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Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

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Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#211

Post by vonmoltke »

trhway wrote: post #70
vonmoltke wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, there's me. I passed their interview gauntlet, but their initial offer was well under what I currently make, and their second barely matched it. They also badly down-leveled me (which is partially my fault for not insisting on an L5 interview loop). From my direct experience, and talking to other people who have negotiated with Google, the only ways to get a good offer out of them is to either come from a FAANG…

in SV, got an L5 offer couple years back, barely matching my relatively low for SV total with the base lower. They pretty much refused to negotiate. The same experience as couple acquaintances - one even took such an offer and not surprisingly ran away a year later. On the other hand - some other acquaintances make $400K-$500K as L5/L6 there.

> one even took such an offer and not surprisingly ran away a year later

I thought about that, but I'd rather not put myself through the job change gauntlet so often, and the role was such a step down in responsibility that I would be better off with a year in my current role.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#212

Post by lotsofpulp »

TarpitCarnivore wrote: post #203
lotsofpulp wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like the suburbs in NJ within reasonable commuting distance (door to door in 45 min max reliably) offer all the drawbacks of the city with none of the benefits of the suburb. You get a little more space, but not enough. A little less traffic, but still a lot of traffic. No decent gyms or parks, unless you like paying out the nose. And super high and ever increasing taxes. And I think even a 45 min door to door…

There's a lot of hyperbole in here, especially about parks and gyms. There's plenty of parks all over NJ that offer different options from hiking, biking, to kayaking. Gyms are a plenty and it's weird to even say you'd pay more for them when places like Equinox or Chelsea Piers are absurd in price. And go ask any person commuting from Brooklyn right now how there commutes are going to get into Midtown Manhattan, they…

I know there are, but then the door to door commute is unacceptable per my standards. And the further from NY Penn Station you are, the more variance you are subject to, making commutes even longer.

My point is, if you want a door to door commute of sub 45 min, consistently, then you would need to be in Hoboken/Jersey City/Secaucus/Weehawken/etc. That whole Hudson County corridor doesn't offer much in the way of decent gyms (swimming pools, racquetball/squash courts, basketball, etc), and neither does it have any decent hiking. People don't really have yards there either.

If you move out of that circle, you do start getting some amenities, but your commute starts looking like 45 to 60+min, and you have to park your car at the train station or get dropped off, etc. It's all personal preference, but for me, I would want all the benefits of owning a car, or all the benefits of not needing to own a car. Living in NJ and working in NYC seems like compromising on both.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#213

Post by dionidium »

throwawaymath wrote: post #202
emddudley wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me the idea of living in NYC is depressing. I think overall the US would have a better quality of life if industry was not so concentrated in major cities. Fewer people would need to make trade-offs between their jobs and lifestyle.

I live in NYC and I’m not going to try to change your mind, but out of curiosity what don’t you like about it? Winter? The smell? Too many people?

I live in Manhattan and work in Midtown. I love it here, but I'll give you my complaints (for whatever they're worth):

1. The traffic and noise in Midtown is downright oppressive. People just laying on their horns for basically no reason, giant trucks speeding by the mass of pedestrians.

2. Yes, too many people. This is also Midtown specific. I don't mind crowds and I like a busy streetscape, but Midtown reaches a level that's dystopian. I dread walking on the avenues during rush hour. People spill out into the street, because there's not enough sidewalk to contain them all and it's basically impossible not to bump into people the entire way. I'm a fast walker. I hate walking slow. Midtown is very frustrating in a very minute-to-minute kind of way. (See #1 for some ideas about how we could give people more space. Hint: less space for cars.)

3. I would like to own my own home. I don't see how that's going to be practical here.

4. I like building stuff. In my hometown I had lots of tools and the space to work on projects. I don't have the space for any of that here.

5. I'm a cyclist. I prefer to own a couple bikes. I can't do that here. I barely have room for one bike in my 350 sq/ft apartment. It's kind of a pain even having that one bike.

Any one of these could be reason enough to prefer a less crowded and expensive city.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#214

Post by wil421 »

esotericn wrote: post #159
taurath wrote: 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…

This has been the case in the UK since, well, forever. In every field I can think of, London has the top tier jobs. It surprises me that the US was ever different. I'm wondering whether it's a young country effect. I don't think it's "Elysium" as claimed. It's more like - if you're competitive and want to be the best in a field, you're probably (not always) going to move to London. If you want to live a life, raise a…

You’re comparing the UK to the whole US when you should compare it to California or the Northeast. A better comparison would be Europe but I think London and SF would still be the best paying.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#215

Post by kyrra »

kyrieeschaton wrote: post #183

Meanwhile, the executive team openly laughed at the idea of investing in offices any distance from the coast.

