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> I have never heard of a software company not providing free coffee. Countless software development companies exist in offices without so much as a break room

> I have never heard of a software company not providing free coffee. Countless software development companies exist in offices without so much as a break room (much less a kitchen). SMH

chaostheory 5y ago
This is unheard of inside the Silicon Valley bubble. In our defense, it also doesn’t make sense that an employer doesn’t provide it for free. Coffee is cheap. It also adds productivity.
- namelessoracle 5y ago
  One reason some companies dont is because they have significant NON tech work force also in the same building, and they dont want to provide perks for X that they dont for Y in the same building. If the first 3 stories of your building are call center level employees who make barely better than minimum wages and the top floor is your well paid software engineers, then facilities just says "no free coffee" to everyone. Though even in places that you would think would be stingy give out free coffee and snacks more and more. Most of the purse string people like having nice snacks too. Even small business owners will cater meals and buy nice coffee because they get to have a nice meal that counts as a business expense and their premium coffee blend they get on order and have every day gets to count as one too at that point.
  - chaostheory 5y ago
    The cost to benefit ratio of coffee is so high that it makes sense to provide it to the whole office regardless of whether or not they’re IT
  - bombcar 5y ago
    The main thing I’ve seen is if the local executive uses the coffee. If he does, it’s free for everyone. If the executive break room is hidden and secret, then there may be a lack of free coffee.
  - rs999gti 5y ago
    > non-tech A Stinging reminder that if your company is not primarily a tech company, IT is a cost center; the perks there are for normie employees and not to retain tech talent
olliej 5y ago
I have never encountered such a company in software or hardware engineering across multiple countries. I didn’t like the skiing or whatever bit in the article, but coffee machines, etc are pretty universal
- brimble 5y ago
  Closest I've come to no office coffee at a tech company is one that just had a Keurig machine and the very cheapest K-cups they could find. The only ones that even had a flavor were the ones labeled "dark roast", and that flavor was very bad. I'm pretty sure an electric kettle and a jar of instant coffee would have given better results. That place had 500 people and was growing fast. Nowhere near SV, though.
  - olliej 5y ago
    I guess clean up for those is easier? traditional drip coffee and shelf stable creamer was the norm when I started. Big tech is not all "free" and perks, and it depends dramatically on company or even just the division. There's the the big one of Google, with all its free food, etc but the other big tech don't do that - they have accumulated some free snacks and sodas, etc in recent years but they still basically charge for all food from the cafeterias. The free food at Google or startup-land isn't a huge selling point in practice - it simply is not worth much relative to the salary/wage comp.

> I have never heard of a software company not providing free coffee. Countless software development companies exist in offices without so much as a break room (much less a kitchen). SMH

chaostheory 5y ago

This is unheard of inside the Silicon Valley bubble. In our defense, it also doesn’t make sense that an employer doesn’t provide it for free. Coffee is cheap. It also adds productivity.

namelessoracle 5y ago
One reason some companies dont is because they have significant NON tech work force also in the same building, and they dont want to provide perks for X that they dont for Y in the same building. If the first 3 stories of your building are call center level employees who make barely better than minimum wages and the top floor is your well paid software engineers, then facilities just says "no free coffee" to everyone. Though even in places that you would think would be stingy give out free coffee and snacks more and more. Most of the purse string people like having nice snacks too. Even small business owners will cater meals and buy nice coffee because they get to have a nice meal that counts as a business expense and their premium coffee blend they get on order and have every day gets to count as one too at that point.
- chaostheory 5y ago
  The cost to benefit ratio of coffee is so high that it makes sense to provide it to the whole office regardless of whether or not they’re IT
- bombcar 5y ago
  The main thing I’ve seen is if the local executive uses the coffee. If he does, it’s free for everyone. If the executive break room is hidden and secret, then there may be a lack of free coffee.
- rs999gti 5y ago
  > non-tech A Stinging reminder that if your company is not primarily a tech company, IT is a cost center; the perks there are for normie employees and not to retain tech talent

olliej 5y ago

I have never encountered such a company in software or hardware engineering across multiple countries. I didn’t like the skiing or whatever bit in the article, but coffee machines, etc are pretty universal

brimble 5y ago
Closest I've come to no office coffee at a tech company is one that just had a Keurig machine and the very cheapest K-cups they could find. The only ones that even had a flavor were the ones labeled "dark roast", and that flavor was very bad. I'm pretty sure an electric kettle and a jar of instant coffee would have given better results. That place had 500 people and was growing fast. Nowhere near SV, though.
- olliej 5y ago
  I guess clean up for those is easier? traditional drip coffee and shelf stable creamer was the norm when I started. Big tech is not all "free" and perks, and it depends dramatically on company or even just the division. There's the the big one of Google, with all its free food, etc but the other big tech don't do that - they have accumulated some free snacks and sodas, etc in recent years but they still basically charge for all food from the cafeterias. The free food at Google or startup-land isn't a huge selling point in practice - it simply is not worth much relative to the salary/wage comp.