5 ms·
Having worked at Microsoft in their headquarters in Redmond, I have to agree with the unhealthiness of being stuck in a work community all the time. I was dazzl
by MiddleEndian 5y ago
Having worked at Microsoft in their headquarters in Redmond, I have to agree with the unhealthiness of being stuck in a work community all the time. I was dazzled by MS for the first several months, it was my first job out of college, there were tons of shiny things and fringe benefits, they rented out entire sports stadiums for company meetings, they had clubs for salsa and ballroom dance just like at school, etc. But it was very disconnected from Seattle or even the rest of the world. Microsoft practically ran Redmond and Bellevue, to the point where it programmed their stop-lights. I was there for a couple years and everyone I knew was a Microsoft employee or a spouse or family member of a Microsoft employee (many of whom were also Microsoft employees). I was also dating a Microsoft contractor I met through one of those work-related clubs. It started to drive me nuts, and it was my major reason for leaving MS. I don't think I could ever do that again, barring otherwise dire circumstances.
I later worked at a Google satellite office in Cambridge, and while I left for other reasons, it did not have the all-encompassing life capture that the MS HQ did, not because of any company policy (since Google has a similar HQ) but because I was not physically trapped in a company town. I imagine I would have had a better time at MS had I worked in their Cambridge satellite instead.
- YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo 5y agoI am with you visiting Google HQ felt like going to a really strange amusement park.
- quantumwannabe 5y agoMountain View is Googleville. Nearly all the buildings in the industrial part of the city are owned by them. You have to travel several miles from the Googleplex before you stop seeing Google-owned property. I don't know how any startup could set up there as it feels like there is zero office space left!
- astrange 5y agoTo be fair, those parts of South Bay are so not-dense you have to travel a mile to see anything or to get lunch.
- snowgrove 5y agoThis is also hyperbole. Mountain View is very dense compared to most of the suburban USA. There are numerous non-Google burrito, taco, Korean hot-pot, etc. places all with a few minutes’ walk of the Googleplex. I know because I’ve walked to them.
- boulos 5y agoI dunno, define "few"? It's easily 20 minutes+ each way to get to a non-tech company building (maybe more if you're embedded in say Crittenden).
- snowgrove 5y agoPear Ave and the restaurants next to Sports Page are directly adjacent to buildings on the south end, but Maps does say you’re right about the stuff north on Rengstorff (about 20 minutes from building 42). I guess time flew and I didn’t mind the walk. Faster if you GBike it.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- snowgrove 5y agoFor non-Valley insiders: the above is hyperbole. For one thing, the massive Intuit campus is right next door to the Googleplex. For another thing, the industrial areas just across Highway 101 (a quarter mile from the ‘plex at most) are full of non-Google startups and midsized tech businesses, as well as junkyards and auto body shops and who knows what else.
- swivelmaster 5y agoNot to mention the enormous Shoreline Amphitheater literally right next door to Google!
- dekhn 5y agoAmerican Century Investments... right across the street from the plex!