with a nice window looking out into the hills. (most of this time I was in management so a walled office was considered a requirement because of the need to conduct personell issues in private)
  3. Changed projects and buildings. No walled offices available, so back to cubicle land but the same 1 person in a 2 person cube setup. Lasted about a year.
  4. Back to a walled office as a senior engineer but an interior office with no window.</p>

<p>Which did I like better?
No clear answer to me. Walled offices are definitely a status thing at my company. But cubicles have their advantage. </p>

<p>You have someone to talk to in a cubicle, even if your are by yourself as you can talk “over the wall” without having to even get up. In an office it is either the phone or get up and walk. May not seem like a big deal at first, but you are working in a team environment and the get up and walk gets old sometimes.</p>

<p>I had more space in a 2 person cubicle by myself than in a walled office.</p>

<p>Teleconferences in cubicle will **** off your nearby cubiclemates where its OK in an office. Offices are great that you can close the door when you really don’t want to be disturbed where you can’t do that in a cubicle.</p>

<p>I believe you are actually better off in a cubicle to start your career. The informal communication that goes on is a big part of your early training (because believe it or not, you really don’t know everything when you graduate college) and the cubicles are better for that. You do spend a fair amount of your time on the computer, so it doesn’t matter as much where you are. If you spend a lot of time in the lab, it is usually looked down upon and you are considered only a step up from a tech.</p>

<p>All things considered, I liked the walled office with the window the best, the interior walled office the least (too clostrophobic).</p>