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Things I've learned at Google so far

bentilly.blogspot.com

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Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#141

Post by codexon »

nostrademons wrote: post #122
waterlesscloud wrote: post #97

Here's a question, and I don't mean this in a snarky way at all. It's a genuine question. With all these smart people, why has the experience of google search not improved substantially over the last 10 years? Sure, there's more little geegaws in search now, but the experience of finding what I want hasn't gotten any easier.

What are some of the tasks you've had a bad experience with? I work in Google Search, and we actively try to identify areas that people are having difficulty with and then come up with ways to make their search experience better. Unfortunately, most of the low-hanging fruit has already been picked. If we knew precisely where the pain points were, we'd be much better able to solve them.

I think one of the biggest problems is the insane level of reliance Google now has for domain authority.

It feels like a cheap cop-out for controlling spam: the side effect is that you have heavy hitters like Maholo, Target, etc... all out spamming the more relevant websites.

A more general example of this algorithm problem is that it ranks the pages of Digg, HN, or similar to be higher than the actual website it links to, and most of the times those pages are devoid of any actual content, merely containing a couple of votes and no comments.

Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#142

Post by codexon »

simonk wrote: post #115
lispm wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It is marginally related to the article, both being about Google. It isn't fair to say that he was trolling just because half of his comment wasn't discussed in the blog post.

Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#143

Post by chipsy »

gridspy wrote: post #86
jheriko wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The best engineers willing to work in low pay, crunch environments and high staff turnover.

i.e. the engineers who are more interested in solving problems than in monetary incentives.

Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#144

Post by spitfire »

nostrademons wrote: post #122
waterlesscloud wrote: post #97

Here's a question, and I don't mean this in a snarky way at all. It's a genuine question. With all these smart people, why has the experience of google search not improved substantially over the last 10 years? Sure, there's more little geegaws in search now, but the experience of finding what I want hasn't gotten any easier.

What are some of the tasks you've had a bad experience with? I work in Google Search, and we actively try to identify areas that people are having difficulty with and then come up with ways to make their search experience better. Unfortunately, most of the low-hanging fruit has already been picked. If we knew precisely where the pain points were, we'd be much better able to solve them.

webspam. Search for 1935 buick and get back dozens of sites that have "OEM fuel injectors for your 1935 buick" or "OEM stereo for your 1935 buick", etc, etc.

Google has let their core brand go bad.

Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#145

Post by ovi256 »

mixmax wrote: post #87
elblanco wrote: post #51

It's kinda like an organization designed around the pinnacle of Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslows_hierarchy_of_needs

Sex and sexual intimacy seem to be sorely lacking from their organizational chart.

If it provides those too, it's called a cult, not a corporation.

Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#146

Post by nostrademons »

spitfire wrote: post #144
nostrademons wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are some of the tasks you've had a bad experience with? I work in Google Search, and we actively try to identify areas that people are having difficulty with and then come up with ways to make their search experience better. Unfortunately, most of the low-hanging fruit has already been picked. If we knew precisely where the pain points were, we'd be much better able to solve them.

webspam. Search for 1935 buick and get back dozens of sites that have "OEM fuel injectors for your 1935 buick" or "OEM stereo for your 1935 buick", etc, etc. Google has let their core brand go bad.

When I just searched for [1935 buick], the results looked pretty good. The first hit was for the Old Car Manual Project, the second was for HowStuffWorks, the third was "1935 Buick Series 40 Images, Information, and History". I didn't see any OEM links.

When you do find a lot of spam, does Show Options -> Fewer Shopping Sites help?

Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#147

Post by bigbang »

dschobel wrote: post #47
hello_moto wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh... I was referring to the fact that the author just completed his first month at Google... It's hard to judge a company just in one month especially when some people might spend their first week (or two) doing company orientation.

Agreed. I don't doubt that it's an amazing place to work, but every job has its honeymoon phase and the author is definitely in that. I'd be eager to hear an honest assessment from him after a year though. There has to be a reason why brilliant and motivated people leave Google, after all.

For honest assessments, probably reviews on glassdoor.com would help. Blogs are generally going to be positive, as the person's identity is attached to it. Annonymous reviews, has its own problems ofcourse

Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#148

Post by Dove »

aresant wrote: post #60

"You are expected to. . . solve problems . . . Usually by email. The result is an organization which is in a constant state of flux . . . With . . . very large volumes of email." So now we understand Google Wave - they built it for themselves!

I always assumed that was the case. Feel the same way about Office.

Re: Things I've learned at Google so far

#149

Post by krakensden »

jlees wrote: post #42
neilk wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, I should have qualified that. That said, there are a lot of people working as designers in Google, but in my experience they are essentially user interaction designers. The more woolly aspects of design -- like picking a different font just because of how it "feels" -- Google's pretty hostile to that. There's a default concept of "Googliness" which everyone understands to be a kind of high-energy, prima…

Heaven forfend one should use an attractive font on a Google product. Seeing the incredible engineering innovations going on at Google, and the incredible UI innovations going on elsewhere, makes me a little sad - never the twain shall meet, and instead they're redeemed to making shallow copies of each other and never quite hitting the spot. Over-designed and under-engineered, or vice versa. Adding design-led product…

Have you ever considered that maybe designers have created a culture that is not quite congruent with reality, and that their perception of a good interface is not, in fact, always a good interface?

Engineers like the Google style, but so do lots of my acquaintances who are non-engineers, from scientists to writers to school teachers.

Designers seem to be the only demographic with a problem.

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