I have no trouble making and sustaining friendships with or without an office, in fact only one of my (former) co-workers is an actual friend.
Regardless, something about the isolation of working from home for anything more than a day here or there is just too mentally harmful for me. A much lesser form of solitary confinement, I suppose. Even going out and doing things after work every single day is no cure. I've tried it on and off over the past decade, with and without a co-habitating girlfriend. With and without pets. I've tried working from coffee shops, working from parks, co-working spaces, etc.
For some it's not a matter of needing the office for friends, some people just need the office environment itself. Something about being there "in the shit" with your team, best I can tell, rings that mental bell.
In an office, I can intersperse social contact with programming. And the socializing requires almost no effort, since there is more common ground (job, commute, lunch, etc)
At home, I'm isolated for 8-10 hours straight. By dinner time, I'm mentally exhausted, making it harder to drum up energy to go out and meet new people.
Regardless, something about the isolation of working from home for anything more than a day here or there is just too mentally harmful for me. A much lesser form of solitary confinement, I suppose. Even going out and doing things after work every single day is no cure. I've tried it on and off over the past decade, with and without a co-habitating girlfriend. With and without pets. I've tried working from coffee shops, working from parks, co-working spaces, etc.
For some it's not a matter of needing the office for friends, some people just need the office environment itself. Something about being there "in the shit" with your team, best I can tell, rings that mental bell.