
Google employee lives in a truck in the company's parking lot - cpeterso
http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/A-23-year-old-Google-employee-lives-in-a-truck-in-6579549.php
======
GuiA
I've thought of doing something similar to that. I might try it at some point,
probably just for a chunk of a few months. But I'm thinking more along the
lines of buying a more maneuverable VW minivan, and retreating to the Santa
Cruz hills or Big Sur over the weekends, because I currently miss nature
terribly while living in SF.

A few thoughts (I don't work at Google, but a similar large tech company in
the south bay):

1) Yes, $2000 a month is expensive for corporate housing. But if your goal
really is to save money, you can find a room in San Francisco for under $1000
in a co-op or such and just take the shuttle to Google every day. It won't be
the most beautiful house in the world, but it'll beat a truck.

2) If you like bringing home cute girls/boys, that's going to make things
significantly harder.

3) I have a fair amount of expensive equipment (photography + music gear) that
I would not be comfortable leaving in a vehicle for extended periods of time.
It'd just takes once to lose a pretty significant chunk of cash (probably
something like $5k in photography gear and close to $10k in music gear, for
me).

4) Even if his name and face were withheld, anyone working at Google will
remember that truck very distinctly now. Not the smartest move for him, he's
probably going to be found out in the next week or two.

I have friends who did similar things - whether to save money, or to entertain
a more minimalistic lifestyle. I'm still very curious about it, mostly for the
latter reason, and would love to read any detailed experiences if anyone here
has done it.

Here's one link for a few years back: [http://austenallred.com/voluntarily-
homeless-in-silicon-vall...](http://austenallred.com/voluntarily-homeless-in-
silicon-valley/)

~~~
infinotize
#2 doesn't sound like a problem for this use case

~~~
smtucker
phrasing!

------
phantom_oracle
This is both savvy and ironic.

Being a Google employee, this guy is probably earning +100K per annum, which
puts him into the top 1% income-earning bracket IN THE WORLD.

Yet this gentleman has chosen to live out of a truck... albeit a worse option
when he could have purchased an RV instead.

Looking back, I am guessing he will not have many fond memories of his 20s.

~~~
morganvachon
> Yet this gentleman has chosen to live out of a truck... albeit a worse
> option when _he could have purchased an RV instead._

This is what stood out to me the most, and made me wonder why someone would do
this in such a half-baked way. Granted, he's a young kid just out of college
so maybe he wasn't thinking practically, but on the other hand it reeks of
extreme hipsterism. "Look at me, I'm living in a box truck! I'm so original
and minimalist!" For the $10k he spent on that hot, bare truck he could
instead be in a comfortable RV with appliances, a shower, and solar panels for
powering his gear, missing practically no luxuries of apartment living.

No, I think the last paragraph of the full article sums it up; he claims he's
doing this so he has a good idea of how uncomfortable living conditions can be
when he starts his world travel itinerary. He doesn't know the half of it.

~~~
dingaling
$10k for an RV? Try ten times that for the specification you've suggested.

~~~
morganvachon
It doesn't have to be a new one, nor does it have to be a 40 foot luxury
model. His truck is nearly 10 years old and he certainly overpaid for it. I've
window-shopped for good used RVs and a small model in decent shape can be had
for under $10k. Even with improvements like solar panels and new upholstery,
he would have come out spending the same amount and been more comfortable for
it.

------
carcamper
It's cool to see other people doing this. Until a couple weeks ago that's what
I was doing. This is even my throwaway account for topics like this.

I lived in my car and didn't work for a big company so accomodations were a
little less plesant. However even after 6 months I didn't really mind it. I
went to the gym and lift every morning then cleaned up and went to work, then
when I was unemployed I went to the library.

Not having an 'official' place to sleep was the worst part. I slept in Walmart
parking lots. I rotated between 3 but had one main one. I got harassed by cops
pretty frequently which was the worst part. Never had a single person (not
cop) bother me, and I wasn't exactly in the best areas (as many walmarts
aren't).

That wasn't the first time I was 'homeless' so I guess I'm used to that
lifestyle now, and I'd do it again in a heart beat. (I live in a cold state
now, so it's a little more difficult)

