13 ms·

I work about 10 min away from the Chelsea Google office in NYC. It's just like you said. I usually start my day reading near my apartment and then going to the

by pradn 3y ago

I work about 10 min away from the Chelsea Google office in NYC. It's just like you said. I usually start my day reading near my apartment and then going to the office. The subway is right under the building, so I can often get to where I'm going after work conveniently. The pharmacy and groceries are on the way home. When I'm not feeling well, I just go home to rest. Or if I'm need to go home and wait for a package. But lower Manhattan is one of the few pockets of "European-style" walkable areas in the country.

yieldcrv 3y ago
When I lived in Chelsea, Google contacted me and insisted I fly out to San Francisco for a curated tour of Mountain View “Where leadership roles had to be” I said I wanted to walk to work to the giant billion dollar office down the street, I love Chelsea, I love the Meatpacking District, I love the Highline and the things around that office, I love models But “roles with direct reports had to be in mountain view” and they assured me I would be so impressed with the highly coveted Mountain View and highly coveted Google the only thing seared in my brain from that trip was standing at an elevator that had a warning sign that I might get cancer if I use it, in the middle of a sprawling boring unwalkable suburb and a janitor being my best source at the time that its a boilerplate disclaimer. He was right. But that was my experience.
- smsm42 3y ago
  Ah prop 65 warnings. They are literally everywhere in California. I wish I could say it's the most stupid thing in California, but unfortunately there are many more. California's voters like it that way.
- lisasays 3y ago
  Can you tell us more about the cancer elevator, please?
  - yieldcrv 3y ago
    “Prop 65 warnings” are a California-ism where they got the people to vote on a good idea(tm) of having a carcinogen database, and then soon after that, a lawyer saw he could sue everyone and win and did, so to prevent that everyone puts unconfirmed carcinogen disclaimers on everything to the point that it is useless. Fast forward to me being flown out to California and having to make a judgement call at the cancer elevator.
    - robocat 3y ago
      Other examples from this: https://www.tswfast.com/content/proposition65 https://www.tswfast.com/content/proposition65 Steel Products Steel products can expose you to nickel, known to the State of California to cause cancer, and lead, known to the State of California to cause both cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. Power Tool Parts WARNING: The metal parts of these products contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. Wash hands after handling. None of these products are to come in contact with food and drinking water. Electrical Cords WARNING: The wires of these products contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. Wash hands after handling.
    - lisasays 3y ago
      I see. A most peculiar dystopia, indeed.
    - smsm42 3y ago
      The "good idea" part was maybe the database. The "horrible idea" part was mandating notifications without defining any lower limits or exposure measures, and allowing anybody to sue for the absence of warnings. It was not just "discovered" by some lawyer, it's how the law was written. And Californians had ample time to fix it since, btw, but never bothered.
- srj 3y ago
  Not that there's any excuse but I can imagine this was a recruiter who had to fill a bay area position. There are plenty of higher ups in the NYC Google office.
- saagarjha 3y ago
  “highly coveted Mountain View” lmao
- s17n 3y ago
  > I love the Meatpacking District Yikes
- vinhboy 3y ago
  Curious what is your skillset and experience that Google wants to recruit you so bad?
  - est31 3y ago
    I'd presume they have already been at Google before, but Google wanted them to not be at the Chelsea office in NYC (the walkable one) but instead in Mountain View. So this is more an existing disagreement with the employer.
    - yieldcrv 3y ago
      never worked for google, they periodically tried to recruit me since the day I graduated college from a tier 3 state school that’s just what they do
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
- rryan 3y ago
  Yea uh, don't know what was going on there but there are roles with direct reports that aren't in mountain view (unless you mean, like in 2004). NYC has 1000s of googlers.
  - yieldcrv 3y ago
    ok. when recruiters unilaterally reach out to you it’s about a specific team and specific role, even if that’s just bait or a hook for other roles. very different than scouring a careers site for all positions. just writing that in case you weren’t familiar with that.
    - underdeserver 3y ago
