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Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

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Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#101

Post by akhilcacharya »

mtbcoder wrote: post #26
yitchelle wrote: post #21

I don't get why Google and others are not going out of the valley to nearby cities like Sacramento? The difference in property acquisition is probably pocket change to the company, but I reckon the quality of life to the Googlers, Facebookers etc would be vastly different.

Why stop there though? Why not open up shop near a university town with a low cost of living? Steady supply of interns, new hires, R&D partnerships, etc. Culture in a university town, while not on par with a major city, is generally quite well too.

They do have those, many are from acquisitions like Chapel Hill.

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#102

Post by euyyn »

rwmj wrote: post #75
elbigbad wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone has the option to just telework. Many companies do not have this option and most jobs require face time of some sort. That's like saying you got a job at Google and asking why everyone doesn't simply get jobs at Google.

I would argue that most people in IT (which is what we're talking about here) have the option to telework. It may be that because of technical or institutional barriers they are not able to do this, but those usually have very little to do with the nature of the work.

The point is it's not up to you, the company has to let you. Good on you, but the rest of us do not have the option.

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#103

Post by codezero »

perryh2 wrote: post #14
codezero wrote: post #8

Recently my rent in Sunnyvale for a nice two bedroom went up to $2900* a month from $2100 Looks like the trend will continue. *not including trash and utilities.

You can easily rent a bedroom in an older house or multi-room apartment for around $1000-1200 in Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Sunnyvale though. A few of my coworkers do this.

My wife and I and our cats won't fit our lives into a bedroom very well.

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#104

Post by kyrra »

yitchelle wrote: post #21

I don't get why Google and others are not going out of the valley to nearby cities like Sacramento? The difference in property acquisition is probably pocket change to the company, but I reckon the quality of life to the Googlers, Facebookers etc would be vastly different.

The opinions stated here are my own, not necessarily those of Google.

Google has offices all over the country, everyone just focuses on MTV as it's the biggest. In the US there are already large offices in Seattle, NYC, and Chicago. They are also expanding in other cities. Boulder CO is building a new building that can house up to 1500 people. In Austin, TX they are leasing 200,000sqft of office space downtown.

There are definite advantages to having all your people on the same project be in the same area. Remote offices are nice and all to attract talent that doesn't want to be in the Bay area, but there are downsides about distributed teams.

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#105

Post by Bluestrike2 »

mtbcoder wrote: post #26
yitchelle wrote: post #21

I don't get why Google and others are not going out of the valley to nearby cities like Sacramento? The difference in property acquisition is probably pocket change to the company, but I reckon the quality of life to the Googlers, Facebookers etc would be vastly different.

Why stop there though? Why not open up shop near a university town with a low cost of living? Steady supply of interns, new hires, R&D partnerships, etc. Culture in a university town, while not on par with a major city, is generally quite well too.

Google has an engineering office here in Pittsburgh right down the road from CMU. So do a lot of other tech companies. A huge part of that is the sheer number of colleges in the area, low cost of living, and apparently the booming food scene with lots of creative chefs due to low rents [0]. Not sure if I'm wiling to buy that last one as a tangible factor in economic growth, but it certainly tastes good in the interim.

0. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/dining/pittsburgh-restaura...

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#106

Post by st3v3r »

yitchelle wrote: post #21

I don't get why Google and others are not going out of the valley to nearby cities like Sacramento? The difference in property acquisition is probably pocket change to the company, but I reckon the quality of life to the Googlers, Facebookers etc would be vastly different.

How many of their employees would like to move to Sacramento? While I'm sure the number is not zero, I doubt it's big enough to warrant doing such a thing.

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#107

Post by st3v3r »

ethanbond wrote: post #51
tallanvor wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be hard to find people who actually want to live there. It's one thing to have a stream of new interns and even fresh college grads, but what do you do when they constantly want to move somewhere else after a year or two?

It'll be more and more difficult to convince people to move to Mtn View, though. It's a delicate balance.

Mountain View and the Bay Area, maybe. But they also have offices in Austin, Seattle, NYC, etc.

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#108

Post by st3v3r »

raverbashing wrote: post #23
yitchelle wrote: post #21

I don't get why Google and others are not going out of the valley to nearby cities like Sacramento? The difference in property acquisition is probably pocket change to the company, but I reckon the quality of life to the Googlers, Facebookers etc would be vastly different.

This You can have shuttle buses between campuses from when you really need to be in one place, for example

What about for taking advantage of the perks of being on the main campus, though?

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#109

Post by st3v3r »

Lind5 wrote: post #82

Great...so our south bay becomes even more ridiculously congested. We need so much better mass transit to accommodate all this growth. Instead of spending billions on a bullet train to Los Angeles, can't we invest that money in better mass transit in the bay area?

That money is (presumably) benefitting the whole state, whereas you're looking to take all that money and just benefitting the small part where you live. Not really fair.

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#110

Post by st3v3r »

rwmj wrote: post #68
codezero wrote: post #8

Recently my rent in Sunnyvale for a nice two bedroom went up to $2900* a month from $2100 Looks like the trend will continue. *not including trash and utilities.

I don't understand why people do this. I'm paying $1000/month to own a 2 bedroom house with a huge garden. I built my own office at the end of the garden, which I can guarantee you is several times bigger and more comfortable than a work cube. I work remotely for a major US software company. (My commute is 1 minute if I'm carrying a cup of tea, slightly shorter if not). Edit: picture of the office: http://oirase.anne…

Yeah, but where are you? I'm guessing out in the middle of nowhere. While that appeals to you, it very much does not appeal to me. I like being where people are, where there is stuff to do, different types of food to eat, and culture around.
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