~~~
jonlucc
It's legal, as long as the lot owner doesn't mind, right? So why are the cops
bothering you?

~~~
carcamper
It's a phishing attack for them. They want to know if I'm drunk/high/or up to
trouble(yes even though I'm sleeping) and they ask question after question to
interrogate me and get me to slip up (implying they think I'm just feeding
them bs about not being a criminal). They'd follow up with trick questions
like 'well do you have any weapons to protect yourself?' they'd circle back
and ask me multiple times why I was there trying to get me to change my story.

After a couple times of this you know their tricks and it becomes a game. I
wasn't sure if it was illegal to be transient so I would always just stick
with being too tired to keep driving.

Not once were questions out of sincerity or to offer help, just to find ways
to pin me with a charge. It was despicable.

------
intopieces
My suspicion is that this fellow crashes on a friend's couch pretty often.
Unless Google allows him 24 hour access, he doesn't have a bathroom at night
or on weekends.

>"It's really hard to justify throwing that kind of money away. You're
essentially burning it — you're not putting equity in anything and you're not
building it up for a future — and that was really hard for me to reconcile."

Equity and saving for the future are things you do after you've established a
home. Comfort and time off of work are essential to a well-balanced and
healthy life.

What's sad, to me, is not that he lives in a truck, it's that he works so much
that doesn't value any time alone in his own space. I know the rent is
exorbitant in the bay, but his pay from Google has that factored in -- he's no
Mission artist getting evicted, after all. I happily pay a significant portion
of my income to have a home, even a rented one.

~~~
ori_b
> Unless Google allows him 24 hour access, he doesn't have a bathroom at night
> or on weekends.

Google allows 24 hour access, unless that's changed recently.

~~~
ipsin
Yeah, large companies seem to allow badged access after hours.

A chemical toilet is also a wonderful thing.

~~~
zzalpha
Large companies? Any company leasing office space with a badged security
system (is, any modern office tower) would allow this.

~~~
dogma1138
Really not all companies even with a badged security allow this, in many
places you need an authorization/pre-registration if you are going to come in
late (say 2-3 hours past normal work day) or during weekends.

~~~
zzalpha
Well, clearly you're not in the valley, where people are expected to sleep
under their desks and thank their employer for the privilege. ;)

Agreed, certainly at any company that has strong security policies (I'd
imagine telecom, for example, is a lot more strict in this regard), after
hours access might be an issue.

~~~
dogma1138
Nope and I would probably never want to work under those conditions :P

Most office buildings I've seen have restrictions, the office tower i work at
in London (Reagent's Park) requires you to enter and sign in with security
from 7pm till 7am and if you want to enter during the weekend you need to
register explicitly for the day and tie and it has to be approved.

And this is pretty much the case for most shared offices / office towers I've
worked in, if you own the campus and want to keep the same level of security
staffing during the night as you would during the day I would think that 24/7
access wouldn't be an issue to facilitate in all other cases they rather that
you wouldn't be hanging around.

------
nodesocket
More power to him, it is his life after all, but I've seen this attitude of
extreme frugalness/cheapness and it seems to be a trait that engineers are
almost proud of, and brag about. __Disclosure: I am myself an engineer, but
also founder. __

I 've heard engineers complain about $49 a month for X or Y SaaS solution that
would save a bunch of their time and effort. "That is expensive, I'll just
build that myself..."

It is like they try to optimize everything in their life. In my opinion this
attitude is toxic, especially in startups.

------
username223
I knew a guy who did this years ago: lived in his van, ate the free food,
showered at the gym, and had basically 0 cost of living. When he got a serious
girlfriend, he bought a house in cash.

------
nosuchthing
Amazing how with all the complaints about overpriced real estate in
SF/NYC/LA/VAN etc that more people don't opt to own a vehicle that also serves
as a sleeping space.

The world is so car-centric yet there's still somewhat of a weird stigma
against people who choose to live out of cars/vans/westfalias/RVs etc..?

Also surprised no one's bothered to produce affordable tiny mobile homes for
3rd world countries or college kids:
[http://www.designboom.com/design/cornelius-comanns-
bufalino/](http://www.designboom.com/design/cornelius-comanns-bufalino/)
(Elio's enclosed motorcycles are retailing for $6800..?!)

~~~
ClassyHacker
Not everyone's got a workplace that has free breakfast, free lunch, free
dinner, free gym, free shower, enormous parking lots, and laid back policy.

~~~
analog31
One way to get access to gym and shower is to sign up for a course at a
university and pay a small extra fee.

------
eastbayjake
Don't most companies' liability insurance policies prohibit employees from
sleeping/living on company property outside of work hours because of their
liability for injuries that happen while the employee is squatting in a truck
in their parking lot? I would be surprised if Google's legal team didn't shut
this down real quick.

~~~
hugh4
It would be unreasonable if they were deemed to have liability, but that
doesn't mean they don't.