      +1 Also during my time there, yes there were roles with direct reports outside, but if you kept your eyes open you quickly saw that there was effectively a glass ceiling outside of MTV, NYC (and for some groups, LON or ZRH). People would consistently get promoted more easily for less impactful projects, and getting headcount and approvals for projects in satellite offices was damn near impossible. If you wanted to get ahead - To L7 or L8, even L6 on some projects - you had to relocate.
- opportune 3y ago
  The most likely explanation for this is that your recruiter (either individually, or recruiting in general) was tasked with filling roles for an org in MTV. From the outside looking in, recruiting presents as a unified front, but in reality at many big corps recruiters will not be handling generic hiring. And they may either not be incentivized, or so new and unable to navigate the chaos, such that they can’t direct you to open roles outside their jurisdiction.
  - yieldcrv 3y ago
    yep. no mystery there.
- sh34r 3y ago
  The Bay Area is a car sewer that could be teleported to the middle of Florida or North Dakota, and it would fit right in. It's a place you go for a couple years to make a bunch of money and have zero life, and you get out as soon as you possibly can. No culture. Just asphalt, office parks, pollution, run-down houses, and tent cities. I live in a town of 80,000 now, that feels more urban than San Jose. It's crazy. San Jose is not a real place. It's a million people all dispersed in a couple hundred square miles, seemingly at random, all in their little boxes on the side of a highway. No landmarks, no tall buildings, no walkable areas. It's not the middle of nowhere, it is nowhere. I'd say you could not design a "city" more poorly if you tried, but the rest of Silicon Valley sure proves me wrong there! Mountain View is even worse somehow! I'd say that they'd have better luck selling New Yorkers on their dystopian suburban hellscape if they weren't so obnoxiously positive about having paved paradise and put up a parking lot, but toxic positivity is kinda California's whole thing. They're not capable of putting themselves into our cynical headspace. You have to buy into all that woo-woo crap to survive out there. We're fundamentally incompatible with it. Won't find anywhere livable west of Chicago until you reach Tokyo...
  - ido 3y ago
    Won't find anywhere livable west of Chicago until you reach Tokyo... I like Vancouver, although I've only ever visited rather than lived there.
    - jakeinspace 3y ago
      It’s great if you move there with $1M in your pocket for a down payment. I think a somewhat boring city, but the access to nature is unparalleled (well, at least comparable to Denver or SLC).
  - xapata 3y ago
    San José has a downtown that's not so terrible.
  - lisasays 3y ago
    No landmarks, no tall buildings, no walkable areas. Absolutely not true - and shame on you if you've never explored the older neighborhoods downtown. However I definitely agree that overall it's a huge did of a city for its size (and most especially for the housing costs). And that you're saying applies to at least 90 percent of it by surface area. "Not a real place" absolutely nails it. Won't find anywhere livable west of Chicago until you reach Tokyo... Not true at all. Sounds like you've almost never been out there, except for a random business trip or two. The west coast isn't my ideal either, but it has plenty of perfectly livable places (if you can only somehow afford to settle down there).
- kanbara 3y ago
  the first part made some sense, but the second part with the prop65 warning is pretty silly. it's everywhere, and kind of useless for the most part, but i've seen it on buildings, in parking garages at disney, on clothing, on equipment i've purchased. it's just a thing (tm). and i'm moving to MV at the end of the month and am super excited about the walkability, green space, beautiful area, weather, and proximity to work. sure, it's kind-of boring suburb, it isn't europe, but i thought it was quite nice.
  - goodcanadian 3y ago
    . . . but the second part with the prop65 warning is pretty silly. As someone from outside California, who lived there for a while, I have to say that it is pretty jarring the first time you see it. Now, it doesn't take long to get used to it and realise what a joke it is, but that first impression sticks.
- scrame 3y ago
  Yeah, i applied at the MV office a few years back and it was just hell on earth. Huge office park of nameless buildings and their big perk was a free lunch at a picnic table in a warehouse with 2000 computer programmers. I really don't get the appeal.
  - dietr1ch 3y ago
    It's even worse now, they crammed down more desks and got rid of many things that made the office nice. With the return to office we got greeted with a "remodeled" campus, but cool spaces are just now cookie-cutter meeting rooms or really oddly placed new desks.

