The second passport thing is definitely true. When I'm abroad--even, recently, Buenos Aires--I have access to office space, free food, a gym, and even a music room where I can practice guitar and piano.
Not too unusual, other companies I've worked were very similar.
I get that just badging in is a way better experience, but when I travelled to other offices it was just another bullet point on my travel to-do list.
I don’t know/remember what the policy was regarding same-city buildings, as there was just one office in my country.
This is not true.
I have access to every building in my city despite only requiring access to one of them, and I didn’t have to request it.
When I visited Seattle, I had to request access (which required clicking a grand total of 5 buttons in an internal portal and was instantly auto approved) to “the Seattle campus” and was granted access to every building, and still have that access years later. It wasn’t temporary.
Ditto for the other offices I’ve visited, both domestic and abroad. One office internationally I literally showed up and walked to reception and said “hi I work here but I’m visiting from out of town” and they immediately gave me access. I don’t see how this is different from the “second passport” described in the article.*
There are a couple of limited-access offices such as for subsidiary companies, but those are not the majority.
* - the one big difference definitely is the amenities and food, though. Amazon offices don’t have great, or even good, food. And the amenities are lame, most offices don’t even have a gym. There isn’t much of a reason to stop by an office unless you’re specifically there to work.
It never would have occurred to me to visit an Amazon office, so I didn't know about the ticket thing. I rarely worked with anyone remote.
When I joined, Google encouraged travel (less so lately). In the time I've been here I've visited over a dozen offices around the world. Some of them on vacation, because I knew there would be something unique about the local office, but also because with the exception of one office (Copenhagen), I'd worked closely enough with someone there to drop by their desk, say hello, shake hands, and get the best restaurant and bar recommendations I've ever found (and some great unexpected dinners with colleagues!)
I will also call you out on this. The word is very strongly negative, so I think it's inappropriate to use in this context.
Because the buildings are usually located in very central city locations - I've often used the offices as a way to kill time til' check-in opens for hotels after a long-haul flight (grab food, caffeinate, have a shower, etc)
Recently I took a night train between Stockholm and Copenhagen.
Showered in the Stockholm office, walked 5 minutes to the train station, slept, woke up in Copenhagen, grabbed a hearty breakfast in the CPH office.
It's a little perk that is honestly vastly underestimated
Likewise, one time I was on vacation in Hong Kong and just waltzed into the office and hung around for a little while. I actually ran into a friend of mine in the office who I had no idea lived in Hong Kong or worked for Google at the time.
I got a tour one time of some of the less-visible infrastructure of the building. There is a huge concrete slab under the building that acts as a heat bank, and somewhere there are windcatchers (I don't see them in aerial photographs) which funnel air over the concrete before it goes into the interior. This keeps the inside cool in hot weather and warm in cool weather, without an active air conditioning system.
There are pictures and diagrams of some of the above features here https://mcdonoughpartners.com/projects/901-cherry-offices/ .
It's also nestled in the 280/380 interchange, so my commute very often took me up and back down on 280, which is probably my favorite stretch of road in the world. I grew up in the south bay, a stone's throw from 280, and driving up and down 280 has always been relaxing for me, even when there's (somehow) traffic.
In retrospect, I didn't fully appreciate that office. Thanks for the 5-minute reminisce.
In the Bay Area there are a lot of acoustic pianos available. There's even a special building that has like 12 practice rooms, each with an acoustic piano.
However, it sparked an interest in having a theremin - so perhaps it'll make a return!
Most of my time here I feel vaguely gross about how nice everything is.
Always felt kind of gross to me.
https://www.google.com/search?q=google+dublin&oq=google+dubl...
IMHO it limited Google's hiring ability in Ontario. And it made me (and others) have to sell my house in Toronto and move when my employer was acquired. I tried the van/bus commute for 6 months and it was too hard.
Then the Geoffrey Hinton folks moved in there I believe. And I think some AI R&D was happening there?
And then COVID happened, and everyone was WFH but when you did go into the office and book a desk, it became possible to go into the Toronto office instead.
I left after that so can't say how it is now. Google goes through waves of "defrags" where small groups and teams in peripheral offices are... purged and merged because there's a feeling that "strength in numbers" for a particular project pays off. I wouldn't be surprised to see what happen post-layoffs.
The Toronto office, when I visited it, was small. Food was good though.
It is in the heart of the Toronto downtown, near Richmond & Spadina, next to the old & new City Hall. Definitely disagree with GP, I'm not sure what better area you would pick (but I love downtown). Similarly in Taipei, the Google office is right in Taipei 101 (like having an office in CN Tower - very cool.)
To be fair, Amazon's office in Toronto is next to the CN Tower and has a great view of it - so maybe Amazon takes the cake here. You have to pay for the cake though.
No, it's Richmond and University or Richmond and Bay. It's basically in financial district which is as boring and corporate as it comes. My point was to the GP saying "Google always seems to lease the best/coolest office real estate"
Tell me more about this.
I feel big tech in general is looting its brands for profit, that while it's not 100% obvious yet, we're in the decline phase.
Both are amazing.
Hence the focus on RTO.
Before I quit you had to book a desk if you wanted to come into the office, hybrid. I pushed to get myself my own assigned desk because I despised the stock monitors, etc.
At that point (fall 2021) hardly anybody was coming in, so it was a ghost town. But they would not have been able to fit everyone in if they'd demanded people come back.