Why I left Google (HN search results) • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#141

Post by pron » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:46 PM UTC

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.

This is one of the scariest things about Google, and indicative of its public face, too. People in the US often compare the government to Big Brother in 1984, but the government can't be Big Brother if people think that, as one of the most important qualities of Big Brother was that people actually loved him. The entire system rested on the idea that people believe in it out of love, not out of fear. Google seems to be the same. Only when you insist on having both power and the love of those you have power over can you truly be Big Brother.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#142

Post by Sir_Cmpwn » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:47 PM UTC

romanovcode wrote: post #100

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is just a different walled garden, albiet one with better privacy tools.

Apple doesn't make money by selling your data. Good enough for me.

At least not now. When their numbers start looking wrong and they have investors and stockholders barking down their nicks they will make choices that benefit them at your expense.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#143

Post by ChuckMcM » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:48 PM UTC

nitrogen wrote: post #97

ChuckMcM wrote: post #75

There was a tool at Google called 'percent' that you could run that would tell you what percent of the employees had joined Google after you (some measure of gravitas was associated with people who had been there 'a long time'). It was not surprising that Google hired a lot of people, there were like 50 people in my 'noogler' class. But the number of people reported as working at Google did not go up at a similar rat…

It would make for an interesting fashion accessory. Best available alternative: wear tshirt from company A with jacket from company B and backpack from company C

Ooh I like this idea, and I think I can pull it off with all dead companies, making for a dead company terducken :-)

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#144

Post by compiler-guy » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:50 PM UTC

TallGuyShort wrote: post #60

utellme wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people just can't say personally and openly to their boss that there is some problem in policy or system if they think it exists. So they trying to inform this way. But it's not every case, some experienced specialists can just write story as summary to give some experience to young newcomers, to arouse interest, maybe answer possible questions.

Side note with nothing to do with the original discussion: My father decided to be honest and give constructive feedback during his exit interview when leaving a company similar in size and importance to Google. Then most of his peers retired and they asked him to come back and offered pretty massive incentives for a pretty small commitment. When he decided to accept? HR got involved and insisted he not be hired beca…

The reasons one supplies about leaving a company should always be about where you are going, rather than where you are leaving. It almost never makes sense to burn a bridge.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#145

Post by AstralStorm » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:50 PM UTC

b4lancesh33t wrote: post #101

jdmichal wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone deals with crap at their workplace. Bad processes, unresponsive third-party dependencies, politics, etc. That happens everywhere, and anyone saying otherwise is either unaware or lying. Eventually, there's a event that is enough standard deviations larger than the typical crap that the person just breaks. The veil of happiness is irrevocably pierced. And when that happens, all the other crap that they've bee…

Agreed. And seven times out of ten (made up statistic, ymmv) that event is precipitated by one's management chain. Just yesterday someone reposted the article "People don't leave jobs, they leave managers."

Sometimes people do leave jobs. Scheduling changes, lack of enjoyment or progress, low pay are relatively common reasons.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#146

Post by drewg123 » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:51 PM UTC

chirau wrote: post #134

drewg123 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

FreeBSD kernel performance tuning for the OpenConnect CDN hosts. See https://medium.com/netflix-techblog/serving-100-gbps-from-an...

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#147

Post by johan_larson » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:51 PM UTC

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.

In fairness, you really should have a good reason for leaving a company like Google. The pluses of working there are substantial. If you're leaving lightly, you are almost certainly making a mistake.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#148

Post by loeg » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:51 PM UTC

tbranyen wrote: post #78

drewg123 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, it was easy. In 2015, we really wanted to move back to our east coast flyover-city home from the Bay Area. Google would not let me work remotely, but Netflix would. So it was a no-brainer. It turned out to be a great move. In my experience, just about everything is better about Netflix as compared to Google: impact, pay, freedom, culture. The only thing that's worse is that I really miss the on-campus food at…

Guessing not a full time engineer or some kind of niche talent? Never heard of anyone going remote or even being a possibility. Its written into the culture and all job postings.

Netflix has a lot of remote employees. They also pay well above market rates. It's a good gig if you can get it.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#149

Post by neuland » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:52 PM UTC

dsacco wrote: post #112

tbranyen wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Guessing not a full time engineer or some kind of niche talent? Never heard of anyone going remote or even being a possibility. Its written into the culture and all job postings.

Most of the large tech companies allow but don’t advertise remote work flexibility for senior staff. I know someone who works remotely at Apple on a team on the other side of the country.

I can confirm that the option is there. I'm at a big 4 tech company and recently transitioned to remote.

If it is a deal-breaker and you are senior or otherwise considered a key team member they can't let leave, going remote can sometimes work out.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#150

Post by matte_black » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 6:53 PM UTC

mrb wrote: post #119

rburhum wrote: post #111

It almost makes me want to write an article that says "why I have zero interest in working at Google"

With all due respect, it sounds like your article would be full of pre-conceived ideas since you have never worked at Google. At least those who quit have lived it and know for themselves. (And someone else's experience might be quite different if he had been in that person's shoes.)

What makes you think his lack of interest has anything to do with Google? He might have more interesting opportunities to pursue.

I don't want to work at Google simply because I don't want to work that hard.