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Why I left Google (HN search results)

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Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#181

Post by b4lancesh33t »

y3sh wrote: post #136
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,…

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

Hah. I'm not sure it would matter that much to me if I were the only person who saw the flaws. Comp, work-life balance, interesting problems, and a minimum of local bullshit are what matter to me. My coworkers' attitude toward the company, be it positive or negative, or dysfunctions in another organization ten thousand people away from me, are much less influential on my well-being. That's just my take, obviously everyone else is entitled to their own priorities and I wouldn't look down on anyone for caring about the stance of the company as a whole. It's just not me.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#182

Post by quotemstr »

reificator wrote: post #176
quotemstr wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 l…

I thought about that. Making the "COME FROM" redirect a deliberate, explicit user action might help. ("Google.com is down. h4x0rz.ru claims to be its successor. Go here? [Yes] [No]".)

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#183

Post by SemiEarlyGoogle »

microtonal wrote: post #163
bradyo wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

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. This was one of the reasons I decided to bail out after the first phone interview. I had some serious concerns, such as: - I am not interested in working as an SRE when I jus…

Yet another ex-Googler here. "Working for the greatest company in existence" was the mindset since Google's earliest days, well before reaching that pedestal in the public eye. They made tough offers to candidates back then, too, e.g., job titles taken down 1-2 levels, even when the job market was hot. Though practice started when job market was cold.

Many stories have been written about how their early hiring practices made for Google's huge success. I largely agree.

And related to your comment, groupthink or not, they do overall look pretty happy, even if you dial back for the social media factor: https://gxjam.com/ig-gallery/googler-instagrams-by-googlers-...

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#184

Post by mattgreenrocks »

wolco wrote: post #168
mattgreenrocks wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

When did we stop doing side projects for yourself? If you are not doing side projects for fun of it then something is wrong. No one should feel they have to do a side project.

I still do side projects, and they were always for fun.

But I regret the proportion of time spent.

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#185

Post by ataturk »

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 doesn't matter--you never go back. Life is too short to repeat yourself in any way and that rule covers jobs, cities you live in, romantic partners, cars, travel destinations...

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#186

Post by seanopedia »

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #2

I'm curious to see what kind of discussion this generates before the HN mods inevitably kick it off the front page. Most of these links seem to be of employees who quit, but I'll add my article as a user who quit: https://drewdevault.com/2016/11/16/Getting-on-without-Google...

Are the mods fairly well known for manipulating negative Google posts on the front page?

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#187

Post by Sir_Cmpwn »

seanopedia wrote: post #186
Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #2

I'm curious to see what kind of discussion this generates before the HN mods inevitably kick it off the front page. Most of these links seem to be of employees who quit, but I'll add my article as a user who quit: https://drewdevault.com/2016/11/16/Getting-on-without-Google...

Are the mods fairly well known for manipulating negative Google posts on the front page?

Not necessarily negative Google posts, but meta-posts for sure. And it turns out I was right:

https://hn.0x2237.club/post/16231658

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#188

Post by Klover »

harlanji wrote: post #164
scottlocklin wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't miss a thing from quitting facebook, and despite how addictive the damn thing is, it was easily done and my quality of life increased in obvious ways. Potemkin relationships are not relationships.

Can you (or anyone reading) elaborate on details of how you did it? I'm surgically shrinking it and it's caused a good amount of turbulence... removing without communicating, and communicating removal are both difficult. The latter is probably better. But my ears are open for solutions. I disabled posting to my wall for example, so on my birthday people struck up conversations instead. I anticipate I'll have it open…

That shouldn't be so difficult, friend. Just set that you don't use Facebook much lately, and then just stop going there. Now if you have a problem with staying away, then that's a different question!

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#189

Post by utellme »

klenwell wrote: post #81
collyw wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always find the "best places to work" type lists a lot of crap. Usually its just a case of biggest and best known companies. I have worked for a real mix of places and the biggest companies haven't been any better than the smaller ones. Usually a good manager makes a far bigger difference.

I don't know the exact dynamics of how those Best Places to Work lists are compiled but I always got the feeling they were a form of vanity publishing used to keep local business journals and newspapers afloat. Funny story: after a couple years at last big corp I worked for, I guess there was a decision made to join the ranks of the area's Best Places to Work. So memos were circulated, surveys were sent out and lo an…

It's just a way to attract best manpower. Why not? Kind of HR marketing. Anyway "best place to work" is not patented, anybody could attach their "version" of this tag to any company. Like "people of the year" or "most wealthiest".

Re: Why I left Google (HN search results)

#190

Post by sumeno »

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).

What recruiter has ever said "This is just an ok place to work?"

Every job I've had the people I've interacted with in recruiting/interviews have all been very positive about the company.

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