Right after college, I was enticed by these perks: free food, laundry services, etc. After a few years in industry, I became more interested in the less sexy but more substantive benefits like a competitive salary, a 401K and good medical coverage.
College-like perks and grown-up perks are not always mutually exclusive. My understanding is that Google pays developers well and offers great benefits.
However, my experience has been that some tech companies emphasize their college-like benefits in lieu of providing strong adult benefits. "Stock options? Who needs stock options when you have beanbag chairs?"
If a company is going to play up its college-like perks, it should also bring to the table substantive financial and health-related benefits. Otherwise I can see how it would be difficult to retain young developers as their priorities change.
Still a fridge always full of good food is a perk that's comparably hard to get by oneself. There's still the question whether it is desirable (getting fat is a real problem) but the point remains: some perks can be much more effectively provided by the employer.
On the other hand I hate all kinds of the mandatory fun activities at work. These work as antiperks for me.
Or both, or the company allows employees to reimburse their own ergonomic chair purchase. I actually prefer the latter if I can't find one I like from whatever the office provides.
College-like perks and grown-up perks are not always mutually exclusive. My understanding is that Google pays developers well and offers great benefits.
However, my experience has been that some tech companies emphasize their college-like benefits in lieu of providing strong adult benefits. "Stock options? Who needs stock options when you have beanbag chairs?"
If a company is going to play up its college-like perks, it should also bring to the table substantive financial and health-related benefits. Otherwise I can see how it would be difficult to retain young developers as their priorities change.