You may already know that I started working at Google in fall of 2018, in Zurich, Switzerland. What you may not know is that, when this became an opportunity, I originally intended to apply for a position in San Francisco. I have been travelling and exploring the US quite a bit over the past few years and always enjoyed spending time there, so working and living there is an exciting experiment for me. Plus, I loved the idea to go for a bigger change, somewhere further away. Although they were interested in that too though, the conclusion was that obtaining a work visa would have delayed my start date way too much. Hence I moved to Zurich and started working there, and we\u2019d be revisiting a relocation to San Francisco at a later date. It\u2019s still hard to believe for me that it is happening now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite all my excitement, I also very much enjoyed my time in Zurich. It\u2019s likely one of the most beautiful cities I\u2019ve been to, and the surroundings are gorgeous too for many reasons. My personal favorite way to enjoy them was to go hiking. City-wise, Zurich has so much to offer, and especially the summer there was outstanding. Going to free open air parties with chill vibes at daytime by the river or the lake, with the mountain scenery in the background is hard to beat. Location-wise I\u2019m especially gonna miss my favorite city \u201cmountain\u201d (not a mountain by Swiss standards), the Uetliberg. I can certainly see myself living here again some day. I truly mean it – who knows where life will take you, who knows how much I\u2019ll like it here over time. If I move back to Europe, then Zurich is on top of my list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, Zurich is only a place. What makes me actually leave with a heavy heart is to leave my local colleagues and friends from there behind. It\u2019s been a ton of fun to work with all of y\u2019all. While all of us are working hard, there\u2019s still been time for occasional fun, stupid jokes and retarded actions. Particularly, we make so many bad puns that there have been puns on puns, and sometimes you catch yourself thinking about a pun in a serious conversation that you just can\u2019t get out there right now – it\u2019s a pun mindset. To paint a small picture, I\u2019ve been sitting with Pascal and Thierry from our immediate team, Mariya who is the product manager of the Site Kit plugin, Anna who is a video producer, and John, Martin, and Gary from the WTA team (although some of them actually travel even more than we do). You have all been a really enjoyable work environment, and it\u2019s been great how well we worked together, having fun at the same time and facepalming each other. I want to give a quick callout to my closer colleagues and friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mariya, I really appreciate how you have tolerated our puns despite them sometimes derailing entire conversations. Although you probably don\u2019t want to admit it, you\u2019ve become great at puns as well, and you should join the \u201cBad Puns\u201d Google group too. I have learned a ton from you about product management, something very foreign to me before. I think over time, we have developed great trust in each other to do the right thing, and I really appreciate how well we collaborate between the product direction and engineering side. Please take care of my downosaur well!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thierry, you have become a great inspiration and friend to me, as well as my pun buddy. I\u2019m amazed by your planning skills and how you have shaped project management of Site Kit to become a super well-oiled machine and a highly enjoyable project to work on. We have ways to go, but I can\u2019t believe how far we\u2019ve come already, and I\u2019m excited for where we\u2019ll go in the future. And despite your name, not only do you strive in theory, but also in practice. You have really supported me and helped me grow in the months so far, and I couldn\u2019t ask for a better colleague who I connect with so well on a both work and personal level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pascal, we already hung out quite a bit before I moved to Zurich and before we started this job, but I feel like it\u2019s really become a great friendship in the past year. I appreciate so much how you just took me along to all kinds of events and parties with your local friends when I didn\u2019t know anybody here, and now I can call some of them friends too. And while we haven\u2019t actually worked together that<\/em> much, it\u2019s always been helpful to have you around for regular consultation and more pun fun. And although we sometimes joke about it, I can actually learn a ton from how chill you are (in a good way). Thanks for becoming such a great friend!<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of you, I will dearly miss you and our overall vibe and chemistry while working on location. But at least, I\u2019m looking forward to still collaborating closely with you, having regular meatings, and even occasional cheesings when I\u2019ll be visiting Zurich. Thank you for being who you are! I\u2019m already excited to see you again so soon in Bangkok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, I\u2019m excited for working with my new on-location colleagues in San Francisco though too: Alberto, Crystal, Ilya, Paul, Renee, Sam, Terry, I can\u2019t wait to enjoy work with you, learn from you, and have fun with you! But be aware that with me you will get Pundora\u2019s box: It is pundemic and cannot be healed. I hope you won\u2019t be too annoyed, and if you are, I hope the annoyance is quickly going to turn into smilingly shaking your head. My personal OKR is for all of you to make bad puns. Okay, on a more serious note: I\u2019m excited to work with you in person!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Except for the different location and local colleagues, as already hinted at, not that much else will change. I\u2019m really excited to be here, get to know the area and surroundings (more hikes!), and work from the San Francisco offices with my colleagues here. It’s going to be great being closer to the hub of Google in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Working at Google, particularly with this amazing cross-continent team I am part of, has been nothing but inspiring and delightful, I continue to learn a ton every day. And I\u2019m happy to walk to the office every day. After more than a year, I can still say I cannot imagine going back to being remote (myself two years ago would have laughed at me). I hope to remain a part of this for a very long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"View](\"https:\/\/felix-arntz.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/zurich-uetliberg-1024x336.jpg\")
The People<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/felix-arntz.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/downosaur-on-kilimanjaro-1024x768.jpg\")
![\"Thierry,](\"https:\/\/felix-arntz.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/ugly-switzerland-shirt-768x1024.jpg\")
The Future<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Wuppertal's](\"https:\/\/felix-arntz.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/wuppertal-san-francisco-768x1024.jpg\")
![\"Street](\"https:\/\/felix-arntz.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/california-is-close-to-switzerland-1024x768.jpg\")