Florida-Based Magic Leap Builds Its Team With Bay Area Hires 161
Tekla Perry writes Stealthy 'cinematic reality' company Magic Leap may be based in Florida--but it's doing a lot of hiring from the Bay Area, scooping up engineers from Pixar, Google, Apple, and Intel--along with a few Willow Garage alums. And it's got openings for many many more. Are all these folks with long-term Silicon Valley roots really going to move to South Florida? Or is Magic Leap getting ready to open up a Silicon Valley research center to house the brain trust it is gathering? Here's what we know about Magic Leap and its technology, who's joining it, and what other kinds of engineers the company aims to hire.
Magic Leap has a lot of money to do all that hiring, having just raised more than half a billion dollars, the bulk of it from Google. If you're working in the Bay Area now, would you look forward to a move to Florida, or rather stay where you are?
Nice ad as story you've got there (Score:5, Insightful)
How much did this plug cost Timothy?
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
And enough to hire you to do some Perl programming.
Re: (Score:2)
[desperately tries to think of something snarky to say about Dan's sig]
I got nuthin'.
Re: (Score:2)
Bay Area to S.Fla ... They could've just asked how many people would prefer to leap from one frying pan into another frying pan...
Perhaps there would be a lower cost of living and fewer distractions from work to locate in Omaha, not to mention its centralized location.
And you get to live in Florida!!! (Score:4, Interesting)
Add in punishing heat, humidity and the fact that you're smack dab in Hurricane Alley with things only getting worse with climate change and you'll realize WHY Florida is a cheaper place to live. But if you don't care about any of that and like cheap seafood and good ol' boy values, then maybe Florida is the state for you!
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Boca Raton resident here. I agree completely with the OP. Florida gets a bad rap in the media which is hard to apply to such a diverse state. Having been born here the heat and humidity seem normal.
I work as an embedded software engine
Re: (Score:2)
If I could make enough money to have my current lifestyle in coastal CA, I'd move tomorrow.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I thought they were. Another name recycled, but the Australian one is far cooler. It was founded by Batman! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Batman)
Re: (Score:2)
Orlando-area resident here, and I couldn't agree more. I like the jab about hurricanes too, especially since in my 20 years of living here, Charley was the only really bad hurricane we had [here in Central FL], and it's been beyond quiet since then. Anecdotal, but relevant given his "only getting worse" assertion.
Re: (Score:3)
its not size that matters, its how you use it.... or so I'm told :)
Florida is a big place, if it has the kind of diversity in its cultures as the poster described, then so what if its geographically tiny or like the Siberian steppes?
If his point is valid re diversity, then why nitpick over some subjective quantity, especially when 'huge' can be applied to geographically small things such as my back yard,
Re: (Score:2)
Lol, I thought the same thing!!
Re: (Score:2)
Depends on where in Florida. You realize it is a big state...
Here in N Florida (Gainesville) we've had snow as many times as hurricane hits in my life time.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Not state income tax, while in California your income tax fed + state can reach 50%.
Probably why the company is in Florida, the state that ALLOWS you to do business, vs California where you pay your fees, taxes, and still get protested for daring to run a bus to pick up workers.
Re: And you get to live in Florida!!! (Score:2, Funny)
And yet it seems that CA does have at least a few successful businesses.
Re: (Score:2)
only the ones that make no profit whatsoever, no sir, none, its all been taken up by purchasing IP from our, erm,, a company based offshore.
Re: (Score:1)
The move to Florida will be a bit difficult for man Silicon Valley folks.
The move to Florida would be insanely difficult for any human being with two brain cells to rub together. Even if you ignore the insane politics and wacky residents, living in a pancake-flat state with no recreational opportunities outside of Disney World, with dripping-hot sweaty weather, is not most people's idea of fun. Florida is popular amongst the 70+ year old set; desirable Silicon Valley engineering staff is around 30 years old.
Personally I'd be perfectly willing to move there.... at $5 million a ye
Re:And you get to live in Florida!!! (Score:4, Insightful)
After having worked in both SoCal and Florida, I'd choose Florida hands down. Maybe you should get out more.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Weather wise - I mean - you can have your pick.
Sure, you can have hurricanes with hot, humid weather, or you can have hurricanes with humid, hot weather.
Re: (Score:2)
Weather wise - I mean - you can have your pick.
Sure, you can have hurricanes with hot, humid weather, or you can have hurricanes with humid, hot weather.
