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Florida-Based Magic Leap Builds Its Team With Bay Area Hires
Tekla Perry writes Stealthy 'cinematic reality' company Magic Leap may be based in Florida--but it's doing a lot of hiring from the Bay Area, scooping up engineers from Pixar, Google, Apple, and Intel--along with a few Willow Garage alums. And it's got openings for many many more. Are all these folks with long-term Silicon Valley roots really going to move to South Florida? Or is Magic Leap getting ready to open up a Silicon Valley research center to house the brain trust it is gathering? Here's what we know about Magic Leap and its technology, who's joining it, and what other kinds of engineers the company aims to hire.
Magic Leap has a lot of money to do all that hiring, having just raised more than half a billion dollars, the bulk of it from Google. If you're working in the Bay Area now, would you look forward to a move to Florida, or rather stay where you are?
How much did this plug cost Timothy?
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
Who in Florida could do this? None but the very old and very Cuban in Florida. At least down in the wang part.
The move to Florida will be a bit difficult for man Silicon Valley folks. Florida is a Red State. Most of you aren't old enough to remember the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Consitution, which Florida never ratified. Floridia also failed to ratify the 19th amendment to the US Constitution until 1969. Which amendment is that you ask? That's the one which gave women the right to vote. It was the Law of the Land back in the 1920's because 2/3rds of the states had ratified it, but Florida only accepted it more than 40 years after the fact.
Add in punishing heat, humidity and the fact that you're smack dab in Hurricane Alley with things only getting worse with climate change and you'll realize WHY Florida is a cheaper place to live. But if you don't care about any of that and like cheap seafood and good ol' boy values, then maybe Florida is the state for you!
While Florida is not the most attractive and friendly place to do business, but it surely beats California, which has for several years been elected as the worst place to do business, in the same bucket with New York and New Jersey.
Florida has no income tax, climate is subtropical and, more importantly, Florida is giving additional tax incentives to move jobs to Florida.
My own employer has opened office in Tampa and relocated 250 jobs from NJ; that is probably only the beginning.
You know, California and Florida both have more than their fair share of crazy people. The main difference comes down to what flavor of crazy you're talking about. In California, it's an asset. In Florida, it's fucking frightening.
So no. I would not move from the Bay Area to Florida.
People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.
From a Euro perspective it would be difficult to prefer Florida over California, all else held equal. But you bring up a good point which is in CA's favor: - in California, having crazy people means they will stick flowers in your car - Florida, having crazy people means they will get amped on bath salts meth and try to eat your face
ALL of Florida is further South than ANY part of California.
The North Easterners are already destroying our state we don't need West Coasters to finish it off.
I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
No way. Very Red state. Hot & humid. Hurricane prone. Ground zero for sea level rise.
I would hope that a company with a half a billion dollars in spending money would have more sense than than to put down stakes in a region that might well be underwater in 20 years. Anyone moving TO south Florida at this point is mentally deficient, or a climate change denier who is really drinking the kool-aid.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
I've lived in CA most of my life, been wanting to leave for a few years now. The only thing keeping me here is dad, I won't leave until he's gone.
That said, the first 6 years of my parent's marriage they lived in a dozen states (dad worked for the military, they moved him like a PFC). The only state they both hated was Florida. Not due to politics, taxes, or any of that other stuff. It was the bugs and the weather they hated.
I spent a couple weeks in Key West a decade or so ago and enjoyed it tho.
Which breed of crazy? Fuck you, I'm stealing everything you have crazy? Yeah, I made the move. We're small, 23 jobs, but that's 23 jobs that CA threw away with the fuck you taxes, and all of the same shitty school and drug problems.
Who does what with the what now?
You should just get a divorce and move. No marriage is worth that kind of misery. It sounds like your kids are already grown up and moved out anyway, so it's not like you have to worry about custody disputes.
While texting my daughter before the movie starts? You can keep the armpit of america to yourselves. (along with the mouse)
Yeah, watch your money do a disappearing act and take a 'magic leap' offshore...
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
This company goes under and then where do you get a job in Florida for IT? Yup, California's taxes suck but at least in SV there are plenty of IT jobs (at least for now)
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
I lived in the North Miami/South Broward area for 12 years before moving to the Bay Area and I can certainly say there will be substantial culture shock when immersing yourself into the South Florida social and professional environment. I would never live in the South Florida region after living in the Bay. The cost of living is substantially cheaper but the quality of living is exponentially worse. I wish them all the best of luck, maybe an influential group of active, tech savvy citizens can inject some liberal values into the otherwise uber conservative climate.
