5 ms·
About a Month at Yahoo
- jedanbik 13y agoWhat's comfortable about working until 9 or 10 pm every night? Would you be saying that if you had kids?
- ovechtrick 13y agoI think he's more so hanging out, enjoying the amenities. Dinner/gym/etc. I don't have kids, I'd probably do the same thing if it were so convenient.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- jedanbik 13y agoJust an FYI -- I don’t have kids either. I was pointing that out because it seemed like a massive contradiction to say that working at Yahoo is comfortable, but then to say in the following sentence that home life is non-existent. I often ponder the long term stuff in the tech realm as a current full time grad student, and this particular section was striking to me.
- drgath 13y agoI get the sense that the OP's work hours are actually what he likes and is comfortable with.
- BenSchaechter 13y agoSo, this is just me. The point I was trying to convey is that it is generally a cool place to be and I enjoy it. Staying to 9 or 10 doesn't feel that long to me personally. It isn't like I'm forced to be there that late -- I would say I'm most definitely in the minority of people staying that late. If I had kids, I'd most definitely want to be home and be with them. Lots of Yahoos leave at more "standard" times and there is obviously no issue.
- rdouble 13y agoThere's not anything else worth doing in Sunnyvale besides working. Being in a part of the country that seems super nice, but is actually very dull, is part of the Silicon Valley economic miracle.
- 7Figures2Commas 13y agoC'mon now. Sunnyvale isn't Las Vegas, but most of the time, "there's nothing else worth doing here besides working" is simply an excuse. And not a very convincing one at that.
- rdouble 13y agoCan you name five things to do in Sunnyvale when you're bored?
- ryandrake 13y agoGo to Mountain View?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- jedberg 13y agoEat (lots of great restaurant) Drink (lots of fun bars) Hike (plenty of hiking trails in the nearby mountains, biking trails, etc) See a movie (lots of great theaters) Hang out (lots of great open spaces, big parks, and downtown sunnyvale is nice to just hang out). Now, to be fair, I live in Cupertino (right next to Sunnyvale) and I would rather live in Berkeley or SF, because there is certainly MORE to do, but Sunnyvale isn't THAT bad. If you can't find something to do, you're probably just being lazy.
- 7Figures2Commas 13y agoI'll give you 10: 1. If you like the outdoors, there are plenty of wonderful places to run/hike/bike in the South Bay/Peninsula. 2. There are frequent sporting events at HP Pavilion. 3. Sunnyvale may not be Paris, but museums and art galleries do exist in the area. 4. The diversity and quality of Bay Area restaurants is unrivaled. 5. Nightlife can be found in San Jose. 6. For weekend getaways, Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay and Napa are all within reasonable driving distance. 7. Like most metropolitan areas, there are tons of gyms where you can stay in shape and meet people. 8. Meetups of all types abound in the Bay Area. 9. If you like shopping or window shopping, you could do a lot worse than Valley Fair Mall and Santana Row. 10. A lot of the downtowns in the area are great for grabbing a cup of coffee and people watching.
- codex 13y agoThe starry-eyed tone leads me to believe the author is a bit naive--ergo, in his early twenties. Other than that there's nothing interesting here.
- reid 13y agoI'm 24 and I've been at Yahoo for 5 years as a full-time Software Engineer. This place is a different company with Marissa leading the way. I share the OP's tone. I may also be naive, but the place is a lot flatter and there's a lot less in my way to make new ideas happen. I no longer stay at work late into the night, however. :)
- staunch 13y agoAhh, the honeymoon period. Look for a post in 11 months (+/- monetary incentives) called "Moving on..."
- BenSchaechter 13y agoAs I prefaced, I wrote this post to see how my sentiment changes as time moves on. I think it'll be interesting to look back on and see how I felt at this point in time.
- LowKarmaAccount 13y agoBenSchaechter, you've been hellbanned for at least 506 days, probably because of your submissions. Normally I don't tell people that they've been hellbanned, but since this is your post that has been linked to I thought you should know that not everyone can see your response to their comments. Edit: @coolsunglasses, thanks for the follow up. I can see why a YC moderator would think that his posts are linkbait.
- coolsunglasses 13y agoHe's been told this several times before, that he hasn't noticed is amusingly symptomatic of why he got hellbanned to begin with. (Spamming/saying his piece, then never returning)
- mnglkhn2 13y agoI hope we are not going to get once again so ecstatic about free food and gym. I know that this looked truly revolutionary during Google's hiring binge.
- koggit 13y agoThey're nice amenities and not all employers offer them.
- _delirium 13y agoThey can be, but it depends on the company's culture. I personally prefer to go home and cook for myself, and when places offer free dinner, I worry that it comes with social pressure to stay and eat there, which I'd prefer not to do. If you have a family it's a bit less of a worry (you have an "excuse" for leaving to go eat with your family), but if you're single, there seems to be this expectation that of course you'd love to eat dinner at work, and you must be somehow weird if you prefer to cook for yourself at home.