I moved to Florida from the SF Bay Area a few years ago. I have yet to see a hurricane. The area that I live in hasn't seen a hurricane since something like 1994. That's only 5 years more recently than the Loma Prieta earthquake. The weather is usually in the high 70's or low 80's during the spring and fall. Most of the summer the weather hangs out around 92 degrees. Some summer days are nicer here than in the Bay Area (like when you have a high pressure system over the Sierra Nevada mountains). Duri
Re: (Score:3)
A regular silicon valley salary would be an insanely good income in Florida, at least for someone in the tech industry. I left Florida to move to silicon valley, and got a very nice bump (which exceeded the living expense difference) in the process.
Of course having left Florida, I'm not sure I'd want to move back there.
Re: (Score:2)
Don't forget to mention six inch long cockroaches that fly.
*BLUB* (Score:2, Troll)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
But if you don't care about any of that and like cheap seafood and good ol' boy values, then maybe Florida is the state for you!
Well with the rise of Brogrammer culture, it seems like the under-30 men should fit in just great in Florida and its good ol' boy values.
Re: (Score:1, Interesting)
Wow, really? Your example of Florida backwardness is the ERA from the 1980s, and women voting from the teens?
Shame on you! Those examples are how Florida was backwards generations ago. Florida is backwards in an entirely new way now! This is the state that required people on welfare to get drug tests. (Despite people on welfare using drugs at lower rates than middle class americans). Or how about the truly moronic "Stand your ground" laws?
Floridians have worked VERY hard to make their state stand out
Re: (Score:3)
Being white and a military officer definitely had its advantages and enabled me to fly under the radar for the most part. Leaving in '77 was one of the happier days of my life.
Old Times there are not forgotten, look away, look away Dixieland.
Re:And you get to live in Florida!!! (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, I looked for a location for the company and it said Dania Beach, which is along the Atlantic Ocean side probably about 20 miles north of Miami. While Florida may be "red" state, the Miami area is pretty "blue."
That said, a company I used to work for got bought and we all ended up moving down to Miami. I was in my mid-20s and Miami was a pretty fun place. Lots of fun bars in Coconut Grove and South Beach (which stay open until 4AM!). You have a warm ocean, so you don't need to put on wetsuit if you're spending more than 10 minutes in the water.
The heat and humidity? Yeah, it can be bad. Make sure you live someplace with a pool. That solved the problem for me. Also, it's one of those cases where pretty much every place you live has central A/C. If they don't, you don't want to live there.
About the only issue I had was that after a year or so in Miami, I felt like I'd been everywhere and done everything. And once you get out of Miami/Dade, you're in The South which definitely was grating.
Re: (Score:2)
Florida is a purple state from high elevation. As you go to lower altitudes it becomes blotchy red and blue.
Re: (Score:2)
Although for the right company it could be considered, one that can forward your career, is fun to work at, etc. But Magic Leap? Never heard of it, won't even bother looking it up because it sounds stupid on the face of it, probably infested completely with marketing types with no real engineers.
I take that back, I looked them up. I still can't tell what they do. But they sure to waste a ton of time making flashy web pages that say nothing at all. Anyone who moves to Florida to join them deserves what
Re:And you get to live in Florida!!! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Perhaps the answer is taxes (Score:3)
While Florida is not the most attractive and friendly place to do business, but it surely beats California, which has for several years been elected as the worst place to do business, in the same bucket with New York and New Jersey.
Florida has no income tax, climate is subtropical and, more importantly, Florida is giving additional tax incentives to move jobs to Florida.
My own employer has opened office in Tampa and relocated 250 jobs from NJ; that is probably only the beginning.
Re:Perhaps the answer is taxes (Score:4, Insightful)
The first thing I though of was, apart from being a (slightly) Red state, Florida is also one of those states that makes it impossible to form labor unions, which is quite relevant to a company that wants to make "cinematic" experiences. South Florida, Miami in particular, is a sorta notorious hothouse for non-union filmmaking and is a really popular destination for "venture capital" types that want to try to do movie or movie-like things while avoiding the entertainment guilds.
Sure, the Apple and Pixar people don't care about unions. But, if this company is a cover for some kind of content operation, they'll need need writers, actors, directors, camera crews that know all about 3D and MoCap, trained grips and stagehands, editors, sound people... South Florida is well stocked with relatively qualified people in all these job categories.