Basically a warmer and poorer version of New Jersey. But it does have one major thing going for it compared to the Bay Area -- you don't have to be a dot-com millionaire to buy a house.
I was one of those who thought Florida was all wrong until I moved down and figured it out for myself. Obviously, it's a big place with a lot of everything but altitude and snow. We've got enough people and enough "money" so if you don't want to come we don't care.
First off, I do work most of the year at a rate of $200/hr. I enjoy my 300+k/yr life all from my homes in Nevada and New Hampshire where I live peacefully and have my own horse.
I'd stay far as where I'd stay... in the good state of Nevada since I'm able to 1) open carry my firearm 2) live a state which doesn't have income tax, thus only Uncle Sam wants his cut. I can quite honestly work from anywhere I please, even abroad if I wanted.
For those who complain about Florida being "too red" really have no legitimate reason to complain. Those are the people need a safety net since they're poor planners.
I thought you were crying because your wife only likes to suck other guys' d1cks
As a former Bay Area resident who now lives in Florida, my advice is to stay in California if you can afford to and if you're okay with your current job. Florida isn't totally horrible, but CA is a million times better, ESPECIALLY the Bay Area. Two things off top of my head: the weather is better out there, and there's a whole lot more going on. Every month, it seems, I see an ad for some cool event or something happening right there were used to live. I'd move back in a second if I could afford to. Never should have left, but oh well, that's how life goes sometimes.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
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It's ok. In Florida, the ground opens up in deep circles to swallow those people down to hell. California is going to float away from the US in a few years. I wouldn't want to be stuck there when it happens.
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Between the high housing costs, traffic jams, and dysfunctional politics, I think many people are looking to leave the Bay Area.
If a 10% change in your income makes that much difference, pleaese leave California. You're motivated by the wrong stuff and probably not good enough to be here. A successful venture can return more than 1000%. If the top marginal tax rate is causing a problem for you the solution is simple: make more money.
Not if she lets him watch.
Ummm San Jose where homes are ridiculously expensive and apartments can cost $2500/month or more
Or a Florida where that same $2500/month would buy you a great 3000 sq ft house w/pool, pay the insurance, and still leave you enough to save money or buy a car or more likely pay off your college loans.
I worked for a company that is headquartered in San Jose and people I know there made the same as people in our other locations (Dallas, Raleigh NC etc) where the cost of living was 1/2 of San Jose. Why did they do that? The most often response was "opportunity". I guess I can give them "some" of that. But in the Internet era... many jobs can be done from anywhere.
And even then, the money I no longer paid to California in income tax more than paid the mortgage on a 3000 sq ft house I had built.
Yeah I had to give up some stuff - never ending traffic jams, earthquakes, brush fires, wine snobs, ethnic variety of restaurants, shitty service everywhere, shitty public schools, milder weather, nice views from places I could never afford to live, but I managed to survive.
California is a great place if you are rich enough to be able to afford to live there without working. For everyone else it is hell on earth.
Florida? Hmmm. I lived there once. Not too sure about the politics- the frightened old people population ensures that it will remain hard core republican for at least another generation. Dallas wasn't much different- there it was frightened stupid people who kept the politics "amusing". The weather can be rough for some, but if you like water sports Florida has nice, warm seas.
Yeah, I think I'd take Florida over California.
And they both suck. Si Valley is insane and self-absorbed. Florida is full of stupid and clueless.
Now live in S.D. county, which has been somewhat more tolerable, but am preparing to exit to New Mexico.
You should have looked through the jobs before writing this entry, a few reference Florida positions working with the teams in California. It sounds like they are keeping teams in both places.
Also Dania Beach is basically Hollywood, FL, where FLL airport is located. The Magic Leap offices there are in the Design Center of the Americas, just off I-95. One could easily do the commute from Miami, which is a great place to live (I've been here 14 years and coincidentally work for a company that has a team here and one in the Bay Area). Depending on where one lives the commute could be as little as 15 minutes. Also i own a house with a large yard blocks from the water, many people earning double what i earn in the Bay Area could never afford that.
And yes FL is large. Driving Key West to Miami is 4 hours, its another 5-6 to Gainesville or Jacksonville. I believe its another 6 or so to go west across the Panhandle.
