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While cost in certainly an interesting -and perhaps dire- discussion, I'm equally curious about what this will do to the work environment in Boulder. A have a

by ca3dmon 12y ago

While cost in certainly an interesting -and perhaps dire- discussion, I'm equally curious about what this will do to the work environment in Boulder. A have a good deal of my friends in tech here in Boulder, many of who work for big names such at Twitter and Google. However, nearly all of them agree- they wouldn't work at those places if they had to work Silicon Valley Hours. Boulder has long had a culture of not working 80 hours weeks like the Valley. But if Google massively increases their presence in Boulder, I wonder if that will change the normal work habits here? Or perhaps they will lose the workers that refuse to prioritize work over lifestyle? I really don't know which way that will go, although I personally hope the latter.

blackaspen 12y ago
I would like to think that 1100 people isn't enough of a critical mass for other companies in Boulder to start "requesting" the devotion of 80 hour weeks. As long as it's only one(Google) then employees who move to Google Boulder with the hopes of a non-Silicon Valley lifestyle can find hopefully equally gainful employees at one of the other companies. If the general world culture here were to become more similar to that of the Valley then I'd leave. Part of the reason I live in Boulder is because of the lifestyle perks (being able to go skiing in 90 minutes). As soon as I don't have time to enjoy that there's much less reason to stay.
michaelochurch 12y ago
Googlers don't work 80-hour weeks. At least, not in New York. You can pull 40 and you'll be fine; 50 if you're going for promotion. That may be an artifact of everyone willing to work insane hours going to hedge funds.
hkarthik 12y ago
It's unlikely because most people move to Colorado to enjoy the outdoors. If you're working 80 hours a week, good luck enjoying the mountain biking, hiking, snowboarding, etc that Colorado has to offer. It never changed the culture in the 90s when Sun, IBM, and Qualcomm all opened offices in the area. And it's unlikely to change now. However, the big downside is that if/when the tech sector has a crash, the Colorado offices are some of the most affected because it's tough for them to match the output of the Bay Area HQ. The early 2000s were really rough on the area and many people left because of all the layoffs. I was living in Denver until 2003 when my company J.D. Edwards got acquired by Oracle (after our stock took a beating) and they reduced the workforce by around 70% through layoffs and attrition.

by ca3dmon 12y ago

blackaspen 12y ago

I would like to think that 1100 people isn't enough of a critical mass for other companies in Boulder to start "requesting" the devotion of 80 hour weeks. As long as it's only one(Google) then employees who move to Google Boulder with the hopes of a non-Silicon Valley lifestyle can find hopefully equally gainful employees at one of the other companies. If the general world culture here were to become more similar to that of the Valley then I'd leave. Part of the reason I live in Boulder is because of the lifestyle perks (being able to go skiing in 90 minutes). As soon as I don't have time to enjoy that there's much less reason to stay.

michaelochurch 12y ago

Googlers don't work 80-hour weeks. At least, not in New York. You can pull 40 and you'll be fine; 50 if you're going for promotion. That may be an artifact of everyone willing to work insane hours going to hedge funds.

hkarthik 12y ago

It's unlikely because most people move to Colorado to enjoy the outdoors. If you're working 80 hours a week, good luck enjoying the mountain biking, hiking, snowboarding, etc that Colorado has to offer. It never changed the culture in the 90s when Sun, IBM, and Qualcomm all opened offices in the area. And it's unlikely to change now. However, the big downside is that if/when the tech sector has a crash, the Colorado offices are some of the most affected because it's tough for them to match the output of the Bay Area HQ. The early 2000s were really rough on the area and many people left because of all the layoffs. I was living in Denver until 2003 when my company J.D. Edwards got acquired by Oracle (after our stock took a beating) and they reduced the workforce by around 70% through layoffs and attrition.