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Leaving Google

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Re: Leaving Google

#91

Post by ulfw »

eevilspock wrote: post #68
haberman wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a little sad he didn't say anything about Seattle, only a couple hours from Vancouver and with sizable and thriving Google offices. It is also has "greens and greys and unfussily variegated people" -- clearly it's not Canada, but in general it would be a much less drastic transition!

Vancouver is a real city. Seattle is provincial, passive-aggressive, unfriendly to outsiders, and segregated. A hick town with skyscrapers as I've often called it. Californians who've moved there almost unanimously agree with my first sentence, and crack up at the latter. (Sadly, I lived in Seattle for 17 years. The Bay Area before that, and New York now.)

Why do you live there for SEVENTEEN years if you find it that shitty? You only live once, you know. You deserve to be happy.

Re: Leaving Google

#92

Post by tobyjsullivan »

hashberry wrote: post #82
eevilspock wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vancouver is a real city. Seattle is provincial, passive-aggressive, unfriendly to outsiders, and segregated. A hick town with skyscrapers as I've often called it. Californians who've moved there almost unanimously agree with my first sentence, and crack up at the latter. (Sadly, I lived in Seattle for 17 years. The Bay Area before that, and New York now.)

C'mon troll, Seattle is where people go to make money. Seattle's tech industry beats Vancouver any day.

Times are changing my friend. Who would I go work for in Seattle to "make money" (if that were actually my primary goal)?

Amazon? In Vancouver now. Microsoft? In Vancouver now. Facebook? In Vancouver now. Startups? Vancouver has our share.

Personally, if I were going to leave the country for a better tech industry, I'd fly right past Seattle and head further south. Sorry, but Seattle just doesn't make sense if you're not already there.

Re: Leaving Google

#93

Post by ulfw »

haberman wrote: post #79
eevilspock wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vancouver is a real city. Seattle is provincial, passive-aggressive, unfriendly to outsiders, and segregated. A hick town with skyscrapers as I've often called it. Californians who've moved there almost unanimously agree with my first sentence, and crack up at the latter. (Sadly, I lived in Seattle for 17 years. The Bay Area before that, and New York now.)

> Vancouver is a real city. That's not very nice. > Seattle is provincial, passive-aggressive, unfriendly to outsiders, and segregated. A hick town with skyscrapers as I've often called it. Sorry you didn't enjoy it here. Every city has its ups and downs, but a lot of people (myself included) love it. It's beautiful, we are surrounded by nature, we have the best summers of anywhere I've ever been, I find the people f…

I must say I had a wonderful time in Seattle. I found the people a ton more friendly, approachable and varied than in the Bay Area, where everyone is just interested in 'networking' with you rather than befriending you. Plus Seattle has absolutely stunning nature. I didn't stay because of the grey skis. Couldn't take it.

Re: Leaving Google

#94

Post by dubfan »

tobyjsullivan wrote: post #86
haberman wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a little sad he didn't say anything about Seattle, only a couple hours from Vancouver and with sizable and thriving Google offices. It is also has "greens and greys and unfussily variegated people" -- clearly it's not Canada, but in general it would be a much less drastic transition!

This was Google's thought when I was talking to them. "Seattle's only a couple hours away. You could possibly even commute!" I checked out the area through the lens of possibly living there when I went down for my interview. Seattle and Kirkland are not comparable to Vancouver in the slightest. Mostly the ghettos and rampant poverty, combined with the fundamental social differences between the countries. Didn't help…

Seattle doesn't have ghettos. Seriously, compare Oakland or south-central LA to Seattle's "ghettos" and tell me they are similar. Vancouver's Downtown Eastside had the worst concentration of poverty and desperation I'd ever seen in North America while I lived in Vancouver.

