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Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia

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Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia

#221

Post by rhexs »

dc_wtf wrote: post #199
JPKab wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your statement is incredibly naive and ignorant. The Federal government pays incredibly well, but has few technology workers. They instead primarily act as managers for embedded contractors, who themselves are paid far above average for a given role. Additionally, AWS already has a DoD presence. Source: Lived in DC area for 8 years, worked on numerous federal contracts, witnessed highly overpaid, lazy shitbags who we…

How could the federal government possibly pay "incredibly well" in the context of software? ~185k is the current cap on salaries. That's not the bottom or the median, it's the top, a place most people will not reach in their whole careers, and there are rigid rules around how to get there. As far as I know, pretty much everyone is on something equivalent to the GS? Even contractors are on a proxy version of it, based…

You are vastly, vastly discounting the value of the benefits. THE most secure pension in the world (you cannot buy one that good on the private market), incredible health benefits, incredible vacation policies, lax work policies for most jobs, great holiday schedule, Gov will pay to train you, you effectively cannot get laid off (try downloading porn at most corporations for hours and hours and see what happens), etc.

Obviously that doesn't look quite as good right now (pretty much only for the software engineering field), but during the next recession? Best deal in the world. Heck, you even get free holidays every now and then during government shutdowns. (The employees have always been back paid for these if I recall correctly -- maybe there was one time they weren't? Very rare.)

Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia

#222

Post by Fomite »

plaidfuji wrote: post #53
totablebanjo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, Crystal City is pretty soulless, but a bunch of AMZN cash will make that millenial ready in no time. Also, some nyt writer that’d never been there called it the Brooklyn of DC which was hilarious.

Lol @ the notion that Amazon cash will give a city “soul”

Yeah - my thought was "Oh good, Crystal City. That way Amazon won't suck the soul out of a city, since the defense industry already left it a husk."

Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia

#223

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

octonion wrote: post #215
ethagknight wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate why the south has a long way to go before the average tech worker would want to live there?

The politics and culture (which are intertwined). Even if one area or city is more liberal, you're still dealing with a conservative, and possibly racist, sexist and homophobic, state government.

Agreed. State government in Texas is constantly overturning city ordinances in Austin: the whole bathroom bill BS, requiring local police to hold suspects for ICE, even overturning the plastic bag ban.

All of the current political ads are pretty nauseating. Regardless of where you stand on the issue of managing immigration (and IMO there are lots of fair points on both sides that I think unfortunately get drowned out by extremists), the tone of the current set of ads is clearly "Evil brown gang members are coming to sell your kids drugs and murder your family." Makes Willy Horton look quaint.

Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia

#224

Post by Fomite »

nova22033 wrote: post #132
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crystal City really has so much going for it: 1. As you point out, right next to Pentagon and federal government. 2. Good transportation: right on the Metro and literally across the street from National Airport. 3. If you're going to have 2 headquarters, having them be on opposite coasts makes sense. 4. And I think another one that is pretty unique to Crystal City is that Amazon and their employees definitely want to…

> Good transportation : right on the Metro Found the guy who doesn't live in or around DC...

I lived in DC and rather liked the Metro...

Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia

#225

Post by mbrumlow »

fierro wrote: post #201
throwaway713 wrote: post #185

Aargh, I wish ONE tech company would put a HQ somewhere in the South. I currently live in the Bay Area working at a company I love, but I'll have to move back at some point (my wife wants to be closer to family). Crystal City, VA is still an 8 hour drive from the part of the South I'm from. Atlanta, Raleigh, and Nashville have so much potential... I think if just one of FANG put a HQ there (or even an office), the ot…

I feel like the South has a long way to come before the average tech worker would want to live and work there. You couldn't pay me enough (literally since comp is so low out there, but also kind of metaphorically as well) to go work and live in any Southern state. Maybe you need a critical mass? - fellow Bay Area tech worker

Comp may be lower, but so is everything else. At the end of the day the guys in the south have more in their pocket than most Bay Area workers.

Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia

#226

Post by Fomite »

solatic wrote: post #125
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crystal City really has so much going for it: 1. As you point out, right next to Pentagon and federal government. 2. Good transportation: right on the Metro and literally across the street from National Airport. 3. If you're going to have 2 headquarters, having them be on opposite coasts makes sense. 4. And I think another one that is pretty unique to Crystal City is that Amazon and their employees definitely want to…

It's debatable whether Metro will be able to handle another few tens of thousands of daily commuters going through the downtown core to get to Crystal City. The system's already crammed up at rush hour and nobody has the budget for capital improvements to start to put more tracks through Gallery Place, Metro Center, and L'Enfant Plaza. It would be interesting though, if Amazon was prepared to invest in capital improv…

"It would be interesting though, if Amazon was prepared to invest in capital improvements for Metro..."

Narrator: Amazon wasn't.

Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia

#227

Post by fierro »

ethagknight wrote: post #213
fierro wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like the South has a long way to come before the average tech worker would want to live and work there. You couldn't pay me enough (literally since comp is so low out there, but also kind of metaphorically as well) to go work and live in any Southern state. Maybe you need a critical mass? - fellow Bay Area tech worker

Can you elaborate why the south has a long way to go before the average tech worker would want to live there?

I suppose the culture, politics, and traditions. Bay Area is generally quite liberal and tolerant, even if it is not the most diverse. Tech workers tend to be highly educated, well traveled, and open to new ideas. In contrast, I feel like the South is more xeno/homophobic, resistant to change, conservative etc. I have well educated family members in the South who are low-key racist. As a single data point, most young people I know/work with in California who comes from the South does not want to return for these specific reasons. That, combined with a lack of the kind of critical mass that provides Bay Area tech workers with a thriving job market / safety net, precludes (to me) the possibility of tech ever truly thriving in the South.

I realize how pretentious this probably sounds. Take is as a single anecdote, based off my own personal experience.

I would love to be proven wrong, and will gladly eat my words for dinner.

Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia

#228

Post by tifnufiene »

octonion wrote: post #215
ethagknight wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate why the south has a long way to go before the average tech worker would want to live there?

The politics and culture (which are intertwined). Even if one area or city is more liberal, you're still dealing with a conservative, and possibly racist, sexist and homophobic, state government.

Having lived in Alabama, this would be rather offensive if it weren’t so endearing; Sounds like a child who’s so certain that the closet hides a monster, that they’re too scared to go learn that the noise is just an air vent.

Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia

#229

Post by fierro »

mbrumlow wrote: post #225
fierro wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like the South has a long way to come before the average tech worker would want to live and work there. You couldn't pay me enough (literally since comp is so low out there, but also kind of metaphorically as well) to go work and live in any Southern state. Maybe you need a critical mass? - fellow Bay Area tech worker

Comp may be lower, but so is everything else. At the end of the day the guys in the south have more in their pocket than most Bay Area workers.

I hear this often. I would like to see an analysis, breakdown, or a real life comparison that suggests this, and for which tier of engineers this is true. I think two things;

1) non bay area tech workers severely underestimate the total comps that bay area workers are earning right now.

2) many renters in the Bay Area may actually have more in their pocket. If you are willing to rent a room (i.e not have a studio or 1BR apartment), you're probably paying 1-1.5k more per month. The salary delta for Bay Area techies is way more than 12months*1.5k/month per year. Have some basic financial responsibility and you can really save a lot out here.

Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia

#230

Post by azinman2 »

tifnufiene wrote: post #228
octonion wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The politics and culture (which are intertwined). Even if one area or city is more liberal, you're still dealing with a conservative, and possibly racist, sexist and homophobic, state government.

Having lived in Alabama, this would be rather offensive if it weren’t so endearing; Sounds like a child who’s so certain that the closet hides a monster, that they’re too scared to go learn that the noise is just an air vent.

I’ve known many a gay man who has left the south because they don’t feel safe there. Certainly voting wise, the parents comment feels very true.
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