Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent

#271

Post by ryanpardieck » Wed, Sep 10, 2014, 3:56 PM UTC

The author William Vollmann comically wrote about doing this at a San Francisco (I think?) software shop when he was young and writing his first novel. Living off of vendor-machine candy bars, dodging the janitor, etc ... Probably my favorite parts were how he confessed having no bloody clue what he was doing when faced with the thing he was being paid to do: write code ...

As with any fiction author, the details are probably exaggerated, and he particularly tends toward a certain kind of luxuriant self-deprecation, so, pinch of salt and all ...

I believe the dueling meta-narrators of his first book, You Bright and Risen Angels, were also programmers, or something like that. It's been a long time since I read it, but I remember Electric Emily's origin story and the parts where the programmer-narrators fucked with the "source code" of the narrative being my favorite parts.

Re: Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent

#272

Post by lotsofcows » Wed, Sep 10, 2014, 4:34 PM UTC

GFischer wrote: post #226

lotsofcows wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... must not down vote ... all opinions are equally valid ... even when they're wrong ...

Thanks for not downvoting :) . I did not get if you liked the book a lot, or else if you found the plot awful :) .

I liked the book. A person who is so hurt by mankind's treatment of our world, that he attempts to destroy mankind while engineering a replacement (with more overt built in dependancies on the rest of the natural world) to repair the damage done but is ultimately foiled by mankind/nature's resilience. All narrated by the kind of ennui suffering character that makes up a large proportion of the first world. Written with the depth, biblical parallels, cyberpunk elements, etc that Atwood does so well. What's not to like?

Re: Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent

#273

Post by mncolinlee » Wed, Sep 10, 2014, 6:20 PM UTC

tomp wrote: post #191

slashink wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You made The Verge! http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/9/6126305/tech-employee-lives...

So I guess The Verge doesn't care if I copy-paste large chunks of their articles (along with their copyrighted photos) on my web-page? Good to know...

As long as it's treated as a block quote, it's a legal gray area. There's a concept called Fair Use in America that may often cover cases like this. It's possible the UK laws are more strict in this regard.

Re: Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent

#274

Post by perrylaj » Thu, Sep 11, 2014, 1:15 AM UTC

bellerocky wrote: post #139

zak_mc_kracken wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't extrapolate based on one sensationalistic article. Most engineers employed at Google (or any other company) in Silicon Valley have enough to rent or even buy houses. Actually, a lot of other workers who make one half (or even less) that salary manage as well. People who choose to live in cars or on campus have something else going on with them. It's not just about money, most of us will always choose to have th…

As someone who lives and works in the bay area, you cannot buy a house with a software engineer's salary, not unless it is a very poor neighborhood, in which case you're contributing to gentrification, or you want to drive 2 hours from Pleasanton. I say that as a software engineer home owner who bought a house before the prices sky rocketed again in 2011. I wouldn't be able to afford my own house right now.

The median home value in Pleasanton is 850k. 100k more than San Jose. If you are trying to save money, that's probably not the place to do it. Really you are looking at Antioch/Concord up 680 or over the Altamont on 580 to Tracy if you want to get significantly more affordable. Both are heinous commutes though.

As a kid, I had a parent that worked at the Almaden IBM campus. The commute from the Livermore/Pleasanton area was about 40-50 minutes going over 84. Crazy how much worse traffic is now, I can't imagine making that drive daily now. They've been working on the the 237/Mission exits on 680 for nearly 20 years and it has only gotten worse.

Re: Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent

#275

Post by perrylaj » Thu, Sep 11, 2014, 1:27 AM UTC

kylestlb wrote: post #230

stevewepay wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 (an…

It's strange. I grew up in the Bay Area (Santa Cruz and South San Jose) and am weather-neutral. I've had stints in Sweden, Portland and Arizona (all pretty extreme) and none of the climates really affected my life too much. Most of my friends are the same way. Anecdotal, but maybe the weather effect is more pronounced on transplants who don't take it for granted? The reason I chose to move back has more to do with th…

I wish I had your weather neutrality. I grew up in the bay (Los Gatos, Santa Clara, Tri-Valley) and spent a couple years in Portland, OR. I liked the city a lot and tried to get used to the weather but just couldn't. The rain wasn't the problem, the constant darkness was. I like the rain and loved how green everything was up there, but even when it wasn't raining, it was dark. Came back to CA and will put up with its faults in exchange for the climate and activities.