Went back to a coworking space after 4 years of solo coffee shop work

I used to spend all day in cafes from 2018 to 2020 before the pandemic hit, and last week I finally walked into a proper coworking spot in Medellin for the first time since then. The whole vibe is different now - back then it was mostly backpacker types with laptops, but now it's all remote workers from big companies on Zoom calls and people doing serious video editing. The desks have those privacy panels built in, everyone wears noise-cancelling headphones, and nobody chats at the communal table anymore. I don't know if I like it better or worse, but it feels way more professional and way less social than I remember. Has anyone else noticed their local coworking scene shifting like this over the last few years?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_phoenix5d ago

Oh man, "everyone wears noise-cancelling headphones and nobody chats at the communal table" - that part hit me. I walked into a coworking space last month to check it out for a friend and it felt like a library full of people silently screaming into webcams. Like, what happened to the messy chaos of someone spilling coffee while trying to explain their startup idea? Now it's all privacy panels and serious faces, basically an office with better wifi and worse snacks. I get that it's more "professional" or whatever, but maybe it's just me, it kind of kills the whole point of leaving your house if you're just gonna sit in a cubicle with headphones on. At least at a coffee shop you can hear the espresso machine and judge people's drink orders.

emma_smith5d ago

Four years ago I was the guy spilling coffee on my keyboard while rambling about my startup that definitely wasn't gonna work, and now I walk into this same space and feel like I need to file a noise complaint when my chair squeaks. @the_phoenix hit the nail on the head about the silence - last week I actually apologized to someone for typing too loud, which is absurd when you think about it. It's like we all signed an unspoken contract to be serious and productive, and somewhere along the way we forgot coworking used to mean actually working together.