the EA experience

Tonight Kenny gave Tanya and I a tour of his workplace (EA - Electronic Arts). It's a very interesting place to work at. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside the building so I can't show you all the techie stuff. Kenny said that we couldn't go into sensitive areas of the building (game development) but could basically look through the doors.

The facility boasts:

• an interactive console at the entrance to enter your name and info (so that the security guards can print you out a personalized visitors pass)
• live orchids at the majority of the seating areas (I couldn't resist checking for myself)
  
• full sized outdoor soccer field, basketball court and beach volleyball court
  
• indoor basketball court, yoga studio (with Kinesis machines), dance studio and a weight room that could rival any FitnessWorld location
• standing taning booth and towels at the entrance of the gym for everyone's use
  
• every floor has it's own coffee station with the "works" - looks like a bar to me
• the cafeteria is called "EAt" - it had the same layout as a fancy restaurant (including a private party table/room)
• sound dampeners above the booths in the cafeteria so that you can eat, chat with friends or watch TV without having to listen to other people's conversations
  
• lounge areas that are etched with inspirational quotes and well designed furniture that is both esthetically appealing and ergonomically correct
  
• the conference rooms and some hallways have their own names. I was amused by the name of the hallway to IT Support - "damnation alley"
• vents on the floors that blew air upwards (no vents from the ceilings)
• large server room with each server in it's own casing (yes - only I was excited about this part of the tour)
  
• 2 large conference/movie/lecture halls that are equipped with ergo chairs and individual LAN ports (sorry...the geek in me couldn't help but notice)
• meeting rooms that have the 4 various game consoles (Xbox, Xbox 360, gamecube and Nintendo DS) mounted on the walls incase they need to demo games. They also have tables with built in polycom units (for those of us that attend lots of meetings - these units are very handy).
• an outdoor deck that has a spectacular view of the mountains (and of the soccer field)

Check out the pictures of the outside of the building. After touring the building Tanya and I contemplated what life would be like to work at such a location. They appear to cater to their employees - which is different from life at a crown corp! What to work there? Click here for job postings. After the tour we went out for coffee and chit chatted about life, etc. It was nice to just drink tea and relax with good friends.