Is it possible that the software industry could become nearly 100% remote?

100% might be a bit too much of a "good thing" but I can absolutely see it becoming more of the default or the "new normal" ... the advantages (cost, time) are simply too substantial to ignore.

It doesn't need to be all-or-none, a mix is certainly possible, but some organizations where I've worked (on location, in an office) performed quite poorly and might even have functioned better with remote work, if organized well.

The Loud Mechanical Keyboard Users Battalion shall pledge our allegiance to this, and to the cause of motivating all colleagues in open office plans to put their foot down and request remote work!

AttenSHUN. Hut! Unsetttttt MACROS! Disaaaaaable AUTOCOMPLETE! Error beep enable!

Our solemn credo:

"This is my mechanical keyboard. There are many like it, but this one is mine. ... I must fire my keys true. I must type louder than my coworkers, who are now trying to kill me."

if the mindsets of c level management can get around micromanaging and the fact that not seeing me physically does not mean being productive - then yes
As a business analyst of several years -my most productive times have been in my WFH basement.
No lengthy commutes, cigarette smell (don't smoke), and a blend of all sorts of perfumes from hugging strangers in a fully packed London underground train.
Its possible but will take a while. Covid 19 has shown us that it is doable but men are always stubborn ad will revert to old habits of micro managing

well I think you got to see that reality sooner than expected

I think 100% remote is certainly possible, but not ideal. I would hope the office environment would be available for a portion of the workforce that really thrives in the office, and available for part-time in-office work, but that a remote-first culture would become the normal (no water-cooler decisions). Other means of getting people together should be employed as well, maybe quarterly or biannually. Maybe monthly team lunches when teams are in the same city, while working remote.

I see a bright future for remote-first work:

• People could live where it's ideal for them, rather than ideal for getting a job. More people could move away from cities and into the countryside or far out in the suburbs where buying a home could actually be achievable.
• It could be huge for keeping mothers in the workforce and improve gender diversity. New mothers have a huge uphill battle to maintain a career and care for a young baby, and remote work, especially with flex-time, could help make that easier. No matter how much we may want equality, biologically, mothers are the ones breastfeeding and pumping, day and night.
• It would improve accessibility for disabled people, again improving diversity.
• It would decrease the loss of productivity due to illness. Not only would there be less spread of illness, but some people may opt to work through a mild to moderate case of illness if they can work from home and not risk going into an office and spread it to co-workers or have to go through the additional commute time that can be physically tiring and cuts into illness-fighting sleep. I worked fully remote for three years, got moderately sick once, and worked through it. This meant my PTO was spent on emotionally and physically restorative time rather than sick time.
• It would be better for the environment and lead to cleaner air with fewer cars on the road. Two-income households may be able to go down to one car to save money.

When the Covid-19 situation started and the company i work for went remote, I thought that it was going to be a nightmare for me. I thought I wouldn't be able to be as productive as working in a working space. I was wrong. It took some time getting used to. But I can say that i'm definitely MORE productive and creative than ever before. At least for me, Working in a quiet environment was like a charm. There's also the two hours of commute that I got back.

Interesting how now a little over a month later, the thanks to COVID-19 some tech shops are 100% remote (my client is one). I really don't like this but am making the most of it.

I don’t think it will go 100% remote and I don’t think it should. I’ve worked remotely for 4 years and it’s a solution that works really well for me as someone who doesn’t live in a major city. Remote work is great for companies who want to tap into larger talent pools and for workers who want to work at amazing companies without needing to uproot their lives. Remote is also great from an accessibility standpoint and remote friendly companies tend to offer in-office colleagues flexibility when they need it, too.

Remote work isn’t for everyone and the reasons why people may prefer in-office work are very valid! I think what matters is that we see more companies to attract people who prefer remote work versus force in-office employees to adopt a remote work situation that doesn’t fit with their wants or needs. 😊

I think it will always be context dependent. In some countries there is very little infrastructure and so keeping a hub where people can come and get good infrastructure is needed. Also people are social creatures so they need time with colleagues to really connect with them. This does not have to be daily, just once in a while companies do need to arrange get togethers for remote staff to meet and greet in person. Some people fare better remote than others do as well. And some projects are more suited to remote work than others.

I love remote work. Been working this way for years now. Kids come home from school early, so I can spend time with them. Work when I feel productive, not according to a pointless 9-5 regimen. I don't get monthly colds or flus. I can dress how I feel. I pop out in the summer afternoons to the nearby lake for a swim, or walk in the pine forests. And office chat goes on as normal....via email and IM.

Technologically? Yep. No question. In fact, there are solid business cases for why there has to be a certain amount of remote capability for pretty much all companies.

What would stop it is the human factor and culture. Many people don't want to work remotely, and that's okay. Many managers don't want people to work remotely, because they don't like the loss of control (that's not okay).

Does this mean that companies won't have offices? Not necessarily. You can still be nearly 100% remote and still have some offices, especially if your niche has a large hardware component. "Remote" doesn't mean "only ever meet over video chat."

A nearshore company selling services around the world could have all the employees working remotely.
In nearsure.net/ all the employees work remotely.
but if you are talking about a startup or a company selling their own product, this changes. I think it's very important to create a synergy between the Teams and build bridges between people and you only can achieve this working face to face at least some days per week.

While there are a lot of people against this idea or think it won’t happen, I would like to provide some counterpoints.

• corporations can drive down operational costs by closing satellite offices. This is usually the case when times are rough, revenue is down. That doesn’t have to be the only case though. Decisions to allow 100% remote are not altruistic and probably have more to do with the corporation’s balance sheet.

• when working remote, I had to fill my schedule with meetups to get that in person connectivity I was yearning for. There are other ways.

• at one point most web software was tied to locale, like the mythical server in a closet. Nowadays not so much with the cloud.

• flu spreads in office environments.

• as cities become more adept at coping with climate change, they can incentivize remote work. Turns out it never was a good idea for everyone to drive to the office at the same time 🤷‍♂️. Corporations are incentivized to purchase realty by local governments though, so many are correct it will never be 100% remote.

• SpaceX Starlink bas been in the headlines recently for being the bane of every astromer’s existence, but eventually there will be satellite internet everywhere at reliable enough speeds to develop.

Not to get all doomsday cultish like..

But I think we will soon get a glimpse of what that will look like when the Coronavirus spreads in the US.

Not even being sarcastic. It's a matter of when it will happen, rather than if.

Thankfully most jobs have the ability to work remotely, especially our industry. So it will be interesting to see how it all plays out

digital services/products are more than just the code and the developers (sorry all!). There's a lot of work done by business analysts, researchers, sales etc, which benefit from face to face meetings, before it even reaches a delivery manager and the developers.

I suspect there is a social benefit to coming into an office/place of work to catch up with your (hopefully friends) and shoot the sh*t before getting down to the code.

In terms of just devs, I reckon it's possible whether or not they want to is up to them.