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Tips for Noogler Engineers (Noogler = New at Google)

piaw.blogspot.com

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Re: Tips for Noogler Engineers (Noogler = New at Google)

#21

Post by brown9-2 »

Tamerlin wrote: post #13
lkozma wrote: post #5

That must be the most depressing thing I read in quite a while.

Agreed... it's supposedly one of the few remaining companies that actually respect engineers, but this post pretty much comes out and says otherwise in bold, flashing letters. "(Exception: War-room firefighting. Google loves those, and loves heroic performances from people in war-rooms)" The whole "war room" concept in IT has always bothered me -- it's what managers do when they have a crisis that they don't know how…

Given Google's attitude towards perpetual betas, I'm curious if their "war rooms" are more to solve immediate problems (show-stopping bugs, security issues, etc) rather than attempts to "fix" late projects.

Re: Tips for Noogler Engineers (Noogler = New at Google)

#22

Post by moonhorse »

This is very similar to the big company that I work for - we use "visibility" instead of "high profile" though. :) So I suppose when company grows larger, it is inevitable. You just need to adapt to that or leave if you can not stand it. Also, the team and manager you have has big impact on your experiences. I do not believe there is a perfect environment.

Re: Tips for Noogler Engineers (Noogler = New at Google)

#23

Post by neurotech1 »

btilly wrote: post #20

It is worth noting that Piaw quit Google, and so is biased by that, and the experiences leading up to that. And internally lots of people have found lots of things to disagree with about specific items on his list. There are others that there have been pushes to improve on since. So take all of it with a grain of salt. That said, he does have a lot of experience, so you shouldn't lightly disregard what he says either…

My host at Google for my recent tour did say that engineers have limited say with HR and external hiring - which was one of her frustrations.

I think this post skips a big part of the experience at Google. One important use of the 20% time is to check out other areas and projects within Google. If you like the project, consider requesting a transfer to that project.

Re: Tips for Noogler Engineers (Noogler = New at Google)

#26

Post by Husafan »

alain94040 wrote: post #8

I was expecting one more "google is great" love-post. It was anything but. If you are dreaming of joining Google, this is the article to read. Really.

http://xkcd.com/192/

http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/06/23/confirmation-bias/

For people that already have misgivings about interviewing for a position at Google, I'm sure this post was a god send.

I mean, after reading all those "google is great" love-posts, you read one that points out flaws, and all of the sudden that's the one to read? All the others go out the window? How does that work?

Re: Tips for Noogler Engineers (Noogler = New at Google)

#28

Post by frognibble »

kenjackson wrote: post #27

I thought at Google most people, regardless of salary or rep, were just "Software Engineers". If so, how do people know you got a promotion?

Software engineer is the generic title for a number of levels: software engineer II, software engineer III, senior software engineer, staff software engineer, senior staff software engineer, and so on.

I heard that the job titles for engineers above a certain level are shared publicly with in the company.

Re: Tips for Noogler Engineers (Noogler = New at Google)

#29

Post by piaw »

alain94040 wrote: post #8

I was expecting one more "google is great" love-post. It was anything but. If you are dreaming of joining Google, this is the article to read. Really.

Google is still the best big publicly held company in the valley to work for. I wrote this to guide the thousands of Googlers they'll add this year.

Having said that, I've been at well functioning startups, and I've been at Google. Google when I joined was better than many many startups. Google when I left was not so.

Re: Tips for Noogler Engineers (Noogler = New at Google)

#30

Post by piaw »

btilly wrote: post #20

It is worth noting that Piaw quit Google, and so is biased by that, and the experiences leading up to that. And internally lots of people have found lots of things to disagree with about specific items on his list. There are others that there have been pushes to improve on since. So take all of it with a grain of salt. That said, he does have a lot of experience, so you shouldn't lightly disregard what he says either…

Yes. The advice was given to help people move up the ladder, grab the brass ring, and get the big payout. If you want quality of life, that advice is not for you. Then again, if you want quality of life, and money is not that important, I think that a good startup is hard to beat.
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