From Intel to Google

From Intel to Google

From Intel to Google, from hardware engineering to software engineering, many aspects of my work have changed. Some of these changes I still haven't fully adjusted to. Below, I've listed a few of the biggest differences. This might be helpful for those considering working in the Bay Area or making the switch from hardware to software.

A five-minute drive turned into an hour

When working at Intel in Folsom, due to relatively cheap housing, everyone lived close to the company. Around 2018, there was a new housing development right across from the company, but it was hard to get a spot. Eventually, I had to buy a new house, a six-minute (shocking!) drive from the company. My new house was surrounded by a U-shaped river with bike and pedestrian paths along it. It was very scenic. I thought the six-minute commute was bad until I moved to the bay area when I realized that Google shuttles couldn’t even cover the campus from west to east in 6 minutes. The house was bought just before the pandemic in 2019. When the pandemic hit in 2020, you couldn’t even buy a house, and later, the interest rate dropped to 2.65% for a 30-year mortgage, perfect for refinancing. After that, house prices skyrocketed from $500k to $700k in 2022.

In 2022, I suddenly felt poor after moving to Silicon Valley. The median house price in San Jose was $1.5 million, and near Google in Palo Alto, you couldn’t buy a house for less than a few million, making it impossible to be Mark Zuckerberg's neighbor. Therefore, many chose to live farther away. I initially chose Fremont, which is one bridge away from Google. It took 25 minutes without traffic, but in rush hours, anything could happen on that Dumbarton Bridge. Any accidents or bad weather could extend the trip to at least 50 minutes. So, I opted for the shuttle, which had WiFi and tables to work on, making traffic jams less painful, aside from holding in my bladder. I reminisced about my time at Intel, where I could sleep until 8 am and leisurely get to work on time even with a 30-minute bathroom session—truly a privilege I didn’t appreciate at the time.

Then came the 2023 layoffs. My landlord was laid off and had to evict me because the $1 million house with an $8,000 monthly mortgage was too much of a burden for him. I later found an apartment in the distant town called Pleasanton, which is “just” two mountains away from Google. The twist is, my landlord ended up living with me again after selling his house. I guess after all, we all need a place to stay.

Due to the long distance, driving myself was not an option. The shuttles from Pleasanton were almost always crowded, making the parking lot look like a transit station. Every major company had dedicated shuttles to pick up employees. The lines were so long and intertwined that it was easy to board the wrong one. Google had two lines: one to Mountain View and another to Sunnyvale. On my first ride, I wasn't sure which line it was, so I asked the person near me. Possibly because he often got asked or out of a seasoned rider's pride, he impatiently pointed with his chin, signaling the location, then quickly turned back and disappeared into the crowd.