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Things I've learned at Google so far

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Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#111

Post by DocSavage »

Sukotto wrote: post #105
nostrademons wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, Google employees individually are not much smarter or more productive than what you'd find in a top-tier computer science department or successful startup. Google's engineering reputation comes from having 20,000 of them, all with access to the same code & information, similar cultural values, and mostly aligned goals. It's a critical mass problem. One smart person is a useful open-source library. T…

Something else I read someplace (so it must be true!) is that Google has maniacally strict rules about what programming languages are allowed and that everything must go into company-wide version control. If that's true, and if they also have good code-conventions, I can see how that would have a magnifying effect on productivity and technology improvement.

As for code conventions, you can see some style guides here: http://code.google.com/p/google-styleguide/

Not sure if they're the same as internal conventions, but I imagine they'd be close.

Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#112

Post by paulbaumgart »

sgk284 wrote: post #108
dschobel wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, thanks! I'd still like to someday understand what makes Google qualitatively different from other companies. Because I don't think 20k smart engineers necessarily yields a functional company nor is immediate access to the top levels always a good thing (for obvious reasons).

I was at Google in 2007, here's my take on it. The people that are working there aren't just the most brilliant in the world, they literally invented a good portion of the internet, computers, computer science, and programming as we know it. They have "the father of the internet" (Vint Cerf), the creator of Vim (Moolenaar), the creator of Python (Guido), the lead developer of Firefox (Goodger), several of the lead Li…

Sounds pretty great. If it's not too personal a question, why did you decide to leave?

Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#113

Post by jlees »

sgk284 wrote: post #108
dschobel wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, thanks! I'd still like to someday understand what makes Google qualitatively different from other companies. Because I don't think 20k smart engineers necessarily yields a functional company nor is immediate access to the top levels always a good thing (for obvious reasons).

I was at Google in 2007, here's my take on it. The people that are working there aren't just the most brilliant in the world, they literally invented a good portion of the internet, computers, computer science, and programming as we know it. They have "the father of the internet" (Vint Cerf), the creator of Vim (Moolenaar), the creator of Python (Guido), the lead developer of Firefox (Goodger), several of the lead Li…

Aw man, I wish I'd joined as an engineer now. The lens I'm seeing the company through (product management) isn't half so cool. I mean, a lot of the above is still true, but we definitely have deadlines, tasks, responsibilities, and the team doesn't seem to eat together all that much. Obviously teams vary though, and this one has been thrown together fairly recently from a very disparate set of people, so that cohesiveness and flexibility isn't really there I guess. Despite all that, it's still pretty awesome.

Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#114

Post by jlees »

nostrademons wrote: post #79
amichail wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think entrepreneurs would be happy there? After all, many compelling ideas would not fair well with Google's data-driven evaluation (at least in the short term).

There are a bunch of ex-entrepreneurs there, including myself. I think their happiness and success depends upon whether their entrepreneurial ideas align with the sorts of projects that Google would be good at, or whether they're better off striking out on their own again.

And even if you itch to strike out on your own, google is a great place to learn a lot of crazy stuff from a lot of crazy smart people-that's certainly a big part of why i'm here.

Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#115

Post by simonk »

lispm wrote: post #90
lispm wrote: post #30

Funny that all these super intelligent people at Google don't understand the need for 'privacy'. Even their boss' public statements about this issue seem to be pretty dumb.

so who is downvoting this? People from Google or the NSA?

Paranoid a little? It was most likely downvoted because it has nothing to do with the article and was see as trolling.

Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#117

Post by alain94040 »

nostrademons wrote: post #78
dschobel wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alright, I'll bite. We've all worked with really bright individuals before. What magically transformative thing happens when they become the average that would be so incredible and unbelievable to non-googlers? I would describe CS grad school as having "really bright people" as the norm, but while pretty cool, I would never deign to think it as incomprehensible to outsiders or that "nobody would believe [me] anyway".…

In my experience, Google employees individually are not much smarter or more productive than what you'd find in a top-tier computer science department or successful startup. Google's engineering reputation comes from having 20,000 of them, all with access to the same code & information, similar cultural values, and mostly aligned goals. It's a critical mass problem. One smart person is a useful open-source library. T…

They are all so smart but not one of them has figured out there needs to be a way in Google Calendar to change your e-mail address?

[cit: http://groups.google.com/group/google-calendar-help-howto/br...]

Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#118

Post by nostrademons »

logicalmind wrote: post #96

One thing I'd like to know about is how google deals with declines in productivity. Undoubtedly, their hiring process gets them highly qualified individuals, at least initially. But over time, there has to be people who become lazy and take advantage of their good graces. And it would be expected that as people age they start a family and their work priorities may take a back seat. Is there some kind of process, ala…

It's the same as pretty much any big company - underperformers are notified that they're underperforming, put on a performance improvement plan to help improve their performance, and if they still don't improve, they're fired.

There're no quotas for removing people (good riddance, the "fire the bottom 10%" school of management always struck me as the best way to create a poisonous, stressful company culture). But it's usually blatantly obvious who the underperformers are...they're the folks who haven't accomplished anything over the last 6 months...

Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#119

Post by nostrademons »

jheriko wrote: post #74
alexgartrell wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having read this article, numerous other articles, heard from Google Employees in large and small settings, and knowing a few Google Interns, I can say one thing with absolute confidence. Google Engineers know that they're the best engineers, ever. I've always found it offputting, but maybe I'm just jealous or something. edit: Worth adding that this is a common thing among many engineers. Also, I know and like a numb…

That can't be right... because I /know/ that games programmers are the best engineers, and Google doesn't make games... ;)

There're a bunch of ex-games-programmers at Google. One of my interviewers used to do 3D shooters and stuff before she came to Google. And Amit Patel, the co-creator of "Don't be evil" and one of the initial architects behind AdWords, runs a pretty popular game programming website.

Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#120

Post by nostrademons »

ojbyrne wrote: post #116

So I'm generally fine with Google as a great company until I deal with SEO people (i.e. the recent Mahalo discussion here). If you're all so great, why do we have to deal with so much pollution on the web?

What are the combined resources thrown at gaming Google's search results? What are the combined resources thrown at preventing people from gaming Google's search results? The webspam team is big and staffed with some incredibly intelligent people, but there are probably millions of people out there that are all trying to figure out how to rank highly in search results.
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