by pradn 3y ago

yieldcrv 3y ago

When I lived in Chelsea, Google contacted me and insisted I fly out to San Francisco for a curated tour of Mountain View “Where leadership roles had to be” I said I wanted to walk to work to the giant billion dollar office down the street, I love Chelsea, I love the Meatpacking District, I love the Highline and the things around that office, I love models But “roles with direct reports had to be in mountain view” and they assured me I would be so impressed with the highly coveted Mountain View and highly coveted Google the only thing seared in my brain from that trip was standing at an elevator that had a warning sign that I might get cancer if I use it, in the middle of a sprawling boring unwalkable suburb and a janitor being my best source at the time that its a boilerplate disclaimer. He was right. But that was my experience.

smsm42 3y ago
Ah prop 65 warnings. They are literally everywhere in California. I wish I could say it's the most stupid thing in California, but unfortunately there are many more. California's voters like it that way.
lisasays 3y ago
Can you tell us more about the cancer elevator, please?
- yieldcrv 3y ago
  “Prop 65 warnings” are a California-ism where they got the people to vote on a good idea(tm) of having a carcinogen database, and then soon after that, a lawyer saw he could sue everyone and win and did, so to prevent that everyone puts unconfirmed carcinogen disclaimers on everything to the point that it is useless. Fast forward to me being flown out to California and having to make a judgement call at the cancer elevator.
  - robocat 3y ago
    Other examples from this: https://www.tswfast.com/content/proposition65 https://www.tswfast.com/content/proposition65 Steel Products Steel products can expose you to nickel, known to the State of California to cause cancer, and lead, known to the State of California to cause both cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. Power Tool Parts WARNING: The metal parts of these products contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. Wash hands after handling. None of these products are to come in contact with food and drinking water. Electrical Cords WARNING: The wires of these products contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. Wash hands after handling.
  - lisasays 3y ago
    I see. A most peculiar dystopia, indeed.
  - smsm42 3y ago
    The "good idea" part was maybe the database. The "horrible idea" part was mandating notifications without defining any lower limits or exposure measures, and allowing anybody to sue for the absence of warnings. It was not just "discovered" by some lawyer, it's how the law was written. And Californians had ample time to fix it since, btw, but never bothered.
srj 3y ago
Not that there's any excuse but I can imagine this was a recruiter who had to fill a bay area position. There are plenty of higher ups in the NYC Google office.
saagarjha 3y ago
“highly coveted Mountain View” lmao
s17n 3y ago
> I love the Meatpacking District Yikes
vinhboy 3y ago
Curious what is your skillset and experience that Google wants to recruit you so bad?
- est31 3y ago
  I'd presume they have already been at Google before, but Google wanted them to not be at the Chelsea office in NYC (the walkable one) but instead in Mountain View. So this is more an existing disagreement with the employer.
  - yieldcrv 3y ago
    never worked for google, they periodically tried to recruit me since the day I graduated college from a tier 3 state school that’s just what they do
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
rryan 3y ago
Yea uh, don't know what was going on there but there are roles with direct reports that aren't in mountain view (unless you mean, like in 2004). NYC has 1000s of googlers.
- yieldcrv 3y ago
  ok. when recruiters unilaterally reach out to you it’s about a specific team and specific role, even if that’s just bait or a hook for other roles. very different than scouring a careers site for all positions. just writing that in case you weren’t familiar with that.
  - underdeserver 3y ago
    +1 Also during my time there, yes there were roles with direct reports outside, but if you kept your eyes open you quickly saw that there was effectively a glass ceiling outside of MTV, NYC (and for some groups, LON or ZRH). People would consistently get promoted more easily for less impactful projects, and getting headcount and approvals for projects in satellite offices was damn near impossible. If you wanted to get ahead - To L7 or L8, even L6 on some projects - you had to relocate.
