In honor of Day of the Programmer, we’re highlighting some of the unique places that famous programmers call home. After all, data engineers, data scientists and data analysts are some of the most lucrative and well-compensated jobs of this era, so they definitely can afford some enviable digs. Programming lends itself to many industries, some of which have been around a long time and others that are just getting started. Here are how some programmers live in different stages of their careers.
Markus Persson of Minecraft/Mojang
Markus Persson made a splash when he shelled out $70 million for this Beverly Hills bachelor pad. He also put programmers on the map as legitimate celebrities and joining the long list of actors, musicians and athletes that call Beverly Hills home. There’s so much to like about this home, and our personal favorite feature is the infinity pool with a sweeping panoramic view of downtown L.A. and the shores of Malibu Beach. The home raised the bar of architecture and design in L.A., and if he is ever looking to sell I know many Redfin real estate agents would be chomping at the bit to represent Mr. Persson.
Bill Gates of Microsoft, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
While Markus Persson is relatively new to stardom, Bill Gates is the OG of celebrity programmers.
Photo credit: Jeff Wilcox and Success Story
Bill Gates has done wonders in the business world and now is one of the most generous philanthropists through his work with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. His home took seven years to construct and sits on Lake Washington with a picturesque view of the Olympic mountains. The home originally cost around $63 million and was more than 60,000 square feet when built in 1997, but there have been several updates and the layout looks more like a series of bunkers within a hillside now. The interior of the home is lodgelike and has kept design traditions commonly found within the PNW. The complex itself has tennis and basketball courts, beautiful gardens and boat launches – the only downside of the home appears to be the high frequency of Seattle-area boat tours that showcase the property.
The Crypto Castle
While Bill Gates has had a long-tenured career, programmers that are just getting started head to the ‘Crypto Castle’ to launch their careers.
Photo credit: Business Insider
What looks like model of Erlich Bachman’s Silicon Valley home, the Crypto Castle in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill houses the elite of the cryptosphere and was started by Bitcoin’s Jeremy Gardner and Viviane Ford. The home has a continuous influx of programmers that call the confines home from time-to-time, and visitors include Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and BitTorrent founder Bram Cohen, who is looking to start his own new cryptocurrency in the near future. The enterprise value of the home far surpasses what the living space ever will, because the interior resembles more of a frat house than luxury abode. In lieu of a home designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson or Frank Lloyd Wright, the ‘Crypto Castle’ is pretty standard and has bunk beds, moving boxes instead of bookshelves and your run-of-the-mill couches that are commonly found abandoned on the side of the street.
Bobby Murphy of Snapchat
Moving on from the start-up stage to a programmer whose company just went public, Snapchat’s co-founder Bobby Murphy has purchased three homes in Venice, CA recently.
Bobby Murphy purchased his main residence in Venice in 2013, and it’s 2,250 square feet and a block away from Venice beach, making it really easy to get in a morning surf before heading to the office (which is a block away). He purchased the home for $2.1 million and it has a modern interior with lots of natural light, open floor plans and plenty of balconies. The outside of the home resembles what looks like a six pack of beer on a cinder block from the side, and it’s an elevated structure with a full-access roof.
The second home he purchased right after Snapchat’s IPO in Venice is 1,611 square feet and was built in 1952. The residence has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a modern interior. The home could be an investment property, since the home values have been growing in the area and it is located in one of the hottest neighborhoods in Venice. The home itself is nothing to scoff at; there are wood floors, a garden walkway leading to the front door and the interior has a calming, charming feel to it.
Photo credit: Halton Pardee + Partners
Bobby Murphy’s third home purchase, which was also right after Snapchat’s IPO, resembles more of a cottage than lux property. The home is 784 square feet, and it has a large, identifying tree situated in the middle of the lot. He paid a cool $5 million for a 1922 structure that has just two bedrooms and one bathroom – that’s more than $6,000 per square foot of space, for those paying attention. The home has a wooden deck camouflaged with tree branches overlooking the backyard and the interior has a calming presence to help Bobby deal with the stress that comes from leading a publicly traded company.
If you’re keeping tabs, Bobby Murphy spent more than $9 million on his three new homes in Venice. Not exactly chump change, but also not too constraining for someone who has a net worth of $4.5 billion.
Do you have a favorite programmer home? Send us a tweet with a Redfin link and the hashtag #DayoftheProgrammer.
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