Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia • Hacker News Board

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

#321

Post by monocasa » Sun, Nov 04, 2018, 5:09 AM UTC

tinyhouse wrote: post #254

monocasa wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Denver still makes the most sense to me. Single hop to Beijing & Shanghai, real estate and wages aren't at DC, Seattle, Bay Area rates quite. Lots of amenities (open space, good beer, close to skiing) that Amazon doesn't actually have to pay for. Decent tech scene (Google, Facebook, Uber campuses, as well as an ever growing Amazon dev presence). Large downtown property looking for a buyer and is probably underrated (…

Denver has some great things going for it, like easy access to mountains and outdoor space. But I must say its downtown is pretty unappealing. Many weirdos (similar to Seattle...) and chain restaurants. I enjoyed my trip to Colorado, but Denver was the most boring part of it.

The tourist part is always weirdos and chain restaurants. That's like saying there's nothing in New York because you went to Times Square and it was just a tourist trap.

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

#322

Post by fierro » Sun, Nov 04, 2018, 5:09 AM UTC

sonnyblarney wrote: post #272

fierro wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"""It's not very Liberal, and arguably not hugely tolerant either. For example, all sorts of activities which are common and normal in the rest of America and the world are either frowned upon, or considered fully uncool in the Bay. Things like fishing. Hunting. Most sports. Talking about sports. Twangy accents. Country music. This is a long list.""" Sorry, this isn't the kind of tolerance I was talking about. You're…

" I don't think liking country music in the Bay Area will cause any sane, reasonable person to treat you differently or not be your friend." It absolutely will. If you hunt, or own a gun or into 'gun sports' it will 100% affect who your friends are. Did you hear about the employee outrage when Zuck killed is own lamb for passover (or whichever festival it was, I'm not knowledgable). Do you really think that being a '…

I guess we just have different experiences man. The people I know, love, and associate with don't give a fuck if you fish, hunt, or own guns. Plenty of people own trucks, not everyone is vegan, tons of people love sports including football.

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

#323

Post by ethagknight » Sun, Nov 04, 2018, 5:09 AM UTC

fierro wrote: post #227

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?

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…

It’s less pretentious and more that you’re just missing out on what the south has to offer. The south definitely has these negative aspects, but I argue that letting bad apples define a whole region of American is missing the forest for the trees. I likewise read headlines of mobs attacking FAANG charter busses, out of control office and apartment rents and employees living out of their cars, pervasive homelessness, and high local taxes, and I wonder why these educated, open and well travelled people put up with it.

If Tim Cook opened a research center or similar in an SEC college town like Auburn, AL, as an example, they could 1) totally dominate the university’s research pipeline relatively free from other corporate competitors, like create a custom departments silicon, materials, sensors, AI, whatever else 2) high quality of life for employees and their families with good public schools and high quality cheap housing, 3) win over the school’s board of trustees via major partnerships and get the university to do a lot to work for you for free, 4) abundant land for cheap office space 5) a high quality transit system 6) 1 hr from Atlanta’s enormous international airport plus a high quality general airport big enough for large private jets.

It just seems like a win-win, yet I don’t see anyone doing it (and maybe there are great reasons why!)

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

#324

Post by NotSammyHagar » Sun, Nov 04, 2018, 5:10 AM UTC

ethagknight wrote: post #305

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?

Reading through the comments in response to my question, I am always blown away at the stereotyping, arrogance, and general disdain for the south coming out of these sorts of discussions. “The average tech worker” can get along absolutely fine in the south. I don’t know if it’s elitism, ignorance, or just the reverberating sounding board of popular media, but the south is actually quite nice, and I am confident that…

I'm from the south, in that it's a state that lost the civil war, had active kkk presence when I was a kid, had the national guard called out to protect black people, had racist governor in living memory, just had an article in the nytimes about racist police.

Yes there are many good people there. But the public schools I went to have really changed as most of the white people went to private schools. There aren't many minorities, there's lots of implicit racism. I guess country clubs let black people in now (unlike when I was a kid). It's really a different world.

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

#325

Post by romed » Sun, Nov 04, 2018, 5:11 AM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #317

romed wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s a statue of a confederate soldier right in front of the Arkansas Capitol in Little Rock. If you think it’s still standing because of the efforts of only .5% of the citizens of that state, that suggests that those few citizens wield disproportionate power, although the more likely explanation is that your estimate is very low. In fact the state of Arkansas has a systemic racism problem that begins at the Capit…

There is a major highway named after Robert E. Lee running through Hilary voting Northern VA. Shit is more complicated than you think.

Northern Virginia was obviously the center of the rebellion. There are hundreds of confederate monuments all over that state. I don’t let them off the hook either.

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

#326

Post by taurath » Sun, Nov 04, 2018, 5:18 AM UTC

monksy wrote: post #290

jldugger wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. It's a control state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_beverage_control_sta... 2. The politics are still overtly racist: https://twitter.com/haroldpollack/status/1051657219899617280 3. The HB2 saga demonstrates how strong the Christian right is in the state. As does a candidate in a race too close to call insisting there will never be peace in Jerusalem until Jews acknowledge the divinity of Christ: https:/…

Not sure if you've lived in NC... but there are a few things to that that I think you may have missed: 1. Yes, the fact that this is uniformly a control state, that is a problem. (Given how they are, I wish they had some special exclusion areas) However, a lot of the east coast operates in the same manner. The early hour for last call is bad as well. 2. Politics that you're talking about have very little to do with t…

> Despite what silicon valley would have you believe, you can be a conservative and be a productive member of the industry.

The average tech worker is in their 20s an 30s and in general aren’t conservative, especially socially. They don’t want to hang around bigots all day. If you’re anything other than a straight white dude, the only advantage of being in a conservative area is cost.

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

#327

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Nov 04, 2018, 5:19 AM UTC

issa wrote: post #190

JPKab wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, they have it covered already. I lived in Northern Virginia for 8 years. It's got a mediocre quality of life compared to other tech centers, extremely high cost of living, horrific traffic, and has a talent pool that is inflated on paper due to the misaligned incentives of the Federal government workforce (Federal government workers are promoted and hired based on arbitrary checkmarks like Masters degree: yes/no,…

100%. My move from SF to DC was mind-blowing in the general expectations set on developers. Without hyperbole, a year of output at most gov't contracts is a couple weeks worth of work at a typical startup.

[deleted]

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

#328

Post by jimmyjazz14 » Sun, Nov 04, 2018, 5:26 AM UTC

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…

Salesforce just announced a major expansion of their offices here in Atlanta.

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

#329

Post by Godel_unicode » Sun, Nov 04, 2018, 5:29 AM UTC

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…

> ~185k is the current cap on salaries.

That's absolutely not true. Or rather, while it's a cap on basic pay, many Feds in technical roles make more than that after retention incentives.

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

#330

Post by snowwrestler » Sun, Nov 04, 2018, 5:33 AM UTC

rhexs wrote: post #221

dc_wtf wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This comment was good for a laugh, thanks.

My wife works for the feds and I'm in the private sector. I have a better retirement plan, better health benefits (she is on my plan, not vice versa), more paid vacation per year, more flexible work schedule, and more holidays (I get the day after Thanksgiving, she does not). Oh, and I get paid more.