People who do VFX and animation generally haven't joined the stage guilds, but their employers here in LA have been so abusive (really just flaky) lately that there's been buzzing that the animation guild, IATSE 829, was finally making a push to get them signed -- 829 has jurisdiction in SF as well. But not in Florida.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know if Australia has stronger film unions than the US, Britain is another common runaway production destination and their union is moribund (thanks Maggie). These place aren't attractive due to the cheap labor, they're attractive because Australia and Canada use government tax revenues and credits to pay producers to shoot there. Many med
Re:Perhaps the answer is taxes (Score:4, Insightful)
There's a lot of better states to move than Florida; two of them are directly north of California.
California is an excellent place to be an employee:
1) there's tons of companies there, so if one job doesn't work out, just walk across the street and get a new one.
2) non-compete clauses are unenforceable in California, so employers can't prevent you from working within your industry if you leave that company. The same isn't true in most other states.
There's a reason (or really, many reasons) why Silicon Valley is so successful, and why no one has been able to copy that success though many have tried (like "Silicon Alley" in NYC--what a joke). Many foolish places keep trying to pitch themselves as "the next Silicon Valley", but for most of them it's a pathetic joke because they don't make the changes actually needed to make such a place successful.
Florida is a terrible place to try to set this up for reasons others have stated here: it's a Red State (remember, you're trying to attract hip and well-educated 20- and 30-somethings who are generally non-religious, and a GOP stronghold is not attractive to them), it's full of old people and crazy people, the politics are insane, the weather is terrible (remember, we're talking about people living in the Bay Area, which has excellent mild weather), and of course, it's not already a tech hub unlike places like Boston, Seattle, or RTP, so if this job doesn't work out, they'll have to move back to California. The whole idea is just dumb.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Silicon Valley weathered the 2008 bubble better than most of the country and bounced back very quickly. Unemployment is quite low and there are a lot of new tech companies going in. Currently things are far more diverse than they were when the dot com bubble burst.
Part of it is the whole environment of Silicon Valley which is not easy to duplicate. Silicon Valley rewards failure. If your last two startup ventures failed, you're more likely to get support for a new one. People also hop from company to compan
Re: (Score:3)
Silicon Valley really should have happened in Texas, but the one thing they didn't have was a willingness to let people from all over the world bring in their good ideas to a plac
Really? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
No income tax. How does the government function? Or are you the type of state that thinks no government is good government, shrinking it down until everyone is forced to be home schooled because schools can't exist, and no roads for buses to travel on to take kids to school.
I am not a liberal, but sheesh the no-tax people need to get some sort of clue.
Re: (Score:3)
In TX, state revenues come from Sales Tax, which is inherently progressive because sales tax is not applied to food items
No, sales tax is not inherently progressive. Property taxes and sales taxes are most regressive taxes there is. Texas may make some allowances for food items, but that does almost nothing when it comes to making their tax system progressive. And while Texas is not the most regressive state, it is in the top 5.
Looking at Texas and California, for example, here is a comparison of how regressive their taxes are. Each group represents family income for non-elderly taxpayers. source [itep.org]
Taxes paid by:
Lowest 20% - CA
Re: (Score:2)
I agree. If only we could get these yahoos to believe it is all bunk too.
http://www.ocregister.com/arti... [ocregister.com]
http://moneymorning.com/2013/0... [moneymorning.com]
http://www.businessweek.com/ar... [businessweek.com]
Oh, and maybe we should get google to forget those and all those other stories it brings up when searching for businesses that left California. Or maybe, we can close our eyes and ignore it all and nothing can happen right?
Re: (Score:1)
Life's that horrible there, eh? Gee, I can't figure out why the place hasn't been abandoned yet. I mean the exodus must be biblical in size. Well, maybe one quick stop in Palm Springs can't hurt...
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know about biblical in size but it certainly is not "not happening" or made up/bunk as suggested.
Re: (Score:1)
Let me put it another way. Is it statistically noticeable? Do gas and cigarette taxes have to go up to match the losses?
Re:Perhaps the answer is taxes (Score:4, Informative)
Oh, it's certainly happening. As you point out, in 2011, 234 companies left California.
What's entertaining is about 132,000 new businesses were started [cnn.com]--tied with Texas. And California leads the nation in job creation [cbsnews.com], which is why these other states are trying to steal businesses from California.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
I agree. If only we could get these yahoos to believe it is all bunk too.
So much written about so little. They've been beating those drums for literally decades, and yet California somehow still stands.
Makes you think maybe there's more to the story than the constant California-is-doomed narrative.
Crazy (Score:4, Insightful)
You know, California and Florida both have more than their fair share of crazy people. The main difference comes down to what flavor of crazy you're talking about. In California, it's an asset. In Florida, it's fucking frightening.
