The Silicon Valley Life

I visited a friend recently at one of the most successful Silicon Valley Companies of all time, and man, I was shocked to see the lifestyle and work life there.  No judgement, no good or bad, just my observations.  People asked me afterwards if I would like to work in an environment like that.  It's tough, I think, and depends a lot on where you are in life, how much you've lived, and your priorities.

Let's just say that life there was Utopian, to say the least.  Talk about the antithesis of George Orwell's "1984" or Fritz Lang's "Metropolis", this place was nuts.  Free cafeteria, snacks, drinks, juice bar ... all the food you could want and more, organic, gourmet, junk food, whatever you want.  Bicycles everywhere, just pick one up and ride.  Valet parking, not only for employees, but for everyone else.  Laundry service, child care, etc.  Outdoor sand volleyball courts, outdoor endless/infinity swimming pools, meditation rooms, etc.  And that was only what I caught or heard about in my brief stay there.

Now, why might you ask, would I NOT want to work there.  Well, for me and me alone, it boils down to something very specific.  It's simply not a realistic lifestyle, and doesn't promote a complete and healthy environment, in my honest opinion.  That may be strong and I apologize in advance for that, but that's my feeling.  If you rely so much on a free-flowing cafeteria for most of your nutrition, you're really saying that you're not going to go grocery shopping, go take the time to pick out the ingredients in your meals, go take the time to prepare them, and hence, those skills will eventually atrophy, like a muscle which hasn't been exercised or used.  And when you're playing volleyball and going swimming in between working crazy hours, all at work, then you don't have time to spend at home, with friends outside of work, with interests outside of work ... heck, just physically being outside of the boundaries of work.  That lifestyle imbalance is like carrying your backpack on your right side for 10 straight years, eventually you'll have a muscle imbalance, which could cause back pain or other complications.  So much time spent living, breathing, sleeping work costs something.  Like the left side of your body, which never bore the burden of the backpack for 10 years, it weakens due to negligence.

So, I think in my own little, humble world, with all of the things done for me by others and all of the things I do for my kids, etc., I keep wondering if I'm better suited to do things myself, learn more about them, and do likewise with my children, have them clean up, make their lunches, do their homework on their own and struggle, etc.  It's an interesting question, because we all can do a little more to work on the "muscles" in our bodies and in our lives that have atrophied over the past many years due to neglect.  I think we'd be stronger as a result.