It was a stark contrast from nearly every other fast-growing tech company in the area.
I visited Intel HQ once, and it really did look like that. Is it still like that?
They blocked out most of the sound and very few visual distractions when you were sitting down. They worked well if you wanted relative peace and quiet to concentrate.
Since then they have switched to open-concept with cubes about half the size and walls that are maybe four feet high. So now people have plenty of visual distractions and a lot more noise. Didn't help they added sit-stand desks so you will have people who get on calls while standing and can be heard 30+ feet away.
"I worked there when this was filmed. Immediately following the airing there was so much shame that they launched a whole office redesign and open office concept. Nothing like some well deserved ribbing to shake things up!!!"
"The "gray on gray" quip led to an attempt to add color to some office buildings. The open office redesign looked much better than the 80s and 90s cubicles, at least the one I saw in Santa Clara. Much more current, modern aesthetic, without walls. I left the company a couple of years after that so not sure how well it took hold. Friends who stayed said it didn't work out too well but it's been years since then (Conan did this bit in 2007)."
There is also a cultural difference between hardware engineers, who are usually more 'serious engineers' who actually engineer things vs software engineers who are often less rigorous in their architecture and design. HW folks deal with long lead times and can't usually fix errors after production, so that creates a vastly different culture.
That’s not entirely true, at least in Hillsboro (I interned there recently). Drinks were free, and so was fruit, but you had to pay for e.g. donuts or chips.
I don't need snacks and drinks at work, just water and the occasional coffe, which I get at the bar anyway so I can have a little walk and clear up my mind
Workplaces that looks like a teenage dream party give me the chill
When I need to relax I stop working entirely and go out
I consider more money or more free time (or both) an incentive
I appreciate solid forniture, a comfortable seat, big windows with natural light, a nice neighborhood (last work I accepted was because they had an office in Duomo in Milan, the one I have now has an office 5 minutes away from the Colosseum in Rome), I don't care much about "free stuff"
Paying for my drinks or snacks it's not what will bankrupt me
With the pandemic in force and the prospect of going into an office itself coming into question, companies will have to stop relying on the (lazy but admittedly effective) lure of free snacks and lunch. Good times.
On the whole, I agree with you: when I see people crumpled up in bean bags and picking at salad on picnic tables in companies' 'Come work with us' webpages, I get the chills. How very juvenile! But we all know that the industry feeds on a steady influx of juveniles and there's a new batch every summer!
It's good to have the option, it's not what drives my decisions.
I have no problem with people that see it as a bonus, to each his own, it simply doesn't matter much to me.
But maybe SV corporate culture has gone a little bit too far on it.
I am from Italy so they even looked a big novelty back then.
I'm not blaming people who appreciate it, I consider my job my professional endeavour and as I pretend the best from myself, I pretend it from my employer.
Which means that they have to provide me the tools and the means to do it at my best.
I used to be a smoker, I wouldn't have considered it a bonus if my employer paid for my cigarettes.
My salary has to be good enough to pay for that.
companies throwing away chocolates and parties are wasting resources that could go to salaries, re-investment or profit
having said that a company as large as Intel and with such a dominant position for many years has a lot of margin to waste money and make mistakes, which is why they often become complacent