Re: Leaving Google

#95

Post by scelerat »

syntern wrote: post #40
drawkbox wrote: post #32

Google not able to get remote working working? Seems flawed that a system requires everyone to move to one location to work, and a broken system that lives on from the past (why take hours of employees days commuting?). There are times when that is needed, there are other times when that is bad and external insight is easier remotely. Yahoo and possibly Google doing this, leading to more congestion in the Bay Area, a…

The problem is not that they couldn't, but they wouldn't. Most of the large bay area companies believe that there is more value in the chit-chat and overheard conversations at the micro kitchen, than in solving the remote work problems.

Most of my work is remote and yet I agree with this. It's part of the reason I visit the office at least once a week, despite a 2-hour commute. There is value in casual conversation. Work topics can be raised in informal ways. People share more of their personal lives and come to know each other better, fostering understanding and relieving some of the tension that can arise from misunderstood or poorly-worded emails.

Working remotely requires a lot of attention to relationships in ways and over channels that most people aren't accustomed to. It can be difficult even for people who are very good at it. I enjoy working remotely but I value the personal face-to-face time I get with co-workers very highly.

Re: Leaving Google

#96

Post by VonGuard »

haberman wrote: post #79
eevilspock wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vancouver is a real city. Seattle is provincial, passive-aggressive, unfriendly to outsiders, and segregated. A hick town with skyscrapers as I've often called it. Californians who've moved there almost unanimously agree with my first sentence, and crack up at the latter. (Sadly, I lived in Seattle for 17 years. The Bay Area before that, and New York now.)

> Vancouver is a real city. That's not very nice. > Seattle is provincial, passive-aggressive, unfriendly to outsiders, and segregated. A hick town with skyscrapers as I've often called it. Sorry you didn't enjoy it here. Every city has its ups and downs, but a lot of people (myself included) love it. It's beautiful, we are surrounded by nature, we have the best summers of anywhere I've ever been, I find the people f…

I've always gotten the impression that about 40% of the people you meet or see in Seattle are at that exact moment contemplating suicide. That's just the general tone of the city.

Re: Leaving Google

#97

Post by MrZongle2 »

I thought this was interesting: "Now you can say it: Google is actually evil, right? · I don’t think so; but get back to me later. I shouldn’t write too much about Google in-the-large until I’ve got more perspective."

At best, it sounds like he's a bit doubtful of Google's white-hat status but is trying to remain professional, doesn't have a specific incident to point to, or both.

It will be interesting to see what he says in a year or so.

Re: Leaving Google

#99

Post by ChrisClark »

mathattack wrote: post #71
psbp wrote: post #5

"Plus I find the Bay Area congested, racist, incestuous, and overpriced." I like this guy.

I was going to quote that line too. But is it really that racist? Relative to the rest of the US, it seems remarkably tolerant, no?

Compared to Canada? It sure is.

Re: Leaving Google

#100

Post by typicalrunt »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #89
typicalrunt wrote: post #62

On the topic of living costs for Vancouver, coincidentally enough WorkSafeBC (Vancouver's version of OSHA) just released a cost of living calculator for the BC region. You can see that housing will eat up the majority of your paycheque for an average wage (maybe not rockstar IT devs) [1]. http://www.costofliving.welcomebc.ca/ [1] Median family income in BC is $69,150 as of 2011. Source: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/table…

Interesting that the median price for a detached single family home in Vancouver is now $929,700 [1] and in Santa Clara county (which is San Jose and the cities around it) is "only" $754,400 [2], of course a house in San Francisco is like over a million dollars. [1] http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/house-prices-still-rising-in... [2] http://www.zillow.com/santa-clara-county-ca/home-values/

$929,000 in Vancouver means the east side, which is traditionally the lower priced and income area of Vancouver. If you want anything close to downtown or the West side, it is well over $1.5M.

A lot of detached homes in Vancouver at the $900k price range look like they are in bad condition and reflect the land value. So while it is expensive to purchase at $900k+, consider the renovations that will be needed to bring the house up to a livable condition.

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