A look inside Amazon’s Spheres as they get set to open

I've worked at some of the FANGs, including Amazon. As far as their standard workspace equipment goes (e.g. computers, desk, monitors, etc...), they seemed to be more or less at parity with the other companies. The workspaces used to be on the drab side, but they've taken to modernizing them with bright colors and lounge furniture in common areas that looks trendy but is damned uncomfortable. They don't really have any perks like high-quality micro-kitchens (except at subsidiaries and sites where those sorts of perks are standard locally), cafes, gyms, etc...

EDIT: I should mention that I'm pretty easy when it comes to things like computer hardware and desks. I just need a terminal, chair to sit in, plain old desk, and I'll be happy. I might not notice any differentiating factors other people find important...

This looks infinitely better than the Facebook industrial-esque spaces, but then this is for a tiny portion of the company's employees.

10 year Amazonian here. I think we have one of the most expensive perks of all: an active, expansive, downtown campus. That's not cheap, those towers cost billions, and there's a reason many big technology competitors are in more suburban locations (Redmond, Mountain View, Kirkland, etc ...). But it really is something to be able to get to and from work relatively quickly via public transport, to be in the middle of a cool city with great restaurants and food trucks, and to be so easily able to socialize with colleagues and friends.

But it's true that we don't have free cafeterias, free sodas, gyms (though we do have free on-campus workouts and yoga classes) and so on. We do have some other unusual perks though: our mailrooms get the "Amazon" shipping rates from USPS/DHL/FedEx, and since Amazon is one of their biggest customers, it's really really cheap to ship personal packages. We have a dog park with awesome puppies that's 17 stories up, with a crazy view of the Puget Sound and Downtown Seattle.

There's lots of less tangible things like that, but in general, people aren't here for the perks.

How are computers are a perk? They're required to do your job. And yes, Amazon does provide them. I haven't ever heard of a developer job where you're expected to buy a work computer with your own money, and I've worked at places that had fewer perks than Amazon. I'd flat out refuse to buy my own. Requiring that might even be illegal.

Last I checked they don't even get free Prime accounts, the Amazon discount is capped ridiculously low, and the stock vesting schedule is terrible, especially considering how short the tenure is likely to be given how they treat employees. The vibe I get is that you're supposed to think working there is the perk. But you can do so much better elsewhere.

a multilevel treehouse panopticon!

This is fascinating. It's almost a forcing function to prevent overwork and burnout.

Imagine if the lights were on and it was 72 degrees, 60% humidity, 24/7 — the plants wouldn't thrive.

It really sounds ominous if, like me, you've never heard about "Amazon's Spheres". Brings to mind stories of alien objects appearing at several key locations on Earth, surrounded by the military and scientists, when suddenly they show signs of activity.

Of course. What do you expect?

There's a fig tree in Balboa Park in San Diego that dwarfs the one in the diagram, and that's only the third biggest in California. But I imagine it's hard to convince people to sell trees that big / transport them into buildings much larger than the one in the diagram.

https://www.balboapark.org/attractions/moreton-bay-fig-tree

It would be cool if voters were willing to pay for public spaces, real public spaces, rather than waiting on the charity of companies through moral expectation, charity which could be retracted at any time, or diverted for any whim.

Do people pay to come watch you work?

Huh? Who's doing the gawking? This analogy between a zoo and an office doesn't make straight-forward sense.

Anyway, foliage is nice, and appreciated by people on a deep innate level. Would you rather not have foliage in your office? I don't like a sterile workplace myself.