> Professional software engineers with years of experience get pay in that range. Guys just starting out want that kind of money. I see it all the time.
At Google, new grads get 120+k with their bonus, not including the ~62*$500 in stocks every year for 4 years or the ~$25k in signing/reloc bonuses. If a new grad gets offered that amount, why would they not want the same elsewhere?
I would only feel self-conscious if people judged what I was doing all day. I didn't feel like I was being judged.
I always passed this one guy who had a separate monitor to watch some kind of anime. Another seemed to always have Netflix on. During the World Cup this summer, so many people had a window/monitor watching the games.
The culture was very much this: get your work done? cool. do whatever you need to continue getting your work done.
Facebook has 'War Rooms' for teams who are shipping a large release soon. They are smaller rooms that can fit 12-18 people. Most of the time they have separate desks but sometimes teams just commandeer a conference room.
This sounds a bit like your idea, though a few more people.
Has this guy even worked in any of these environments? I've worked at Facebook and it is surprisingly quiet. If people want to have meetings or talk, there are plenty of conference rooms to take advantage of. Worst case, the free Sennheisers in the tech vending machines takes care of any other noises that you might not like.
I personally work better in an open office environment. I work off the energy of others and it allows me to focus more than being alone in an office.
While I understand if people legitimately don't like an open office environment, this type of article seems like it is just trying to put down these companies with little knowledge about how loud it really is in these offices.
And if you don't like the environment at Facebook/Google/Twitter/etc, just move to another company. Let's not pretend that it is hard to get another job with one of those companies on your resume.
At Google, new grads get 120+k with their bonus, not including the ~62*$500 in stocks every year for 4 years or the ~$25k in signing/reloc bonuses. If a new grad gets offered that amount, why would they not want the same elsewhere?