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Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech

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Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech

#171

Post by kaitai »

buboard wrote: post #115
LMYahooTFY wrote: post #94

As of now the most popular comments here seem to decry the notion that anyone making six figures could ever relay an experience of misery. This is utterly non-sensical. The article, to me, seems to imply that perhaps working at a radically free corporation doesn't yield pure bliss and benefit. Is there some reason this article needs to balance out any possible misery with all the luxurious amenities Googlers enjoy? D…

> that it's not possible someone could have a miserable experience at Google? I think that. Google employees are at the top of the pyramid, so if the article was true, they would have left for an almost identical salary nearby. The fact that they don't means that either google pays way above its direct competitors (it doesnt) or these people are outright lying, and their actions speak louder than 12k words

Where in the article does anyone say they're miserable, though?

Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech

#172

Post by 9q9 »

rmellow wrote: post #138
segmondy wrote: post #32

My eyes are hurting from seeing these articles whining about their misery while collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Most companies have issues, and these issues are not "Company" issues but PEOPLE issues. Once you're large enough, you are going to have people with differing opinions, beliefs and values. These are going to clash. If you happen to be on the losing side and don't learn to accept it, y…

Suffering is always relative and it's a slippery slope to dismiss as whining. By this logic, 99% of issues in the US are "whining" because other countries have it much worse. Anyone in Sierra Leone could claim to a US citizen: "Sugar lobbies are meddling with public school meals and making children diabetic? Lucky you, my country doesn't have public schools and children are starving". This of course doesn't invalidat…

Talmudic question: what's the average fertility rate of the clientele worrying about misgendering, and how does that average relate to civilization progressing through time?

Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech

#173

Post by Despegar »

deskamess wrote: post #83

I have a feeling Amazon would not tolerate this level of push back to products and business strategy (and they have the corresponding "don't care" reputation!). Google management seems to give in so much and if you are a GOOG shareholder you could have a real case here (re the Maven project). [Disclosure: I am not a GOOG shareholder]. Management has to keep the interests of the company at heart - they are legally bou…

Google is effectively controlled by Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt through their voting shares. In fact the stated reason for having a dual class of shares was so they can "manage the company for the long run".

Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech

#174

Post by Maximus9000 »

jvagner wrote: post #166
high_derivative wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My inside-FAAMNG experience has been that most employees seem to be not interested in the politics and are primarily focused on doing good work (people in their 20s), or on putting in their 8 hours and going home to their families (people >30 mostly, of course they also want to do good work, just have additional new priorities in a young family). Then there is a vocal minority who leverage that no individual's perfor…

At a certain size, corporate roadmaps and people management are inevitably political. Google modifying their search criteria to participate in China's market.. is political. Google's HR department working towards demographic goals.. is political ( I'm not judging its political-ness, but it ended up being political, didn't it?). Each of the major FAAMG companies has a political/dominance issue of some kind, one that c…

Microsoft is the oldest of them all. Microsoft had its own "teenage years" problems... maybe it has less problems these days because it's more mature?

Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech

#175

Post by scruple »

mieseratte wrote: post #144
blub wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That majority of people can afford to focus on work or put in their 8 hours and go back to their families thanks to a "vocal minority" which was able to convince others in the past to fight for new rights and for what's right. Obviously some people think there's more to life than cashing a large paycheck and writing code. "Not interested in politics" is an euphemism for clueless and easy to manipulate by those that a…

> "Not interested in politics" is an euphemism for clueless and easy to manipulate by those that are. Or a polite way of saying "I fundamentally disagree with you but don't feel like getting into a debate at work, please leave me alone." That there exists a vocal minority does not mean they are right. There exists vocal minorities calling for the dissolution of most of your most fundamental rights.

> "I [snip] don't feel like getting into a debate [snip], please leave me alone."

I do this for all manner of things, including political discussions at work. That other people don't hold this as a default position is astounding to me.

Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech

#176

Post by BeetleB »

mAEStro-paNDa wrote: post #150
BeetleB wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>That majority of people can afford to focus on work or put in their 8 hours and go back to their families thanks to a "vocal minority" which was able to convince others in the past to fight for new rights and for what's right. That it is due to a vocal minority doesn't mean it is due to this vocal minority. Not all vocal minorities are equal, and nor should all vocal minorities be treated alike. Freedom of speech is…

>That it is due to a vocal minority doesn't mean it is due to this vocal minority. Not all vocal minorities are equal, and nor should all vocal minorities be treated alike. This is obvious and should go without saying. The parent comment gave an example of a positive consequence of an instance of this so-called "vocal minority", since the grandparent comment left no room for any positive angle on this. I'm seriously…

>since the grandparent comment left no room for any positive angle on this.

I do not see this. Grandparent said "a vocal minority", which I interpret as a specific vocal minority. Like when someone says "there is a vocal person in my team who is obnoxious" - it does not imply that all vocal people in all teams are obnoxious.

My point was the example given by the person I responded to is kind of irrelevant. Yes, vocal minorities have done great things for many, many people. The GP to my comment was not talking about those, and listing positive vocal minorities that exist or have existed is irrelevant.

Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech

#177

Post by tropicalia »

mdorazio wrote: post #132
tropicalia wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My eyes are hurting from seeing these articles whining about their misery while collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Multiple easily findable sources suggest that the median tech salary at Google is well below $150k -- probably more like around $130k. I get your point about the "whining" -- but while the average Google definitely does better than someone with a non-tech salary -- it most cases they…

I think you're looking at pay minus stock options. True median comp at Alphabet is closer to $250k [1], which if you have two workers in a household puts you in the 1%. [1] https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2019/01/08/median-t...

Not disputing that I may be horribly wrong -- but the same source puts Larry Page's (obviously symbolic) compensation at $1 (ignoring equity) - so I'm not sure what to make of it.

Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech

#178

Post by waqf »

seren wrote: post #141

This is the most shocking part > “the only way to deal with all the heads of the medusa is to no-platform all of them.” Shouldn't it rather be the heads of the hydra ?

Gorgons have snakes growing from their hair and presumably that's what's being referred to (though I agree that the author of the quote is probably confused).

But "the medusa" is also an error at another level, because one should write either "Medusa" or "the gorgon". Medusa was the name of a specific gorgon.

Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech

#179

Post by dang »

terminalhealth wrote: post #82
high_derivative wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My inside-FAAMNG experience has been that most employees seem to be not interested in the politics and are primarily focused on doing good work (people in their 20s), or on putting in their 8 hours and going home to their families (people >30 mostly, of course they also want to do good work, just have additional new priorities in a young family). Then there is a vocal minority who leverage that no individual's perfor…

Forcing women to wear veils is not oppression in the same way scolding a child is not oppression. Both have a measurably positive effect on social functioning (e.g. consider how weak modesty norms in the West are beginning to make Western culture rather uncomfortable to live in at times). Genital mutilation, on the other hand, is oppression because it is unnecessary; it does not improve the living conditions of anyon…

This kind of flamebait is not ok on HN. We ban users who post like this, as well as the comment which you've since deleted. Please don't add any more of this kind of thing to HN.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech

#180

Post by goatinaboat »

buboard wrote: post #115
LMYahooTFY wrote: post #94

As of now the most popular comments here seem to decry the notion that anyone making six figures could ever relay an experience of misery. This is utterly non-sensical. The article, to me, seems to imply that perhaps working at a radically free corporation doesn't yield pure bliss and benefit. Is there some reason this article needs to balance out any possible misery with all the luxurious amenities Googlers enjoy? D…

> that it's not possible someone could have a miserable experience at Google? I think that. Google employees are at the top of the pyramid, so if the article was true, they would have left for an almost identical salary nearby. The fact that they don't means that either google pays way above its direct competitors (it doesnt) or these people are outright lying, and their actions speak louder than 12k words

If you are the sort of person who enjoys bringing your politics to work then naturally you will stick around as long as possible at a company that permits or at least tolerates it.
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