I've got to say, I'm not sure I ever met a software engineer who prefers open plan to individual offices. You said cubicles, but I'd argue that cubicles would be better than the proverbial nothing that open plan is.
I'm certainly happy that I have my office, and if I need to talk to people, their offices (or their open plan, unfortunately) is usually not very far. But a lot of the time, I just need and want to focus a lot, and for that open plan is absolute cancer. My office seats two people, but it actually helps that the other person is not directly in my team.
I don't see what standing desks have to do with it, as offices can have standing desks as well, and ours do.
The last time I sat in open plan, I felt like an animal in a cage, to choose a seemingly paradoxical wording. It wasn't the walls closing in, but the distractions.
You found one right here. I work in videogames, I'm a programmer/engineer, I love my standing desk and open plan office. It's a huge game changer in terms of morale and quality of the life for the team and company, since the whole company has moved to open plan and standing desks by default. (and we're not a small game developer).
Count me in as well. All of my career has been at VC-funded startups in SF with team size between 8 and 30, and the idea of me sitting in an office by myself is honestly laughable.
People often don't consider the ostracism and uncomfortableness that a standing desk preferred policy makes for those with hidden disabilities. There are many people for whom standing desks are good for their health. There are other people for whom being peer pressured to stand is extremely uncomfortable and that are too embarrassed to share the details of why. At least in closed offices people can work the way they are most comfortable without the pressure of other people seeing them work.
Is peer pressure to use a standing desk a common thing? I’ve worked with plenty of people who use standing desks some or all of the time, and I’ve had enthusiasts casually recommend I give it a try sometime, but I can’t imagine any genuine pressure to do so. All the standing desks at offices I’ve been at are adjustable, so even if they’re the standard issue desk there is a big problem if people are pressured to stand.
Most of my team use the desk in "sat" mode 80% of the time. For me personally I'm about 70% sat, 30% stood, there's definitely no ostracism for people sat on our team.
I'm certainly happy that I have my office, and if I need to talk to people, their offices (or their open plan, unfortunately) is usually not very far. But a lot of the time, I just need and want to focus a lot, and for that open plan is absolute cancer. My office seats two people, but it actually helps that the other person is not directly in my team.
I don't see what standing desks have to do with it, as offices can have standing desks as well, and ours do.
The last time I sat in open plan, I felt like an animal in a cage, to choose a seemingly paradoxical wording. It wasn't the walls closing in, but the distractions.