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Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

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Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#131

Post by akhilcacharya »

pratik661 wrote: post #70
akhilcacharya wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some weird reason (in my experience) Amazon employees all seem to want to move to NYC. Like, constantly. Go on Blind and they'll talk about it all day with dubious reasoning. I don't get it myself (I had a few NYC offers but chose Amazon in Boston instead), but NYC has become "the place" elite for software-focused undergrads these days. Everyone wants to get into FB/Instagram NY or Google NYC.

I was one of those people. I moved to NYC in May. In a lot of adult sports leagues I'm meeting a surprisingly high number of developers who moved from the Bay Area to NYC. All for similar reasons. Its way more fun to spend your 20s in NY than it is in SF. Within my social circle, many more are planning on moving from SF to NY. This might be anecdata, but Google and Amazon might have recruiting data about candidates'…

“Fun” must be a bizarre elite perspective I’ve never understood either. The same stuff is available in Seattle as it is in NYC or Boston, just with an order of magnitude more people. Whenever I ask people about this they just talk about nightlife or something that I can’t relate to at all.

I don’t know, maybe it’s because I didn’t hobnob with the well connected in college or “have fun” in college either.

Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#132

Post by pducks32 »

CPLX wrote: post #33
Aloha wrote: post #6

I feel this choice is a mistake for the company long term, they're putting resources into two very hot housing and real estate markets, that have no real draw (in my opinion) for technical employees. Hew York is high tax (compared to Washington), unpleasant weather, overall high costs, and has a housing shortage, Washington DC, once described has having "Southern Efficiency, and Northern Charm" has similar issues of…

New York is literally the greatest city in the history of world civilization and the planetary capital of finance, media, business, fashion and culture. It’s easily the largest city in the country, and iconic globally. But you’re finding it hard to understand why people might want to live here? I’d post more but my New York life is veritable cornucopia of novel and enriching experiences and I’d better get back to it.…

Lol someone’s defensive. I believe this is called being insecure.

Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#133

Post by artursapek »

akhilcacharya wrote: post #22
Aloha wrote: post #6

I feel this choice is a mistake for the company long term, they're putting resources into two very hot housing and real estate markets, that have no real draw (in my opinion) for technical employees. Hew York is high tax (compared to Washington), unpleasant weather, overall high costs, and has a housing shortage, Washington DC, once described has having "Southern Efficiency, and Northern Charm" has similar issues of…

For some weird reason (in my experience) Amazon employees all seem to want to move to NYC. Like, constantly. Go on Blind and they'll talk about it all day with dubious reasoning. I don't get it myself (I had a few NYC offers but chose Amazon in Boston instead), but NYC has become "the place" elite for software-focused undergrads these days. Everyone wants to get into FB/Instagram NY or Google NYC.

NYC is a very fun place to live. Recent grads who are making a good income have every reason to want to live there.

Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#134

Post by itronitron »

Aloha wrote: post #6

I feel this choice is a mistake for the company long term, they're putting resources into two very hot housing and real estate markets, that have no real draw (in my opinion) for technical employees. Hew York is high tax (compared to Washington), unpleasant weather, overall high costs, and has a housing shortage, Washington DC, once described has having "Southern Efficiency, and Northern Charm" has similar issues of…

>> "Southern Efficiency, and Northern Charm"

and don't forget "Amazon Humidity" and "Mexico City Traffic"

Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#135

Post by syndacks »

What do you think this means for software engineering in NYC? IMO it's a good thing; more tech talent and the most legit tech company in NYC (besides maybe Google).

But that about the tech economy and SE profession? What will the impact be? More demand for SEs, sure, and more SEs will be attracted to NYC too.

These are all obvious first wave affects, but what will second, third wave affects be?

Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#136

Post by pratik661 »

moron4hire wrote: post #113

NoVA is a great place to raise a family. For that reason, I'm actually kind of disappointed in Amazon choosing to setup HQ here. We have our own tech industry here, one that is very focused on and around professional services, and it works for us. We aren't defined by dude-bro culture--I think it's difficult to say that any East Coast city is defined by any specific culture. If Amazon comes to DC in the same way they…

Regardless of Amazon's culture, it will still have an upward competitive pressure on your salary as a developer. That is always a good thing.

Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#137

Post by briandear »

roymurdock wrote: post #106
dunpeal wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they have massive bargaining power Wouldn't call it "massive" in NYC. The office size is projected to employ 25,000 people in total. Nice number, but not "massive" for a city of 8,623,000 people.

The average salary for these employees will be many x greater than the average NYC resident - you need to compare the relative size of the +25k employees to the ~200k subset of residents that make $200k+ in NY, not the entire 8M pop. Not to mention the knock-on effects of the many jobs the HQ will indirectly create - cleaning, food prep, waste mgmt, facilities, security, transportation, etc. But yes, I agree that NYC…

And NYC gives a tax deal to the corporation, while the workers get to pay city income tax, state income tax and federal income tax, high property and sales taxes, while also having one of the highest costs of living of most cities. Not great for the future workers at all while Amazon gets to cash in on tax incentives. Amazon could have gotten great tax benefits elsewhere in places that don’t tax their employees so damned much. Unless you are single, New York City isn’t much of a draw due to either a long commute or excessively high housing costs. Amazon could literally locate in Mobile, Alabama and be able to recruit just fine. A $200k salary in Mobile is worth $600 in NYC.

Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#138

Post by Latteland »

dangwu wrote: post #35
akhilcacharya wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some weird reason (in my experience) Amazon employees all seem to want to move to NYC. Like, constantly. Go on Blind and they'll talk about it all day with dubious reasoning. I don't get it myself (I had a few NYC offers but chose Amazon in Boston instead), but NYC has become "the place" elite for software-focused undergrads these days. Everyone wants to get into FB/Instagram NY or Google NYC.

It’s not that hard to imagine why someone would want to move from a mid-size tech city where you are often hated for where you work, to NYC.

People in Seattle don't hate amazon employees. I think engineers in Seattle feel sorry for them a little bit - it used to be a thing that no one knew anyone who had worked there more than 2 years (when the initial hire on bonus to cover the lower salary ran out and ended the clawbacks). Seattle has its pluses and minuses but it's got some serious differences than nyc.

Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#139

Post by threatofrain »

SerLava wrote: post #99
Buldak wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Not participating in the bid would have been suicide for the politicians of any major city I find that pretty implausible. Foxconn didn't save Scott Walker (and I don't think that's because his would-be supporters later realized that it wasn't such a sweet deal, either).

On the other hand, word got out pretty immediately that it was the worst deal of that type ever. And it was a Chinese company. Chinese.

It's a Taiwanese company but who knows about Taiwan's status going into the future.

Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#140

Post by CydeWeys »

arcaster wrote: post #112

Really - they had to ruin New York City...

Huh?

This will be pissing in the ocean compared to the overall size of NYC. 10k employees added gradually? No one will even notice. Google has almost that many employees working within two blocks.

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