...about 6 months ago, for a tech job. Lived in FL for 30 years, and our families/friends were there too. Hard decision. I have learned a few things:
Housing/COLA - FL wins hands-down. CA is insanely expensive if you want a decent neighborhood with above-average schools (not perfect, but good). We won't own a home anytime soon. In FL I could have half the salary and still get a nice place in a good neighborhood. Rest of costs of living are mostly similar.
Weather - CA wins (mostly). FL weather was 90 degrees, 90 percent humidity, 9 mos. out of the year. Miserable. Can't do much outside (try having a kids BDAY party in July!), and the skeeters are just horrid. I do miss the rain though! Trade earthquakes for Hurricanes.
Activities - CA wins for me. Theme parks are expensive and boring after a while. Outdoors there is not as much going on as CA, plus the weather just makes it damn near impossible to appreciate any natural parks. Fun in some lakes and rivers, though. CA has a lot to offer.
Jobs - Depends. If you're in tech, stay in the Bay Area. I had almost no opportunities in FL, and nobody would pay to relocate me. I am respected in my field, and had so many recruiters tell me I had to move to get a good job since no company wanted to spend 25k and/or take the risk. Now in CA I'm working through 4 different job offers alone inside 6 weeks of looking. If you are doing something else (like Hospitality), then it might make sense for FL. Otherwise, CA is tech central. Wish I'd moved here years ago.
Taxes - FL has no income tax, so you get a bigger chunk of your paycheck in your bank account, which is nice.
Politics - Trade one bag of garbage for the other. No clear winners in my opinion.
Traffic - Depends, Bay is IMHO worse for driving, but there is BART, ACE, etc...In Florida mass transportation is spotty at best. Depends on your location in FL.
Long-term - Florida might sink, and CA will run out of water and slide into the Ocean. Hard to pick a winner there, but I'm more worried about the drastic water shortages in the near future in CA.
In CA for a while...not planning on moving back.
To be honest, I like California weather. What I DONT understand is why all these startups cluster so close to downtown San Francisco. I'd love to be up somewhere a bit farther north like Ukiah, or Willits CA.
... thanks to the magic of high speed Internet service. I've been importing cash from the Californian job market to Key West for 7 years now, with no apparent end in sight. I'm not interested in convincing you to live here, though, particularly since so many appear to already have their minds made up, and besides, this place is about as full as it needs to be. I would urge you however, to seriously consider living in a free state (Washington perhaps?) in an area with reasonable-enough rent that you may consider putting the bulk of that wonderful California salary away for retirement. Your call.
I've lived in Dallas. I now live in the Bay Area. Guess which one I prefer?
Hint: the one that's not full of racist motherfuckers.
People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.
yeah, well, there is that...
Miami has more entrepreneurial activity per capita than silicon valley. The weather in Florida is a trade-off. It's way better in the winter and way worse in the summer.
http://bitcoinoftheamericas.co...
If you're in Tampa or St. Petersburg, FL, or really anywhere in Florida, the term "bay area" means the area around Tampa Bay. It's the common usage of the term--you have a bay in your state, and you know that's the area "bay area" refers to.
It is a pet peeve of mine that people mistakenly/rudely use the term as if it can only refer to one specific bay area in the world, instead of saying "SF Bay Area" in a headline, for instance. No matter how popular such incorrect and rude word usage is, using the general term as if it has global specificity is just annoying hubris.
Probably why the company is in Florida, the state that sacrifices everyone else to you if you run a business.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Miami has more entrepreneurial activity per capita than silicon valley
Only if you count trackable, legal activity.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
The state that constantly smells like swamp. Has a rep for A Florida Man. Has NONE of the factors that make real entrepreneurship work though all the scam parts of hyping things.
Honestly I can't see leaving Silicon Valley for this. I'd sooner take a gig in Asia where "real high tech" is actually manufactured, instead.
For a while I lived in Florida and traveled back and forth to "the Bay Area" (at company expense). My take:
I wish I could LIVE in the Bay Area but pay housing and taxes based on the costs in Florida. So I'd advise you to decide what's most important to you: 1) your current lifestyle or 2) putting money aside. There is also a up/downside professionally. The opportunities for professional networking and continuing education are greater in the Bay Area. On the other hand, the competition is a lot stiffer. I think if I could get the pay, adjusted for region, to within about 25%, I'd probably take the Bay Area, but life is what you make it wherever you decide to make it.
"The wisdom of the Patriarchs was that they *knew* they were fools." --Master Foo