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Why I left Google (HN search results)

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Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#171

Post by jay-anderson »

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 be interesting if engineers could earn medals (similar to the ones in the military) for each company they worked for

We get t-shirts instead. Can't wear multiple at the same time though.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#172

Post by nora4 »

scarecrowbob wrote: post #124
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.

I'm not ever wanting to work at Google, but that process resonates loudly with my experience of leaving academia. From the inside you're dealing with a lot of people who have internalized the job as part of their identity and it's very difficult to just up and leave without formulating a narrative about why it's okay.

Very much second that; one prof I worked for at MIT as TA kept insisting that s/he (and we) have the best job in the world. Quite ridiculous, as s/he later was denied tenure and had to move and their research was quite stuck and un-impactful.

It was part of the personal narrative of the person (their identity) to keep telling that to themselves.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#173

Post by utellme »

jdmichal wrote: post #91
utellme wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think such situation exists in almost all high-salary sectors. Financial - why I left Golman/Merrill Lynch/Wall Street stories, etc. People will try to explain everything from moral side. It's permanent dilemma.

Is it really "trying to explain everything from a moral side", or just that main non-moral reason for leaving -- better pay -- is not in play?

For sure, when it's gonna be another 5th wave of financial crisis employees just move between sectors - from private to state (more secure). I'm not sure it's somehow related to IT at all or Google in particular, but this migration type really exists.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#174

Post by utellme »

johan_larson wrote: post #147
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.

When you completely paid all your debts and solved financial problems (not just nowadays, but future too), you start thinking some different way.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#175

Post by utellme »

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…

It happens, but it depends on HR person. If such way of behavior is a policy or just a part of character of person in charge.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#176

Post by reificator »

quotemstr wrote: post #162
reificator wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Going the other direction is fairly easy, if you retain control over the original page, you can help people/search engines find the new page via the following: * Meta refresh tags: ` http://example.com/" />` * HTTP Status codes `301` and `302` * Canonical link tags: ` `" rel="nofollow">http://www.example.com/"/>`

Of course the other direction is easy. I'm talking about COME FROM, not GO TO. :-)

Agreed. However, in this case they still own the domain, so GOTO is the way to go.

In fact that's the rub. If they still have access to the original page's location, then GOTO makes sense. If they don't have access, then how do you know you're getting what you hoped for?

What happens if I say I used to be https://google.com, and then through some disaster the Google homepage is inaccessible for 3 seconds? That's a lot of users that just filtered down to my potentially malicious site, no matter how low the conversion rate.

If the web was still a network of documents, I think something like what you're suggesting would be a lot more viable, particularly with hashing and signatures helping do the heavy lifting.

But as an application delivery platform that still looks and pretends to be a network of documents, suddenly that carries a lot more risk.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#177

Post by logfromblammo »

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

I even have a lab coat with a company logo on it.

It was due to an advantageous loophole in the corporate dress code. About 2/3 of the software developers on my team did it. It was as much of an inside joke as the memorial stack of the useless, corporate-branded, brass-plated railway spikes that grew by one every time someone left the company.

Every time the c-level poured out more Flavor-Aid, we checked the height of the stack and estimated the days left until all of us would be fired for not resigning fast enough.

To name names: Corporation Service Company. If they buy your company, find a new gig ASAP.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#178

Post by freyir »

rburhum wrote: post #160
mrb wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.)

Well, this is where you are wrong. I have worked in the core team at several multi-billion dollar companies (e.g. Microsoft, NVIDIA, etc) and have received job offers to lead teams from other similar companies (including the one you mention and one of their fiercest competitor). With all due the respect, your assumption that it would be full of pre-concieved ideas is simply wrong. I just have anti-bodies that fully r…

>> you have never worked at Google

> this is where you are wrong

So, have you ever worked at Google?

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#179

Post by sokoloff »

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…

Close friend worked for Proctor & Gamble in a town where they were a very large employer; he left to start his own business.

People who talked to him literally couldn't believe that he voluntarily left P&G and assumed he'd gotten fired. So strange.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#180

Post by b4lancesh33t »

AstralStorm wrote: post #145
b4lancesh33t wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If I thought that every single person who leaves a job leaves because of their manager, I would have said "ten out of ten times" or "always." But what I actually said was "seven out of ten times." :)
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