Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent

Yes that's true, but viewing the whole thing daily via HN from 3,000 miles away, it seems like there's much more than just wealth about it: there's adventure, mystery, the Unknown as well as camaraderie, being around optimistic, productive people like ones' self, and being part of a bigger thing at a critical time in (tech) history.

I ponder daily ditching my utterly satisfying life Here for SV but mainly family and the housing prices keep me away. I, like you, think the over-corporatization is unhealthy.

Not sure why Google insists on staying in such an expensive place, rather than moving. Some possibilities:

1. There are synergies to having much of the staff working together at the same place. And the only place an employer the size of Google can find enough staff who are up to Google standards is the Valley.

2. Once you get to the Valley, anywhere else is cottage country. Google is by necessity somewhat geographically distributed, but its senior management is completely centralized. Last I checked, all the SVPs were in Mountain View. It's easy to mistake the best place for the only place.

3. Google started in the Valley and grew up there. Moving their main operation anywhere else would be very disruptive. Getting employees to move is hard at the best of times; getting highly sought-after engineers to move away from the center of their profession, where they have many many options should they decide to stay, would be brutal.

Well, if they find that someone abuses company perks, they can just take them to a meeting and politely explain them that they can either play fair or say goodbye to their job. It's not neccessary to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Just make sure it's a camper van and not a van ;)

As an executive at a nonprofit, I was renting an apartment several blocks from my office. The apartment building was purchased by a developer who proceeded to convert them to condos. I was offered some money (I think $1500 or so) to end my lease early. I was planning on leaving the country in a few months anyway, so I took the money, and just moved all my belongings into my office.

I stored my clothes in an otherwise-unused filing cabinet, took showers at a gym a few blocks away, and slept on the floor, with just a blanket and pillow. The biggest problem was laundry; the nearest laundromat was pretty far away and I didn't have a car. I ended up strapping a sack full of clothes to the back of my bicycle and riding a couple miles to the laundromat every weekend.

I had a private room with a door that closed, but everyone at the office knew what I was doing. The only conceit was that I claimed that it was only temporary until I could find the right place to move into; in reality I found it so convenient and cheap that I stayed for over a year (until I did, in fact, leave the country). One Friday night, I even had a friend stay over; he slept on a couch in someone else's room.

Our organization rented a suite in a larger building, and every morning when I woke up and went to the restroom, I saw other people seemingly doing the same thing. One guy even went to the restroom every morning in a bathrobe. From about 6-7AM it reminded me a truck stop restroom, with people brushing their teeth and giving themselves sponge-baths at the sink. There are zoning laws that prohibit people from sleeping in offices, but I think the property manager didn't really care as long as everyone was reasonably discreet.

There were a few significant disadvantages. First, there was no kitchen. I had an electric kettle that I used to cook ramen, which I would add eggs and canned meat and vegatables to, but that was about it, except for eating out. There were plenty of nice restaurants nearby, and I had plenty of extra money from not paying rent, so it was not a huge problem.

Second, personal mail. The US Postal Service has a policy of not forwarding mail, addressed to an individual at a commercial address, to a residential address. This meant that when I forwarded my mail from my apartment to my office, I couldn't later forward my mail from my office to somewhere else.

Third, the gym was not open on holidays. On Thanksgiving and Christmas, I went to my parents' house anyway, so I just took a shower there. But for other holidays like Labor Day and Independence Day, I had to do without a shower.

I would do it again. Actually, I would even consider just renting an office instead of an apartment to live in. Generally speaking, office space is cheaper, easier to rent, and more centrally located than housing. These days though, I'm married, and my wife would not be so enthusiastic.