A Tour of Googleplex East

An anonymous reader writes "In Googleplex East: Search And The City, IWeek has posted a visual tour of the search giant's NYC HQ, complete with the requisite massage room, candy machine, and funky cafeteria. (There are even — surprise — work areas.) A companion story argues that New York City has reemerged as a tech center, citing the access to the Big Apple's media as a powerful pull for Web 2.0 companies. It also argues that NY's business community is more important these days to startups than Silicon Valley's deep pool of talent. Do you buy this thesis? Isn't it really unimportant these days where you work, geographically?"

Comments

Big Wow

[Subbynet]

Ok ok, I've had enough... Who cares if Google provides candy machines? This is not news, and many companies have these facilities (and more) available to staff.

Re:Big Wow

[C_Kode]

Not my company. Every year I get striped of more and more benefits. My insurance premium goes up and it's coverage goes down. Raises seem to get smaller and bonuses are smaller if they happen at all. Google goes far beyond what normal companies do. While they don't provide the best of everything, they do a lot of stuff 95% of companies don't. I think you're just pissed off because you probably applied at Google and got rejected. :P

Why the tour

[physicsboy500]

Can't they just search for what they want to see?

unimpressed

[avdp]

I was rather unimpressed with the pictures I saw. OK, so free snacks (debatable if that's good or bad) but personally I find that work environment rather poor. Some big warehouse with waist high cubicle walls. Oh boy, sounds great until you've actually worked in one such cubicle farm. No thank you. I'll buy my own snacks.

Re:unimpressed

[Critical Facilities]

AVDP? This is your boss. This is the last time I'm going to tell you to stay out of my office and off my computer to look at that geeky site. You've got work to do, we're getting low on McMuffins. And for the last time, I don't care how good it is at google.

Pass...but thanks anyway.

[svunt]

Meh - I'm only an accountant in a relatively small business, but I've got a more spacious work area than any of the cube farmers at Google. We don't have a games room, but when the clock strikes Beer O'Clock on a Friday, the recycle bins become wickets, there's already a crease made from duct tape in the main office, and even the MD joins the weekly cricket match, brewski in hand.

It's great that they're trying, but once you're in the several thousand employee range, you've lost any genuinely communal feeling amongst the staff, and personally I find the attempts to be relaxed and groovy a bit forced in those corporate environments.

Yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

Amen.

Seriously, what good is a tour of Google's facilities without Oompa-Loompas?

Low walled workspaces

[CaroKann]

Judging from he workspace pictures, it appears Google subscribes to the idea that cubicles without high walls promote communication and interworking among employees. Of course, this is at the expense of privacy, peace and quiet, and for some people, stress relief.
After working in both settings, I have to say that I prefer low walled cubicles. High walled cubicles create a claustrophobic, catacomb-like environment. Low walled cubicles create a friendlier work floor, and it is easier to have impromptu meetings in the cubicle hallways when people can spread out and still see each other.

Re:Low walled workspaces

[wkitchen]

I guess I'm old fashioned. Or maybe just a bit antisocial. But my preferred work space is a real office with a door that, though usually open, can be closed when I need some "focus time", or locked when I'm away and don't want my stuff messed with. A work space that's well enough isolated that I can listen to music without headphones and not bother anyone. Unfortunately, it's been a long time since I've had that luxury.

NYC is great for tech workers

[Thanatos]

It may not matter where you work once you get the job, but if you want to find a tech job, there's just so much opportunity in the NYC area. I guess living here isn't for everyone, but I haven't looked back since I moved out 8 years ago.

Re:NYC is great for tech workers

[b0s0z0ku]

But (my) problem is that 90% of them is in financial sector.

Only if you look at the big "known" firms. There are plenty of architecture/engineering companies, construction, design, and biomedical stuff in NYC and NJ. Also, don't discount NJ. You can even live in NYC and reverse commute if you really feel the need to.

-b.

It DOES matter where you live

[chia_monkey]

It really does matter. On paper, two very geographically diverse places could be equivalent (infrastructure, cost of living, commute, etc) however, having a certain talent pool and mindset is a HUUUUUUGE advantage. I've lived all around the country in various "hotspots" and I can say without a doubt that by simply living in the Bay Area, I felt so much more creative and productive. You are always surrounded by driven people, creative people, people with ideas, people that aren't afraid to just go for is (ie, not work that 9-5 job). I miss that feeling and I shall be heading back there as soon as I possibly can.

Re:It DOES matter where you live

[arudloff]

You can surround yourself with creative go getters anywhere in the country -- at half the cost, I might add. Just follow the birds of a feather mantra.

For us, it's been Orlando. Similar climate (72 degrees avg. temp) and a huge talent pool. UCF is the 6th largest student population and has a big focus on engineering/it/digital media. There is tons of money for investing, and a seriously cheap cost of living. The disney influence only adds to the creative pool and offers a ton of designers looking for contract work.

I can't imagine trying to bootstrap an idea on the we$t coast.
 

Fillmore, Playboy, Googleplex

[pythiane]

From the point of view of the pop-culture imagination, is it as though Googleplex(es) are to our time and set what the Fillmores and Playboy Mansions were to those of the 1960s and 1970s?

Re:Looks like a creche

[Teresita]

Last year there was a big dustup at Microsoft when management briefly stopped providing clean towels in the locker room to save costs. When Google meets Mr. Entropy, as all organizations eventually do, the cute little benefits will either go away or be rationed to the Beautiful People, ie. middle management and above.

paul graham's take

[Blitter]

Paul Graham makes this interesting case:

http://paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html

Depressing

[dreemernj]

All the images are oddly depressing. I don't mind a work environment that's all business, so to speak, and I have seen small offices where creativity is the goal and some of them were really beautiful and relaxing and allowed you to sit and work for ridiculously long periods of time and still feel comfortable. But the pics of the Googleplex are actually depressing to me. It's a standard looking office space with a bunch of novelties thrown in to remind you of what it's like to not be at work.

That said, Google if you are hiring, I'd love to work at your facilities :-D

Let's see...

[MarcoAtWork]

- big space set up as a cube farm so everybody hears everything and it's nearly impossible to concentrate?
- cubes are set up in a way so that PHBs can walk around and see what everybody is doing without any sort of privacy?
- only office pictured is a 4-person office with desks facing the corners so again there's no privacy whatsoever?
- nobody playing games in the gaming area but just one person taking some sort of nap?
- snacks around the office so workers don't ever need to leave and can get right back down to work?

this is making the news just because it's google, the working arrangements are the same as a million other valley startups: as much as MS-bashing is de-rigueur here on /. I do think they treat their workers a lot better: having a real office with a door that closes and a window beats every massage/gamesroom/freesnacks/... cubicle farm: I know, I've worked in both and my productivity level is hugely better when I can concentrate without being distracted by coworker xyz on the phone, or other coworkers having an impromptu meeting on things I couldn't care less (hint: that's what 4-person meeting rooms are for).