On the other hand, what's the worst case scenario? Some miniscule probability
that one day he'll fall out if his bunk, break his neck, and google will be on
the hook for a few hundred grand. In the meantime, they're probably getting
hours per day of extra work out of him, and he's less likely to leave for a
new job at a startup without a giant parking lot, showers and free food. So
overall it's a net win... at least until thousands of others start to do the
same thing and google has a shanty town on its hands.

~~~
eastbayjake
> On the other hand, what's the worst case scenario?

(1) I'm sure the city of Mountain View and its zoning committee will have some
issues with illegal housing units

(2) I'm sure the fire marshall will have some issues with someone permanently
inhabiting a flammable structure (literally _on top of a barrel of flammable
liquid_ ) with no fire-abatement equipment

(3) I'm sure the California DMV will refuse to license a vehicle where the
owner's home address is the vehicle itself with no real street address, or a
street address where the applicant is not a legal resident and cannot receive
mail. And if the vehicle is registered out of state while being in California
for more than 60 days, he's violating vehicle licensure laws as well.

(4) OSHA is going to have issues with an employee sleeping on company property
-- for his safety. OSHA fines are a bad time.

(5) If the vehicle burst into flames and the occupant locked inside suffered a
slow and agonizingly painful death, you can bet that Google will be found to
have some liability for wrongful death, including lost wages and suffering,
because they knew about an illegal squatter and did nothing to remove him from
the property. Double their financial liability if another occupant was having
a sleepover with him.

So: the worst case scenario is being in trouble with many local, state, and
federal entities, as well as 7-8 figure wrongful death lawsuits.

> at least until thousands of others start to do the same thing and google has
> a shanty town on its hands

I hadn't even considered the moral hazard here if Google does nothing about
this!

------
pavornyoh
In light of this article, won't he be kicked of the lot? But well played by
him. My only worry is if he will be able to get/attract a "little action" in
the truck parked in the lot you know..

~~~
copperx
First thing that came to mind, too. However, he can always go to his partner's
residence for action.

~~~
pavornyoh
>However, he can always go to his partner's residence for action.

You are right I suppose. That thought process eluded me:). It all works out
then.

~~~
GauntletWizard
Well, not if they've also decided on this money-saving option. Coming soon to
downtown Mountain View: Japanese-style love hotels.

~~~
pavornyoh
>Coming soon to downtown Mountain View: Japanese-style love hotels.

I had to google that. Interesting concept.

------
carsongross
C'mon man, at least do it right and get one of these guys:

[http://www.tonke.eu/us/collection/woodline](http://www.tonke.eu/us/collection/woodline)

------
personjerry
I give it a week before this is spun into some sort of attack on the culture
of the tech industry.

~~~
beatpanda
I doubt it, what this guy is doing is standard practice in the oil fields in
North Dakota and nobody seems to have anything to say about that.

~~~
hugh4
Journalists don't go to the oilfields of North Dakota and don't socialise with
people who work there, so they might as well not exist.

~~~
beatpanda
Hi, journalist who went to North Dakota and socialized with oil field workers
here. There were dozens of stories written about workers there last year, as
well as photo essays and documentaries.

~~~
hugh4
Heh. Well, there's always an outlier.

------
roflchoppa
I wonder if he stays overnight on the campus, or if he parks the truck out
somewhere. Not a bad idea, but ill take commuting via motorcycle and staying
at my pops place. Although traffic on 880 is absolute shit.

------
betolink
This is cool and all but sometimes you need some distance between you and your
workplace. Being there all day wouldn't be optimal for me.

------
sabujp
I would so do this if I didn't have a family. Also, I don't think he's the
first one at google to do this.

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PebblesHD
According to his blog, his savings will have broken even as of today and since
early this morning, his savings have reached nearly $200 in the black. Thats
pretty impressive all things considered, he's payed off the truck and other
expenses and is now making money of this setup.

------
fallinghawks
Lockheed has allowed employees to live in its parking lot for at least a
decade if not two.

------
IvanDenisovich
If only there was any sort of work in tech outside of Silicon Valley, us
engineers wouldn't have to choose between saving money and pooping indoors.

Imagine that.

~~~
gavinh
Try NYC, Boston, or London.

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johan_larson
I wonder how popular arrangements like this can get before Google puts a stop
to it. It would be easy.

------
billconan
companies could build a bunk bed on top of each cubicle, that would solve this
issue perfectly.

------
vasilipupkin
how expensive is it to rent a normal studio apartment near Google? I seem to
be the minority here, but it seems crazy to me to live out of a van, rather
than a normal apartment.

edit: somewhere around 2200 a month? it doesn't seem worth the savings to not
have an appt

------
beatpanda
Ladies and gentlemen, meet the smartest person working at Google.

~~~
copperx
I would do something very similar, in fact.

~~~
cooper12
There was a guy who slept inside AOL's campus too, except on the couches:
[http://www.cnet.com/news/meet-the-tireless-entrepreneur-
who-...](http://www.cnet.com/news/meet-the-tireless-entrepreneur-who-squatted-
at-aol/)

~~~
johan_larson
Google has sleep-pods specifically designed for naps. It would be easy -- and
very comfortable -- to sleep in them through the night. I suspect security has
orders not to disturb people who do this.

~~~
cooper12
These sound neat. Surprisingly high tech too. From the pictures I just assumed
it would feel claustrophobic and have that "tunnel sound" effect. I'm assuming
they're meant for naps though, at least their original purpose. Google is also
special in a way because they offer pretty much everything so people don't
have to leave if they don't need to; they do call it a campus.