- patejam 13y agoJust to chime in, there is zero pressure at Yahoo to stay and eat dinner on campus. In fact, not too many people stay unless there was an event going on before hand or something. Most people just leave. But as you said, it depends on the company's culture.
- michaelochurch 13y agoAcq-hired people are not going to be having the normal employee experience. I would honestly rather have a $100k take-home but my employer pay $500k (i.e. 400k goes to charity) and think that's my salary, than a regular $150k. You get treated better if you cost more. Your salary is what it costs your employer to waste your time, so if you're at a high level, management actually fucking listens to you. Taking a long-term career perspective, it's worth a $50k/year drop to be in a situation where management feels like it can't afford not to take your ideas seriously. In fact, I think that's so many talented engineers quit the employee game and become consultants in their 30s. Even if you're only able to get a few hours of work per week, you at least know that your boss is going to take your suggestions seriously. Acq-hires are people bought in at a panic price ($1 million+ per engineer) so management actually listens to them because of what they cost. Until the "golden child" aura wears off and they're just regular employees.
- reid 13y agoI've been at Yahoo for 5 years as a Software Engineer. This really is a new company under Marissa. I wasn't special, aqui-hired, or anything. I now can easily access management when I need them, my suggestions are taken seriously and acted on, and I get everything I need from upper management to excel at what I do. My manager has always been great, but now she is more empowered to get stuff done more than ever before. I'm also 24, so I have a bit of a way to go before I get jaded and go into consulting. Maybe. But I've also been working for 5 years instead of school, which gives me a less than rosy perspective of life at a big company.
- sabat 13y agoIt's a new company, same as the old company. Perhaps with even less competent management.
- chuhnk 13y agoHey congratulations on doing that and thanks for shedding some light on things inside. Sometimes I actually consider applying but the SRE jobs are a but scarce in London. Can you speak a bit more on your unique situation of before a software engineer there since you were 19? Im quite curious what led to that.
- jroseattle 13y ago"I spend all day at work". Looks like the plan is working.
- thejbf 13y agoDirectly reports to a VP and comments about the flatness of the company... Hmm... I see hundreds and hundreds of VPs...
- begurken 13y agoThis entire article creeps me out. The whole system described is to encourage people to have no life outside of work. No family, no community engagement, nothing like that. Come to work for breakfast, stay until dinner, and only sleep at your apartment. Oh sure, you're not required to, but the workaholics who do it sure love the attention lavished on them, and organizations generally reward them for it. Honestly, half of the Bay Area has become a dysfunctional ghetto of childless twenty-somethings. Work-wise, this area is the least diverse place I have ever encountered in my life. And the description given of Yahoo exemplifies it. It's a toxic, and ultimately unsustainable culture. ... and I'm not even going to get started on my opinion of Marissa Meyer.
- 7Figures2Commas 13y ago> My apartment's sole purpose has become a place for me to sleep. Not for long, hopefully! There is clearly a need for on-campus dormitories so that employees don't have to worry about maintaining their own spaces and finding things to do on their own time. I can see it now... Google employee: "I live in the Adwords Apartments. Pretty ritzy. Where do you live?" Yahoo employee: "I'm in Flickr House. It was recently renovated." Facebook employee: "You should apply for a job at Facebook. If you're really lucky, you might be able to get a room at Poke Place. We have the best co-ed hackathons on Saturday nights."
- steveklabnik 13y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town
- 7Figures2Commas 13y agoPlease delete that link! How are mainstream business magazines going to write glowing articles about this latest Silicon Valley innovation if everyone knows this didn't start in Silicon Valley?!?
- vxNsr 13y agolol "Poke Place". But seriously, I feel like technically you could be homeless if you're single and work at Google or (now) Yahoo, they've got gyms, couches, private rooms to chill, you just put a tie on the doorknob (or whatever) and sleep there for the night. and Boom! you've just saved yourself like $1000+ /month, not to mention paying for internet/cable or furniture and other household items, in fact, I wonder if people aren't doing that right now... /s
- qwerta 13y agoBuy RV and park it in front of company... :-)
- jaredgeorge 13y ago> I wake up, shower, and drive to work early to have breakfast. I spend all day at work, go to the gym and have dinner, do a little bit more work and don't get home until 9 or 10 every night. My apartment's sole purpose has become a place for me to sleep. I'm glad he's happy (right now), but this is exactly why I will never work for a company like Yahoo. I absolutely love what I do. And I protect it by ensuring I have healthy boundaries. No, Yahoo isn't "taking care" of you Ben. They're taking advantage.
- jimmyjazz14 13y agoLiving like this is likely by his own choice. Yahoo! is actually very good when it comes to work/life balance.
- drgath 13y agoYup, exactly. I've been at Y! for almost 4 years and when I started I was absolutely a workaholic, but over the last 3 years I've transitioned into having a much healthier (and happier) balance. You can certainly work as much as want at Yahoo, but I don't think too many feel forced to.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]