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Why I left Google (HN search results)

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Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#131

Post by puzzle »

rleigh wrote: post #117
b4lancesh33t wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I've been at Google a decade and I strongly don't agree with the notion that it's hyper evangelized as the best place to work. In official communications, yes, but I think most people here are aware of the drawbacks and problems. Maybe even a little too aware. Internal lists are rife with the discussions of even the slightest deviation from perfect execution on the part of management, product teams, the culture,…

When I interviewed with Google, the over-the-top "Google is the best place to work evaaar" attitudes I got from the majority of people I interacted with gave me the distinct impression that it was like some bizarre cult. Most of them were so green they likely hadn't had any other job, so were unlikely to be able to know how silly they appeared to me (having worked for several companies in very different fields).

When I was at Google, some of us actually noticed that employees for which it was their first job sometimes complained more than the others ("zeroth world problems": they switched to smaller plates and trays) and had no idea how much worse it was elsewhere. You'll probably find a mix of everything.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#132

Post by havetocharge »

nilkn wrote: post #34
havetocharge wrote: post #33

You are focusing on the loud minority and ignoring the silent majority.

Maybe it's just that it's interesting and useful to look at why folks have left a workplace that is otherwise hyped up as the best place to work in the industry. We hear plenty about Google being a great place to work. We don't hear so much about why people move on from it.

Most people who leave Google also do so silently, and for same reasons as people leave other companies -- retirement, health, politics, better pay.

It's those who choose to trumpet their cause get the most attention though, and it is representative only of their personalities, rather than the workplace.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#134

Post by chirau »

drewg123 wrote: post #126
nerfhammer wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but once you've spent some time on a team there and are trusted and respected, all that stuff becomes pretty negotiable.

That's what I'd hoped for at Google, and my manager would have been fine with me being remote. However, my VP did not allow remote work. We even lost out on having a fairly famous guy work for our team, because he was unable to transfer a deal he had with his current team where he could work 3 days at home (in Pleasanton, so the commute to Mountain View was terrible).

Out of curiosity, what do you do at Netflix? Jealous

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#135

Post by bradyo »

y3sh wrote: post #6

Tldr politics, glass ceilings, re-orgs, purposeless/abandoned projects. As a former Googler, I can see why people post these: internally Google is hyper-evangelized as the best place to work ever (why would you work anywhere else). When leaving, its a necessary step to form a good argument for yourself as to why you've decided to go against the culture. The personal spin makes it an interesting read.

> As a former Googler, I can see why people post these: internally Google is hyper-evangelized as the best place to work ever (why would you work anywhere else). When leaving, its a necessary step to form a good argument for yourself as to why you've decided to go against the culture.

As another former Googler, this was one of the most concerning things about my experience at Google. The pressure I put on myself and received from others when I was debating whether to leave was enormous, especially because it was my first job. Nevermind the rampant imposter syndrome while you still work there. In hindsight, it was super toxic and led me to stay there even longer than was good for me and burning out harder. I've talked to a few current Googlers and Xooglers who also felt that way.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#136

Post by y3sh »

b4lancesh33t wrote: post #94
y3sh wrote: post #6

Tldr politics, glass ceilings, re-orgs, purposeless/abandoned projects. As a former Googler, I can see why people post these: internally Google is hyper-evangelized as the best place to work ever (why would you work anywhere else). When leaving, its a necessary step to form a good argument for yourself as to why you've decided to go against the culture. The personal spin makes it an interesting read.

Yeah I've been at Google a decade and I strongly don't agree with the notion that it's hyper evangelized as the best place to work. In official communications, yes, but I think most people here are aware of the drawbacks and problems. Maybe even a little too aware. Internal lists are rife with the discussions of even the slightest deviation from perfect execution on the part of management, product teams, the culture,…

Of course not, you're still there :D Jokes aside, its a big company with many offices and tens of thousands of employees. YMMV.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#137

Post by metanoetic »

anowlcalledjosh wrote: post #43
romanovcode wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not using google is much simpler then it sounds. - iPhone - DDG - Firefox/Safari - Some other email then google That's pretty much all you need.

There's also: - cloud storage - shared document editing - translate - instant messaging - calendar - maps Not that any of those have no non-Google alternative, but they're all things that Google offers.

"- translate"

learn every language?

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#138

Post by mattgreenrocks »

saalweachter wrote: post #104
DoreenMichele wrote: post #57

When I worked at Aflac, it was the largest civilian employer in Columbus, GA. It had the tallest building in town. If I made small talk while getting a haircut or buying lunch in town, people would ooh and aah that I had a job there. This was a little funny and surreal because I could not get promoted out of my entry level job. I felt like a loser, yet here were people acting like I'm not worthy . When I quit, I left…

I think this is accentuated because for a lot of people, when you move across the country right after college to work at a big company like Google, it becomes your life . Early on, you don't know anyone and you spend way too much time working because that's what you do when you're fresh out of college new hire in a new town. As time goes on, most of the friends you make are friends from work and even if you get a pre…

The whole "work is life" thing is pretty weird, and I'm ambitious. Life has lots of interesting things that have nothing to do with JavaScript, why would you waste your youth on yet another JS framework?

I somewhat regret the large amounts of time I put into my side projects when I was young (20s). They definitely produced results in my career, but I'm uncertain if they provided that much of a boost. From my vantage point, you can get along quite well by latching on to a bandwagon and networking, rather than working so hard.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#139

Post by y3sh »

hinkley wrote: post #49
y3sh wrote: post #6

Tldr politics, glass ceilings, re-orgs, purposeless/abandoned projects. As a former Googler, I can see why people post these: internally Google is hyper-evangelized as the best place to work ever (why would you work anywhere else). When leaving, its a necessary step to form a good argument for yourself as to why you've decided to go against the culture. The personal spin makes it an interesting read.

If you have to evangelize about how awesome it is to work there, that sounds like a cult and not culture. It also sounds like Microsoft in the 90’s, when they were stepping on necks and didn’t give a shit about anybody else. Because they were better than everybody else and why should you worry about inferior people? Although in MS’s case they took it a step further: we are the best people in the world.

Oh one one _has_ to evangelize. Google has norms, and talking more positively about things is one of them. Going outside of the norms is risky for your career in any political meritocracy.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#140

Post by nlowell »

rootlocus wrote: post #66
fullshark wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yes, one needs a reason for leaving a company. But at the same time, one leaves a company or a religion or a relationship for a reason. The argument and reasoning necessitate the departure; they're not developed post hoc. It actually seems like this is frequently the case to me. A lot of people get to the point where they simply don't like coming into work everyday, and have to come up for a reason why they feel th…

> A lot of people get to the point where they simply don't like coming into work everyday, and have to come up for a reason why they feel that way. Since they "don't like coming into work", the reason already exists, they just (maybe) don't know it yet. As such, it isn't so much inventing a reason as it is discovering it.

I think there's also a difference between the actual reason you leave vs. the reason you tell all your Google friends vs. the reason you post to Medium. You can't tell your coworkers you disagree on politics, so you tell them you wanted to move back home. You can't tell the public audience that the work culture was too hard for you, so you tell them about Google's arrogance or some other thing. A lot of the human ability to rationalize comes from the need to explain your motives to others in a way that endears them to you.
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