Why did I leave Google or, why did I stay so long?

Post by astrange » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 1:21 AM UTC

w0mbat wrote: post #621

izacus wrote: post #99

This is an amazing post - it describes exactly how bad manager looks like and what kind of expectations does he have from his employees. No emergency PTO (despite being a benefit), ability to just get rid of people who don't suit him, cursing at people, not having a proper work/life balance. It just keeps on giving. And all for what? A mapping application having features which really don't save lives 99% of the time.

A mapping application that frequently diverts traffic off the freeway into narrow residential roads, probably does the opposite of saving lives. In my experience, it doesn't even save time, just gives you a more complicated route

Post by thethought » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 1:49 AM UTC

dmayle wrote: post #468

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #363

9 years @ Google, and I too came from a company acquired by Google. (In my case, Google did not keep our product or tech stack around, so.) And yes, I can say many Googlers are entitled. It's a fair descriptor. And the pace of work is slower than a startup. In general. And I too have many criticisms of Google. But. Google has entirely different revenue constraints. It can afford an entirely different way of working.…

*This I came here to say something similar. I'm a founder, I've been a manager and a software engineer, I did 5 years @ Google. When I hear someone in "upper management / founder / in a position of power over employee's lives" say that what they really needed for their own success was a way to threaten/risk the livelihood of their employees so that they would work harder, it just makes me sad for anyone affected by t…

Post by bruckie » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 2:09 AM UTC

strken wrote: post #767

jeffbee wrote: post #657

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was some T7-9 whining right there. Do you think it's easier to get unplanned compute capacity at some other company?

Well, yes. I was provisioning a new service last week and it took me half an hour of clicking buttons in AWS. Without knowing anything about Google, I would have assumed they'd overprovison compute capacity to save developer time at least for smallish requests, since they literally run their own data centres.

Post by joshuamorton » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 2:20 AM UTC

strken wrote: post #767

jeffbee wrote: post #657

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was some T7-9 whining right there. Do you think it's easier to get unplanned compute capacity at some other company?

Well, yes. I was provisioning a new service last week and it took me half an hour of clicking buttons in AWS. Without knowing anything about Google, I would have assumed they'd overprovison compute capacity to save developer time at least for smallish requests, since they literally run their own data centres.

Post by abdabab » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 2:55 AM UTC

izacus wrote: post #508

gonehome wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My take would be Google can afford it for now because they have a web ad monopoly and don’t have to compete. If they ever lose that, the culture they’ve built will cause them to be destroyed and irrelevant in not that much time. For now, it’s summer.

Except that Google was known for all these perks, 20% time (I wonder what this guy would think about someone wasting ONE DAY A WEEK for something not on his project?!), good food, etc. pretty much since inception. Isn't that why so many people flocked there to work in the first place?