So no. I would not move from the Bay Area to Florida.
Re:Crazy - fairly good summary (Score:5, Funny)
Really? (Score:1)
Which breed of crazy? Fuck you, I'm stealing everything you have crazy? Yeah, I made the move. We're small, 23 jobs, but that's 23 jobs that CA threw away with the fuck you taxes, and all of the same shitty school and drug problems.
Re: (Score:2)
Which breed of crazy? Fuck you, I'm stealing everything you have crazy? Yeah, I made the move. We're small, 23 jobs, but that's 23 jobs that CA threw away with the fuck you taxes, and all of the same shitty school and drug problems.
Wow. That was so lucid. I don't know what state you're in, but it's where I don't want to be lol.
Re: (Score:2)
You sound like a *wonderful* employer to work for. And by "wonderful" I mean "spiteful, bipolar coke addict with antisocial personality disorder." You didn't punish California, you punished the first people who worked for you and made made your company work.
I'm not an employer, bro.
Re:Really? (Score:4, Informative)
The breed of crazy that will shoot you dead for walking home at night from a convenience store.
Re: (Score:2)
The breed of crazy that will shoot you dead for walking home at night from a convenience store.
Or on a Bart platform.
Re: (Score:2)
Which breed of crazy? Fuck you, I'm stealing everything you have crazy? Yeah, I made the move. We're small, 23 jobs, but that's 23 jobs that CA threw away with the fuck you taxes, and all of the same shitty school and drug problems.
Sounds like you made the right move. That is, good riddance. Glad you're gone.
Re: (Score:1)
I would move there just to watch California and Florida drivers mix it up.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Most drivers in SV do 10-15 _over_ the speed limit when traffic is open. Elderly generally stay off the freeways except on Sunday... Sunday drivers tend to be slow road boulders.
Re: (Score:2)
geography meets politics (Score:2)
As a Floridian please don't come (Score:1)
The North Easterners are already destroying our state we don't need West Coasters to finish it off.
Re: (Score:2)
Woud not move to Florida (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Hanging around for family (Score:2)
That said, the first 6 years of my parent's marriage they lived in a dozen states (dad worked for the military, they moved him like a PFC). The only state they both hated was Florida. Not due to politics, taxes, or any of that other stuff. It was the bugs and the weather they hated.
I spent a couple weeks in Key West a decade or so ago and enjoyed it tho.
Re: (Score:2)
The Keys are a chain of islands with a very different culture from the rest of Florida. They even called themselves the "Conch Republic" at one point during a political stunt.
I imagine the weather in Key West is rather different than much of Florida, being a Caribbean island, whereas much of mainland Florida is swamps.
So don't let your experiences in Key West give you the wrong idea about the place where this company is setting up shop (Fort Lauderdale I believe).
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Rent there, don't buy, unless it is a boat. Rising sea levels could turn your beautiful beachfront property into underwater property. The boat might help you escape.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, but I'd think that on an island, the insects wouldn't be nearly as bad as in a mainland swamp. Isn't there usually more wind on islands? Bugs don't do well with wind.
"Magic Leap" (Score:1)
Yeah, watch your money do a disappearing act and take a 'magic leap' offshore...
I have done the reverse (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That's an interesting take. You found Miami to be uber conservative?
He must not have been interfacing with the poor.
Florida's a hole (Score:2)
Basically a warmer and poorer version of New Jersey. But it does have one major thing going for it compared to the Bay Area -- you don't have to be a dot-com millionaire to buy a house.
FL is fine... (Score:1)
Finally, something I'm qualified to answer! (Score:4, Interesting)
As a former Bay Area resident who now lives in Florida, my advice is to stay in California if you can afford to and if you're okay with your current job. Florida isn't totally horrible, but CA is a million times better, ESPECIALLY the Bay Area. Two things off top of my head: the weather is better out there, and there's a whole lot more going on. Every month, it seems, I see an ad for some cool event or something happening right there were used to live. I'd move back in a second if I could afford to. Never should have left, but oh well, that's how life goes sometimes.
Re: (Score:3)
Here's the important thing: lose a job in Silicon Valley, there are many nearby and you wont' have to relocate. Maybe a longer commute though. Lose a tech job in Florida and you're in trouble.
Re: (Score:2)
As long as you don't mind working in military simulation, there are always tons of jobs in Orlando and Melbourne. Can't speak for the other cities in Florida.
