> Many of these things that made my job much more than slaving at a digital conveyor belt seem to be gone these days. And the worst thing for me is that I feel few people relate. On the contrary, many are screaming in outrage if asked to come to the office even for a single day a week and threaten to quit.

It seems like one facet of this might be that you're more extroverted and social in regards to doing your job, whereas others prefer to work in solace or on their own terms (e.g. with a cup of cocoa in their pajamas), something about which I previously wrote: https://blog.kronis.dev/articles/remote-working-and-the-elep...

I won't hide that I very much fall into the latter category: working in person was a worse experience for me, hands down. Now, if I don't feel like talking with someone and having them interrupt me while in the middle of solving some issue, I can just ignore messages for a bit.

If they want to ask some questions, they can just write those down, or share them in a group channel for someone to pick up on what they need and discuss it, in a format that remains searchable in the future. This should also encourage asking questions better and not wasting my (or others') time in calls as much: https://quick-answers.kronis.dev/

I also personally don't always enjoy the culture of the workplace and dissociating myself from some nitpicky code reviewer who loves wasting time on pointless minutea is also better - instead of long winded discussions, I can resolve review threads in one go, leaving comments for when additional discussion is needed, instead of being held hostage in an in person conversation (a bit of an extreme example/wording, I guess).

> Have I been under some weird form of Stockholm Syndrom where I actually enjoyed something that was pure torture to most? Have a lot of people realized they don't actually like being among other people, apart from their closest friends and family?

That said, how you feel is valid. You might have had a healthier workplace than I do, maybe a better attitude, possibly a personality that is better suited for working in person, as well as one that isn't as suitable for working remotely. People's circumstances are different.

> And finally, I feel no one else is realizing that they are happily hacking away at the amazingly well-paid branch they're sitting on. As soon as a company's IT department is practically fully remote, why should they page a German wage for someone who is a face on a screen, when they can pay a fraction for that same face broadcasted from a few hundred kilometers further east or south? German is hardly used in business context here anyway and lower-wage countries within ±3 hours timezones abound.

This will probably displace some folks with varying results, however: outsourcing can lead to cheaper labor, but a plummet in code quality. Certain cultures have an expectation to say "Yes, we can do it" regardless of how feasible things are and deliver results, regardless of how bad they are, how insecure the code is, how unmaintainable it is and so on.

Of course, this will also be a net positive for some folks that would otherwise never make more than 2'000-3'000 euros per month after taxes in their own countries to escape being (comparatively) poor just because of where they live.

In situations where remote work isn't embraced, however, such initiatives (and remote working in general) would lead to pretty poor dynamics and having trouble getting things done. Some people incorrectly say that it's a problem with remote work, when in truth they have no idea how to do remote work well (and embrace async): https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/guide/

Throw in the fact that employers want more control over their employees (and sometimes to micromanage them) or perhaps make sure they're not working two jobs, or working on their own projects or whatever, or the employers wanting to underpay their workers with remote work being the scapegoat excuse and you have quite the multi faceted situation to deal with.

Personally, however, I like both the form of work, as well as no longer needing commute - right now I'm in the countryside, so I can get some fresh air, relax and play fetch with my dogs, as well as work in silent and comfortable conditions, instead of some open office.

Work events (e.g. going racing karts, playing laser tag, having a party or a boating event, some BBQ or something like that) are still very much welcome, as is occasionally showing up to office for some event/presentation/workshop.