opportune 3y ago
The most likely explanation for this is that your recruiter (either individually, or recruiting in general) was tasked with filling roles for an org in MTV. From the outside looking in, recruiting presents as a unified front, but in reality at many big corps recruiters will not be handling generic hiring. And they may either not be incentivized, or so new and unable to navigate the chaos, such that they can’t direct you to open roles outside their jurisdiction.
- yieldcrv 3y ago
  yep. no mystery there.
sh34r 3y ago
The Bay Area is a car sewer that could be teleported to the middle of Florida or North Dakota, and it would fit right in. It's a place you go for a couple years to make a bunch of money and have zero life, and you get out as soon as you possibly can. No culture. Just asphalt, office parks, pollution, run-down houses, and tent cities. I live in a town of 80,000 now, that feels more urban than San Jose. It's crazy. San Jose is not a real place. It's a million people all dispersed in a couple hundred square miles, seemingly at random, all in their little boxes on the side of a highway. No landmarks, no tall buildings, no walkable areas. It's not the middle of nowhere, it is nowhere. I'd say you could not design a "city" more poorly if you tried, but the rest of Silicon Valley sure proves me wrong there! Mountain View is even worse somehow! I'd say that they'd have better luck selling New Yorkers on their dystopian suburban hellscape if they weren't so obnoxiously positive about having paved paradise and put up a parking lot, but toxic positivity is kinda California's whole thing. They're not capable of putting themselves into our cynical headspace. You have to buy into all that woo-woo crap to survive out there. We're fundamentally incompatible with it. Won't find anywhere livable west of Chicago until you reach Tokyo...
- ido 3y ago
  Won't find anywhere livable west of Chicago until you reach Tokyo... I like Vancouver, although I've only ever visited rather than lived there.
  - jakeinspace 3y ago
    It’s great if you move there with $1M in your pocket for a down payment. I think a somewhat boring city, but the access to nature is unparalleled (well, at least comparable to Denver or SLC).
- xapata 3y ago
  San José has a downtown that's not so terrible.
- lisasays 3y ago
  No landmarks, no tall buildings, no walkable areas. Absolutely not true - and shame on you if you've never explored the older neighborhoods downtown. However I definitely agree that overall it's a huge did of a city for its size (and most especially for the housing costs). And that you're saying applies to at least 90 percent of it by surface area. "Not a real place" absolutely nails it. Won't find anywhere livable west of Chicago until you reach Tokyo... Not true at all. Sounds like you've almost never been out there, except for a random business trip or two. The west coast isn't my ideal either, but it has plenty of perfectly livable places (if you can only somehow afford to settle down there).
kanbara 3y ago
the first part made some sense, but the second part with the prop65 warning is pretty silly. it's everywhere, and kind of useless for the most part, but i've seen it on buildings, in parking garages at disney, on clothing, on equipment i've purchased. it's just a thing (tm). and i'm moving to MV at the end of the month and am super excited about the walkability, green space, beautiful area, weather, and proximity to work. sure, it's kind-of boring suburb, it isn't europe, but i thought it was quite nice.
- goodcanadian 3y ago
  . . . but the second part with the prop65 warning is pretty silly. As someone from outside California, who lived there for a while, I have to say that it is pretty jarring the first time you see it. Now, it doesn't take long to get used to it and realise what a joke it is, but that first impression sticks.
scrame 3y ago
Yeah, i applied at the MV office a few years back and it was just hell on earth. Huge office park of nameless buildings and their big perk was a free lunch at a picnic table in a warehouse with 2000 computer programmers. I really don't get the appeal.
- dietr1ch 3y ago
  It's even worse now, they crammed down more desks and got rid of many things that made the office nice. With the return to office we got greeted with a "remodeled" campus, but cool spaces are just now cookie-cutter meeting rooms or really oddly placed new desks.