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Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

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Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#71
post #4

This coupled with the Amazon news is starting to get distressing. With the amount of companies that copycat them it’s like the rich are getting richer and the economic benefits are still going to be concentrated only in the most affluent cities. The rest of the country desperately needs real industry and good paying jobs - and will go to huge lengths to try to get them but it appears nobody can come up with a busines…

95% of Googlers in NYC will be lifetime renters just like they are in the Bay Area. Hardly the gilded class

Friend just bought a $400,000 one-bedroom co-op in Midtown East. He makes a low six-figure salary, and will have to be judicious about his spending for a few years. New York isn’t the Bay Area—we build supply to meet demand.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Des Moines favors people that want to settle down and have a quiet, comfortable suburban life. I'm 24, but that is definitely what appeals to me. The mere thought of working in NYC or other tech hubs is nauseating. I'd feel totally out of place culturally.

NYC is such a big city that you can find everything and everyone here. You're more likely to feel out of place culturally in a small city if you can't find your subculture there, whereas in NYC your subculture is guaranteed to exist. How many hacker groups, meetups, and conventions does random small city have, for example? Or gaming? Or anime? Or comics? We've got all that in spades.

It is still a city. Is it that hard to accept that not everyone wants to live in a city, never mind a metropolis like NYC?

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#73
post #4

This coupled with the Amazon news is starting to get distressing. With the amount of companies that copycat them it’s like the rich are getting richer and the economic benefits are still going to be concentrated only in the most affluent cities. The rest of the country desperately needs real industry and good paying jobs - and will go to huge lengths to try to get them but it appears nobody can come up with a busines…

NYC is not reserved for the rich, though; there's plenty of working class people living there, and house prices are actually falling.

How would Elysium play out if many people could simply move there?

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#74

If it's going to make NYC a major engineering hub, on a similar scale as Mountain View, then it's a huge deal. If it's going to be mainly non-technical roles, then meh.

If NYC becomes a monoculture like SV than it truly is a big deal.

The big difference, in my perception, between New York and the Bay Area is the availability, diversity and public interest in the arts. That brings people together in a unique, cerebral way and helps digest emerging monocultures.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't a fintech programmer already make ~$450k (all in)

Zero chance that is typical

Pretty typical for a mid-level engineer at a top quant fund. More senior salaries get into the low 7 figures.

Source: recently interviewed with a few top quant funds in NY

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#76
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s how it works in medicine - salaries are higher in less desirable areas.

I think you're missing the point. It's a tough sell to relocate someone and give them a lower salary. Who'd take that deal?

People who understand the lower salary is easily made up for by lower living costs.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Des Moines favors people that want to settle down and have a quiet, comfortable suburban life. I'm 24, but that is definitely what appeals to me. The mere thought of working in NYC or other tech hubs is nauseating. I'd feel totally out of place culturally.

NYC is such a big city that you can find everything and everyone here. You're more likely to feel out of place culturally in a small city if you can't find your subculture there, whereas in NYC your subculture is guaranteed to exist. How many hacker groups, meetups, and conventions does random small city have, for example? Or gaming? Or anime? Or comics? We've got all that in spades.

My city is small compared to NYC (about 1mill people) and we have all of that.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#78
post #4

This coupled with the Amazon news is starting to get distressing. With the amount of companies that copycat them it’s like the rich are getting richer and the economic benefits are still going to be concentrated only in the most affluent cities. The rest of the country desperately needs real industry and good paying jobs - and will go to huge lengths to try to get them but it appears nobody can come up with a busines…

It's a classic chicken and egg problem. Companies don't want to establish new offices in cities where they cannot attract new talent or there isn't a large existing base of talent. This limits large new offices to large metro areas (5M+ people) People don't want to relocate to cities where there aren't multiple job possibilities - you lose your job/hate it and don't want to have to relocate to find a new job or you w…

> Companies don't want to establish new offices in cities where they cannot attract new talent or there isn't a large existing base of talent

This seems especially silly. There are almost limitless people who would like to get one of the FAANG co's on their CV. They'd gladly relocate and benefit from reasonable property prices for a year or three. Google or Netlix are hardly going to struggle to attract talent if they decide to open an office in some rural backwater.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#79
post #4

This coupled with the Amazon news is starting to get distressing. With the amount of companies that copycat them it’s like the rich are getting richer and the economic benefits are still going to be concentrated only in the most affluent cities. The rest of the country desperately needs real industry and good paying jobs - and will go to huge lengths to try to get them but it appears nobody can come up with a busines…

NYC is not reserved for the rich, though; there's plenty of working class people living there, and house prices are actually falling. How would Elysium play out if many people could simply move there?

If you get the ideas of living in Manhattan out of your head, NYC is definitely more affordable than SF. So NYC does have the option of people just being able to move there.

The larger problem is how do the other cities compete at all in the future?

Smart cities are building out train based metro systems that connect their major universities and their airports to their downtown areas. (Houston for example). But that's REALLY expensive. It's not a coincidence that Houston, a city flooded with energy wealth, is one of the few cities pursuing such a strategy. They're one of the only cities that can afford it. What about everyone else? I think the other cities will need to get aggressive and creative about making themselves appeal to the bottom lines of tech companies.

If not, yeah, most will likely be left behind. Sad, but that's how the market works. Just ask Gary Indiana.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#80
post #76
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're missing the point. It's a tough sell to relocate someone and give them a lower salary. Who'd take that deal?

People who understand the lower salary is easily made up for by lower living costs.

That's partly true and partly not.

In particular, if one anticipates returning to a pricey location later in life (e.g. needing to take care of elderly relatives there), one has to save for retirement at a higher level than if one can stay in the cheaper place forever.

Cost of living comparisons used to justify salary reductions rarely account for such scenarios.

With that said, the numbers can still work out to make it a good financial deal, it's just less automatically true.

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