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Joel on Software: The new Fog Creek Office

joelonsoftware.com

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Re: Joel on Software: The new Fog Creek Office

#2

Post by swilliams »

That looks like a pretty impressive office. It sounds like a successful recruiting tool; I would definitely like working in that environment.

What other companies put that much attention towards work environment? I know that a lot of popular startups tend to favor communal environments, but seeing actual offices is pretty rare. All of the places I've worked at tend to fall somewhere between decent to hellish cube nightmare.

Re: Joel on Software: The new Fog Creek Office

#3

Post by Mistone »

seriously nice diggs, cant imagine how much that place costs but they've got the cash and have a great outlook on getting ROI via recruiting and client WOW, certainly offers a differnt perspective to just getting bought. Why not built a super cool company that you love to work at instead?

Re: Joel on Software: The new Fog Creek Office

#4

Post by iron_ball »

swilliams wrote: post #2

That looks like a pretty impressive office. It sounds like a successful recruiting tool; I would definitely like working in that environment. What other companies put that much attention towards work environment? I know that a lot of popular startups tend to favor communal environments, but seeing actual offices is pretty rare. All of the places I've worked at tend to fall somewhere between decent to hellish cube nig…

How do we resolve "offices with doors that close" with "communal work environment" anyway? Are they just diametrically opposed office philosphies?

Re: Joel on Software: The new Fog Creek Office

#9

Post by jd »

Mistone wrote: post #3

seriously nice diggs, cant imagine how much that place costs but they've got the cash and have a great outlook on getting ROI via recruiting and client WOW, certainly offers a differnt perspective to just getting bought. Why not built a super cool company that you love to work at instead?

I doubt it has a good ROI via recruiting, etc. Joel mentioned he spent more than a million on improving the interior design. No recruiting is going to make up for that, any time soon#. And in a few years Fog Creek will move to a different location again - at which point they'll have to build a new high end office.

So really, this seems to be a case of spending money to improve quality of life. The other benefits, such as for recruiting and PR are just a nice side effect.

#) Assuming 50 employees, over 5 years, the costs are roughly $4000 per employee per year. That's maybe 15% of their salary, probably less. Given the choice, I would probably give up 15% of my salary to work in a nice place with good food, a good view, good equipment, and so on.

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