The Way We Work Now

The Google Employee Who’s Fleeing Silicon Valley

When Google announced we’d be working remotely until at least the summer of 2021, I decided it’s time to pack up and leave

Mai Tran
GEN
Published in
4 min readAug 13, 2020

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Photo illustration. Source: Carsten Koall/Getty Images

The Way We Work Now is a series chronicling how people’s lives and careers have fundamentally changed because of the pandemic.

This anonymous software engineer is in their twenties and works for Google. They spoke with Mai Tran about the tech company’s decision to extend remote work for at least a year.

I moved to the Bay three years ago for the tech industry. I wanted to be a part of that and to learn more about the software ecosystem around there. Google definitely epitomizes that culture, good and bad.

I think Google was one of the first companies to go fully remote, starting early March. In the beginning, I saw it mostly as an opportunity to see my family in Ohio. My dad is in pretty good health, he’s a physician, and I have one brother who’s a little bit younger than me. I definitely did not see my grandparents, who also live in the same community, but it was nice to be at home for a few weeks, which is pretty rare. We’re all getting older and don’t really get to do that anymore.

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