They bought their new building in Boulder for $131 million, which about doubled the available seating. They also expanded their Pittsburgh office in the last few years.

http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-business/ci_31319589/goog...

https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2014/02/03/googl...

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#216

Post by throwawaymath »

mac01021 wrote: post #148
dsr_ wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that they don't hire remote employees. Most of them do. It's that a high-level remote employee at a physical-first company is at a major political disadvantage compared to their onsite peers.

Maybe I just haven't looked hard enough, but I've never seen an opening for a remote SWE job for any of FAANG. If they did, they could pay 75% of what I'm told they do and still be far and away the most appealing employer for talented engineers in most places.

I recently received an offer from Apple for a remote software engineering role. Amazon will also hire remote employees for certain teams in AWS. And I’m aware of both Facebook and Google hiring remote employees (or allowing employees to become fully remote) if they’re excellent and the alternative is losing them.

It’s not an explicit policy and they don’t actively encourage it. But they’ll make it work for the right person - I agree though, don’t go into it thinking you’ll be remote. If you want to work remotely for very high compensation (close to FAANG but not exactly competitive), comsider working at a second tier public tech company like Salesforce or a strong unicorn like Stripe (both of which explicitly support it).

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#217

Post by hnmcQIOoQUDv »

saalweachter wrote: post #155
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

New York City is huge though. To live in a place that isn’t NYC while still in state means Yonkers or White Plains. Reasonable commute is like an hour, maybe more.

Eh, you can get to dense suburbia in about 45 minutes, sparse suburbia in like 1 hour, and if you're willing to commute 90 minutes, maybe two hours, you're out in what city slickers would call "rural". Also don't forget Long Island, the Other In State. (I'm one of the idiots who commutes ~2 hours from near Poughkeepsie, which is (a) still on commuter rail [the super-express Hudson line train takes ~90 minutes, plus t…

I tried commuting from Poughkeepsie (well, that odd stop one stop south) during the dotcom 90s and it nearly killed me. The train was fine, but that final 30 minutes on the subway downtown just pushed it over the edge. Gave up after six months. If you can manage it and keep to sane working hours (I was working 9:30 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. routinely) keep doing it.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#218

Post by throwawaymath »

givinguflac wrote: post #146
mac01021 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would have to happen for one of these giant companies to start hiring remote employees?

Older people with outdated visions of “butts in seats” need to stop running things.

That’s an unfair characterization. A lot of people, myself included, do not enjoy remote work. I did it for years and I’m over it. You might consider that there are valid argumemts both for and against working remotely.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#219

Post by MikeKusold »

throwawaymath wrote: post #202
emddudley wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me the idea of living in NYC is depressing. I think overall the US would have a better quality of life if industry was not so concentrated in major cities. Fewer people would need to make trade-offs between their jobs and lifestyle.

I live in NYC and I’m not going to try to change your mind, but out of curiosity what don’t you like about it? Winter? The smell? Too many people?

I currently live in Denver and spend almost every weekend in the mountains. To me, the depressing part of NYC is the complete lack of fresh air, outdoor activities, and solitude.

Different strokes for different people.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#220

Post by tootie »

bsbechtel wrote: post #168
TulliusCicero wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The rest of the country desperately needs real industry and good paying jobs - and will go to huge lengths to try to get them No they don't. Tax breaks aren't enough. One of the big reasons a lot of people really like NYC is that it's one of the few cities in the US that actually feels like a city. NYC is urbanist in a way that relatively few American cities are (and most of the other cities in this category are al…

Define economic winner....you mean top line income and area GDP? These places are the most expensive places in the country to live, and quality of living is considerably lower. Incomes may be lower in many areas of the country, but when you consider you can pay $2k/mo on a 5,000 sq ft mortgage instead of renting a 900 sq ft apartment, I don't view these places as economically successful as many perceive them to be.

People don't want 5000 sq ft anymore. I looked at suburban houses as an option and was thinking I hope I never have enough crap to fill this much space. I think I can comfortably fit my family of 4 in 1200 sq ft indefinitely and never own a car.
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