Re: (Score:2)
There's always cool shit going on here in Orlando. Where do you live?
many people looking to leave (Score:2)
Between the high housing costs, traffic jams, and dysfunctional politics, I think many people are looking to leave the Bay Area.
I moved from bay area to Dallas about 15 years ago (Score:3)
And even then, the money I no longer paid to California in income tax more than paid the mortgage on a 3000 sq ft house I had built.
Yeah I had to give up some stuff - never ending traffic jams, earthquakes, brush fires, wine snobs, ethnic variety of restaurants, shitty service everywhere, shitty public schools, milder weather, nice views from places I could never afford to live, but I managed to survive.
California is a great place if you are rich enough to be able to afford to live there without working. For everyone else it is hell on earth.
Florida? Hmmm. I lived there once. Not too sure about the politics- the frightened old people population ensures that it will remain hard core republican for at least another generation. Dallas wasn't much different- there it was frightened stupid people who kept the politics "amusing". The weather can be rough for some, but if you like water sports Florida has nice, warm seas.
Yeah, I think I'd take Florida over California.
Re: (Score:2)
I've lived in Dallas. I now live in the Bay Area. Guess which one I prefer?
Hint: the one that's not full of racist motherfuckers.
Re: (Score:2)
yeah, well, there is that...
Magic Leap is having teams in both S FL and Califo (Score:1)
You should have looked through the jobs before writing this entry, a few reference Florida positions working with the teams in California. It sounds like they are keeping teams in both places.
Also Dania Beach is basically Hollywood, FL, where FLL airport is located. The Magic Leap offices there are in the Design Center of the Americas, just off I-95. One could easily do the commute from Miami, which is a great place to live (I've been here 14 years and coincidentally work for a company that has a team h
Moved to CA from FL.. (Score:1)
...about 6 months ago, for a tech job. Lived in FL for 30 years, and our families/friends were there too. Hard decision. I have learned a few things:
Housing/COLA - FL wins hands-down. CA is insanely expensive if you want a decent neighborhood with above-average schools (not perfect, but good). We won't own a home anytime soon. In FL I could have half the salary and still get a nice place in a good neighborhood. Rest of costs of living are mostly similar.
Weather - CA wins (mostly). FL weather was 90 degrees,
California Weather (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I'd love to be up somewhere a bit farther north like Ukiah, or Willits CA.
The weather up there isn't the same. The SF bay has a fairly profound effect on the weather around the bay area (the infamous "microclimates") and that changes pretty radically just immediately outside of the hills that surround the Bay Area.
That said, the weather in San Francisco proper -- the 7x7 city itself, plus a few of the cities immediately to the South -- pretty much sucks balls. It's cold in the summer, and kind of drizzly and blah in the winter. Silicon Valley weather, on the other hand, is (IMHO)
It's 2014 and you can live wherever you want. (Score:1)
... thanks to the magic of high speed Internet service. I've been importing cash from the Californian job market to Key West for 7 years now, with no apparent end in sight. I'm not interested in convincing you to live here, though, particularly since so many appear to already have their minds made up, and besides, this place is about as full as it needs to be. I would urge you however, to seriously consider living in a free state (Washington perhaps?) in an area with reasonable-enough rent that you may cons
So they're moving from Tampa to Miami? (Score:2, Interesting)
If you're in Tampa or St. Petersburg, FL, or really anywhere in Florida, the term "bay area" means the area around Tampa Bay. It's the common usage of the term--you have a bay in your state, and you know that's the area "bay area" refers to.
It is a pet peeve of mine that people mistakenly/rudely use the term as if it can only refer to one specific bay area in the world, instead of saying "SF Bay Area" in a headline, for instance. No matter how popular such incorrect and rude word usage is, using the gener
Re: (Score:2)
You should just get a divorce and move. No marriage is worth that kind of misery. It sounds like your kids are already grown up and moved out anyway, so it's not like you have to worry about custody disputes.
Re: Outsourcing is it (Score:1)
Disney. Next question?
Re: (Score:2)
Who in Florida could do this? None but the very old and very Cuban in Florida. At least down in the wang part.
Disney. Next question?
The Walt Disney Studios - 500 S. Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California
Walt Disney Animation Studios - 2100 W. Riverside Drive, Burbank, California
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures - 500 S. Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment - Burbank, California
Disney Interactive Studios - Glendale, California
I couldn't find one major non-theme park division of Disney headquartered in Florida, although I didn't look much harder than Wikipedia.
Perhaps you should answer the quest