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Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

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Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#101
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was in Des Moines a couple of weeks ago to do interviews for our office there. The talent pool of people who would want to work in Des Moines is very local, and the quality is far lower than in bigger metro areas. (the distribution curve skews right) Anyone with talent there tended to want to move out of the area. We ended up postponing our hiring. Des Moines favors people that want to settle down and have a quiet,…

>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.

FWIW, when I was 24 my dream was to move to a small house in the woods of Vermont, and I was sure I'd never leave New England (I grew up in a small town between Lexington and Concord). Moved to Silicon Valley because I also wanted to found a startup and the Bay Area is realistically the only place for that, and besides, Google had just offered me a job and was paying for my relocation.

Don't underestimate how much your culture can change, particularly if you're young and go into life with an open mind. It's one thing if you have no desire for whatever might bring you to a big city, but if you do have that desire but are stopped because of the nauseating feeling of how your lifestyle & culture might change, that feeling does pass.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#102
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know man? You'd be surprised how attached people are to their spouses or partners. Doesn't matter how badly you want to work at Google, if your spouse is an IP attorney or VP at an academic hospital, as a family you just can't go moving to the middle of nowhere. It's not ALL about being able to work at Google. There's a lot more going on in making these decisions. (At least there is for the type of people tha…

And also for those with kids you have to think about them i.e. what opportunities will they have living in this area when they leave school.

Why would a kid stay in the same area after leaving school? That was categorically out of the question for my graduating classes.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#103
post #32

It's exciting. Google has been talking about expanding its presence forever. At least since purchasing the Chelsea Market complex. The Youtube studio is an amazing space. As is the AWS Loft downtown. Cornell Tech will have a new campus on Roosevelt Island. And Brooklyn has its New Lab / Navy Yards that is almost a tech city unto itself. It feels like there's community. And a multitude of events every day and night. W…

The nice thing about NYC in comparison to the Bay Area is that we're not afraid of building more housing here, so supply increases every year and has a dampening effect on rent increases. Also, mass transit is much better, so if you live even 30 minutes away on a subway line the rents will be much lower. If you're willing to commute an hour each way (which is still less than a lot of people who drive every day on I-1…

The burbs are wsy better too. You can still find a great family home in a good school district within a reasonable commute on NJ transit, lirr, or metro north, well under a million.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 80% of Googlers in NYC will probably have lower lifetime earnings than firefighters or cops once you factor in pensions No way. How much do you think Google entry level fresh graduate engineers earn in total compensation?

You will probably be retired for thirty years. Public employees are getting paid for those years, techies aren't. I have a relative who is retired CHP. $200k a year total retirement benefits. Show me a rank and file Googler who has that lined up. Typical techie trajectory will be maximum salary around age forty and then increasing irrelevance As I tell everyone in tech now - imagine 64. It's coming.

[deleted]

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#105
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'…

Boulder seems to be doing alright.

It's just one aspect of city attractiveness, but embracing urbanism, especially in terms of multimodal transportation options, does seem to help.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#106
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…

I worry about this as well. I wouldn't be surprised if SF, NYC, and DC encompass the majority of the country's wealth in a few decades.

It genuinely amazes me that remote tech jobs haven't taken off. I just can't fathom why—unless companies have honestly found that it doesn't work for some reason unknown to me. What other incentive could there be? You get good workers at a fraction of the cost. And with companies like Google and Amazon spreading out across the U.S., remote teleconferencing systems are already set up. Is it really that much different to have someone dialing in to Mountain View from Idaho rather than NYC?

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#108
One of the reason is that, people who are incharge of these decisions are invested in these cities. They've real estate in these cities.

So, using public money of the company to invest in these cities increase the value of their personal investments :)

It won't be changing anytime sooner.

Shareholders aren't bothered. I wouldn't be surprized if majority of shareholders by value live in these cities too.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#109
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…

There is an NYT article to that effect: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/07/upshot/in-superstar-citie...

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And also for those with kids you have to think about them i.e. what opportunities will they have living in this area when they leave school.

Why would a kid stay in the same area after leaving school? That was categorically out of the question for my graduating classes.

Why?
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