martinwnet

I'm from the UK and will be visiting SF for a week in April. Is it worthwhile to heading down to Silicon Valley to check it out?

I'm aware a lot of the area is simply large business parks, and companies won't let you just wander into their offices uninvited. These are places of work after all, not tourist attractions.

Having said that...

Is it worth trying to get a tour of the Googleplex? Or trying to get a tour of other headquarters (Facebook/Apple)? Or a tour of Stanford? Is there anything else worth seeing?

I will not have a car either, but suppose I could hire one for the day if it was necessary.

Other suggestions welcomed!

EDIT: If any Google/Apple/Facebook employees can snag me a tour I'd be greatly appreciative, email in profile.

Simple question.

Why don't you only work 6 or 9 months of the year? Or 4 days a week[1]?

In your newfound time you could work on personal/charity projects or add some more to the "life" part of work-life balance, or do anything else you wish.

I think it would be harder to find a 4-day-week job, but taking 3 or 6 months off per year should be doable in this profession due to the nature of the work and very high earnings.

[1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3883268

This was asked about 3 years ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1005067

What is everyone using these days? (Of particular interest to me would be hosting with free usage tiers)