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Weird. Recruiters were calling me last month for some well paid contract gigs there.
by Scuds 7y ago
Weird. Recruiters were calling me last month for some well paid contract gigs there.
- majora2007 7y agoEven weirder, they are building a new HQ in Dallas and just last week, they reconfirmed and signed the contracts to build a new skyscrapper.
- saalweachter 7y agoWas it Google that was famous in its early days for using the headquarters of other companies that went bankrupt building them as its own headquarters, rather than building one itself?
- bojanbabic 7y agoGoogle HQ used to be Silicon Graphics building
- lacker 7y agoFacebook HQ is also the old Sun building.
- QuixoticQuibit 7y agoAny ideas what Dallas office will be doing? And what does it mean to build an entire skyscraper for themselves? I thought these things were leased out by floor to multiple companies.
- Judgmentality 7y agoIt's for Uber Elevate (flying taxis) and they plan to use Dallas as an initial test city. Supposedly they're going to start testing next year but it's a little hard to imagine they'll hit that deadline.
- mrweasel 7y agoHow are they even able to fund flying taxis and self driving cars? Even if it’s part of their plan to avoid the cost of the drivers, there’s no way that investors can or will keep funding them for the next 15 to 20 years while they get the technology ready.
- Judgmentality 7y agoThe self-driving car play is basically an existential threat to Uber. Travis Kalanick publicly stated, multiple times, that Uber cannot work without self-driving cars. The problem is, in my opinion as someone with extensive robotics experience, self-driving cars are very far from being reality (basically everything right now is demoware). Flying taxis are actually a lot less crazy of an idea, although it is still very difficult technology that will cost a lot of money. Kitty Hawk's Cora is going to act like a sky shuttle for tourist locations in New Zealand and plans to begin testing soon (it will probably be delayed, but the technological viability is there). There are obviously technological challenges to be solved in that space, but the biggest one is probably noise. Kitty Hawk also has the Heaviside which is very quiet (only unmanned tests so far, but it's legit). But this is a single-person short-range toy for rich people. There is also the Lilium "jet" which is an industry favorite, and the Opener Blackfly. Fun fact: Larry Page owns most of the companies I just listed and is kind of obsessed with flying cars. People have run the numbers. You can build an eVTOL aircraft with enough range to work for something like Uber Elevate is designing. But they are ignoring noise, and I believe that is going to be the chasm they cannot cross because the public will not allow that much noise pollution (they are really fucking loud - if you live somewhere with helicopters imagine them lower, whinier, and all the time). I think flying taxis are technologically sound but will never get approval from the public, which is actually why we don't have supersonic flight (yep - the main barrier is actually it's too fucking loud for people to allow it and many laws have been written making it illegal to fly over anything but the ocean, although there were other problems with the Concorde as well). Uber Elevate is meant to be a carrot to convince investors they are onto something big to float the stock price. It's much more viable than self-driving cars within the next decade, but I would not count on anything happening in the US within the next 5 years apart from aircraft testing. Blah blah blah, it's mostly smoke and mirrors.
- mdorazio 7y agoLooks like they got a fat incentive for that development ($36M) so it makes sense as a capital investment they can resell/lease later even if they don't actually end up filling it up with employees.
- csomar 7y agoDon't they lose the incentives/benefits if they don't hire to target, though?
- Donald 7y agoOnly a few million are tied to bringing high-paying jobs to Dallas. IIRC, the target is low enough that relocating a small percentage of staff would meet their goal. They'll get around $9 million simply for building their complex: https://dallascityhall.com/government/Council%20Meeting%20Documents/Final%20Addendum_August%2014,%202019.pdf https://dallascityhall.com/government/Council%20Meeting%20Do...
- iserlohnmage 7y agoSkyscraper Index?
- SilasX 7y agoBuilding a skyscraper? Aren’t their timelines a little short to be doing something like that rather than renting existing space?
- samsonradu 7y agoSame happens at ‘struggling’ companies like Deutsche Bank fe. The media presenting massive layoffs while having first-hand information of very well paid contract gigs. Perhaps there are accounting benefits to contracting?
- ithinkinstereo 7y ago1) No FTE associated taxes (payroll, unemployment, etc.) 2) No FTE associated benefits (health insurance, 401K, etc.) 3) Easier to terminate 4) (Arguably) Can grind harder Hopefully, some of the recently laid-off employees can get re-hired as 1099-contractors. Sometimes working as a 1099 can actually be more lucrative (sometimes much more) than being a FTE.
- seibelj 7y agoThere are definitely times in life where working by choice as a contractor makes more emotional and financial sense. Sometimes you just don’t want to be “all-in” at a company but still contributing and making a good salary. If you have a spouse to provide benefits and hire an accountant to setup things properly, you can make very good money as a contractor. Even better if you can work part time for several with a high rate and juggle them around - then you start outsourcing some labor, and before you know it you have a consulting business.
- ithinkinstereo 7y agoYes, I definitely agree. If going the contractor route--and if the pay is six 000s+--I would highly recommend getting an LLC and all the great tax benefits that provides. Easily adds 5-10% (if not 20%+) to your bottom line.
- pembrook 7y agoGetting hired as a 1099 contractor at a big tech company in California has become impossible if you work on-site at said company. LLC or not, doesn't matter. You won't pass procurement. You will most certainly be a W2 contractor through some middleman who takes a nice cut. Even for higher-end consulting talent. No big company is willing to risk contractor misclassification lawsuits anymore.
- Rafuino 7y agoKey word there is "contract."
- quickthrower2 7y agoYes I can imagine if you let a bunch of people go, you might end up in a situation where you need some contractors to fill some holes for a while.