Bloomberg NY vs NJ
My friend just got a new grad SWE offer from Bloomberg. He is interested in ML , AI and Big data technologies. He has the choice between New York and Princeton offices. Any inputs for what he should consider ?
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Amazon querying Jan 24, 2018
NYC is way better for young single guy if that’s the case
Bloomberg GnWt06 Apr 4, 2018
Worked and managed in both offices. For a new grad, the NYC office has more teams, products, and technology. Princeton office has a better work life balance but there is not as much for a young professional around the area compared to NYC. There are a few teams focused on the buzzwords you mention but there is a larger population based in NYC. Think a couple hundred vs couple thousand.
I interned in the Princeton location. It’s very nice - free food, same pay, cheaper CoL. Problem is getting to NYC for work things is a total bitch (2 hr bus ride with no suspension at 6AM only unless you want to take your own way there). Teams are more focused on automating the data being brought into the terminal and building systems to help global data. There is a bunch of ML work being done, though the cutting edge stuff is probably in NYC - I saw applications for detecting forms in PDFs, things like that. There are a handful of internal tools teams as well. WLB is a pain point though, for whatever reason people show up early as hell and there are bunches of cars in the parking lot at 7. I interned on a team where my mentor did 60 hour weeks and it wasn’t that different on the teams my friends were on. Maybe my observations are wrong but that’s just what I noticed. I’d personally prefer Princeton and live at a midpoint between a train station and the office to get to NYC whenever I’d like.
If at Princeton office, why would you need to go to NYC, and how frequently? Also what kind of free food, and does NYC office provide the same?
It depends on your team. Members of my team went over pretty frequently, sometimes because they had to and sometimes because they just wanted to do things in the city after. NYC office does not provide breakfast and lunch, only late dinner (I think the most they have is cereal). Princeton offers all three at relatively reasonable times. Soup is amazing at both locations.