They offer everything else, why not offer barracks?
Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent
201–210 of 275 posts
Re: Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent
#202Silicon Valley: Where highly paid ($100-$200k+) engineers sleep in cars to save money on obscenely expensive rent. Honestly, recently moving to Seattle has been refreshing to me in this regard. I find Seattle tech industry pay no less than SF, plus no state income tax, and for the same rent as SF you can practically live like a king/queen here. I wonder how long the housing situation in SV can keep up until everythin…
That is a silly generalization, I'm not going to generalize about people in Seattle who live on boats even though I know a couple of folks who do that.
There is a push afoot to get Google (and then by reaction everyone) to treat the perks they give as taxable income. I expect it is being "encouraged" by companies that don't want to pay for that kind of thing as a way of killing it. Unfortunately if they are successful I expect it to backfire, Google to continue to do it and to cover the tax aspects and the other companies being forced to follow suit.
Re: Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Why don't blubsoft or blub.ly open offices in city X and continue to pay the same salaries there. Because they could open offices in city X and pay smaller salaries in absolute value, though equivalent relative to living costs, and get the same hires for less money. I don't see the paradox here; you could phrase it as a question: why should blubsoft or blub.ly pay more for something, when they can pay less and stil…
They don't have to be in silicon valley. The only reason for Google to be anywhere is employees and to a lesser extent investors, lawyers and other service providers of the cluster. It's mostly employees though. Why are they there, paying high salaries if they could be getting the same for less elsewhere?
> "if they could be getting the same for less elsewhere"
Maybe it's because they can't get the same for less elsewhere
Re: Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent
#204I did this on a 6 month contract as an experiment over a mild winter in the UK in 2011. You can pretty much do this anywhere. Couple of tricks: 1) Get a small camper/van that can park in one car parking space with a diesel heating system. Kitchen is irrelevant. Bed/toilet/heating system/space to sit and type/space for clothes to hang. 2) You need a toilet but usually you time your bowel movements to only need to use…
1/ or you know,just find a housemate/roommate if you cant afford to rent a place alone... sorry but sleeping in a van doesnt "scale",and is not that economic. EDIT:the downvote mob is out for blood,as usual.I just said that sleeping in a van for 6 month is the worse thing to do,nobody can to tell me with a straight face that one should do that,especially in winter.
>just said that sleeping in a van for 6 month is the worse thing to do,nobody can to tell me with a straight face that one should do that,especially in winter.
Once again, as I've written in my other post, known a bunch of people who did it, some very willingly and rationally. Far from "the worst thing in the world." Why don't you talk to some of these people and ask them their experiences. Perhaps not your cup of tea but don't speak about everyone.
Re: Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have 4 pants, maybe 4-5 pairs of shorts, 6 button down shirts, and 15 t-shirts. On my most recent flight from India, I even managed to fit a suit in. Let me emphasize that the larger backpack is not carry-on luggage. It's a $200 fancy pack, something like this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00388W5KO/ref=as_li_tl?ie=...
I'm curious too. What's the "turnover" with those clothes - i.e. how often do you buy new ones and throw out the old ones? Ever gotten any weird looks for running around in mostly the same outfits? What do you do when you need a suit? What do you do about your data? Do you carry any additional HDDs in those backpacks? Don't you keep any spare hardware around for when things break to be able to replace them quickly? W…
Turnover is high. During my previous 6 months in India, I lost 2 pants, and pair #3 is dying. (My semi-girlfriend is telling me to replace it while I'm in NY.)
The backpack contains only a laptop, phone and tablet. I don't have massive amounts of data - I don't photograph every meal as some people do. When my stuff breaks, I pay a lot of money to fix/replace it.
Legal documents are stored with my parents in the US, except of course the passport.
I have no allergies and need no medication. The only tool I own is a leatherman multitool - I rarely need it, and it's good enough when I do. I don't use paper.
Re: Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent
#206I did this for a couple of months at my university, having failed to secure accommodation at the end of a rental period. Slept variously in an electron microscopy suite, a darkroom, and a rarely used bathroom. Wasn't too bad, though there was the omnipresent fear of campus security twigging on. As this was in London I saved quite a decent wad of cash in rent. Wouldn't do it again though unless I was particularly desp…
A friend and ex-cow-orker of mine had a nice little space in the ceiling tiles in one of CMU's machine rooms (probably late 1970s). He had a bed, a microwave oven and some other creature comforts.
Re: Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been living in the Bay Area since the dotcom days and they've been asking the same question since I've been around. Until people in tech stop making money, I doubt SV will collapse, but it will go through boom and bust cycles. But the booms tend to be huge and the busts tend to be not as bad. I had the opportunity to get a job in Seattle at Amazon about 10 years ago. I would have taken a paycut, but with the 0%…
I'm curious why the weather argument comes up so often. Aren't we, as "software people", under a roof and in front of a screen most of the time anyways? Then again, I'm "deep inside" Europe, so I have no idea how bad the weather over there really is.
Even if you are indoors most of the day, the weather outside can make a huge difference on your mood.
It also encourages getting up and taking walks every now and then, which has various benefits (both mental and physical).
I lived in Seattle for six years. The environment is gorgeous. Lots of trails for hiking, ton of greenery... the thing is though, the weather made me not want to go out. And that can be horribly depressing.
Re: Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent
#208Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been living in the Bay Area since the dotcom days and they've been asking the same question since I've been around. Until people in tech stop making money, I doubt SV will collapse, but it will go through boom and bust cycles. But the booms tend to be huge and the busts tend to be not as bad. I had the opportunity to get a job in Seattle at Amazon about 10 years ago. I would have taken a paycut, but with the 0%…
I'm curious why the weather argument comes up so often. Aren't we, as "software people", under a roof and in front of a screen most of the time anyways? Then again, I'm "deep inside" Europe, so I have no idea how bad the weather over there really is.
The weather in the Bay Area is essentially perfect. The scenery is beautiful, and you can see the ocean, the desert, magnificent forests and the mountains all in the same day. It doesn't get too hot, it doesn't get too cold, it rains only for a few months out of the year, and it never gets very humid. Living in the Bay Area makes you spoiled and lazy because it is too comfortable. As the piece [1] by Mary Schmich (and again by Baz Luhrmann) says, "Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft."
[1] http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-schmich-su...
Re: Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent
#209Does anyone else feels like we're really getting towards the cyberpunk universe ? with corporations that completely own the life of their employees by providing them with everything, and a violent lawless and miserable outside world. And as always, it all started with the best intentions.
You know that actually happened in the past?
Re: Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most people go through much longer periods of celibacy than that on a regular basis when outside of long term relationships. For most people, the singles life is relatively sex-less. Presumably living on campus isn't a choice that most people make in the first place when they are in long term relationships and/or have regular options of companionship.
Just curious, what is "longer periods"? Is celibacy for a year really a plausible outcome for most people in SF? And is it so likely that it makes living in a car worthwhile? I'm honestly curious. Year-long celibacy is not super uncommon in India, but Indian culture is explicitly set up to make sure women don't have sex until their parents get them married off. I'm really shocked to hear that SF is that bad.
I live in a similar large west coast city and I've gone 11 years.