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Software Engineering Insights from 10 Years at Google

addyosmani.com

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Re: Software Engineering Insights from 10 Years at Google

#21

Post by bloodyplonker22 »

Supermancho wrote: post #8

Has someone collected all these self-aggrandizing posts that spew from ex-Googlers and current Googlers? It feels like a pre-requisite for their promotion packets. These all sound about the same and are altogether unhelpful. Note the copious links to terms and inlined quotes rather than an actual study, or any evidence at all...just vague rewording of colloquial expressions commonly traded around. The only use seems…

To be honest, whenever I see or hear the word "insights" now, I become very skeptical. It stems from when someone goes on stage at a TED talk (or something similar, perhaps even a 'tech talk') and spews a bunch of already well known high level nonsense that is not useful at all in our daily lives and work. Then, when it's Q&A time, a sycophant in the audience will predictably begin a question with: "thanks for your insights".

Re: Software Engineering Insights from 10 Years at Google

#22

Post by gmiller123456 »

addy_osmani wrote: post #14

Hey folks. Author of this post here. I sincerely apologize, this was accidentally published live prematurely (my fault). It’s got a number of style and structure issues I’ve been working through locally (you are spot on regarding the heading feedback). I have taken it down and will be publishing it in the future once it is actually complete.

No post body was provided.

Re: Software Engineering Insights from 10 Years at Google

#23

Post by [deleted] »

gravypod wrote: post #2

(Opinions are my own) My favorites from the list, that I did not see other companies (specifically startups) do at all: > A single large release may be divided into a series of lower-risk well-understood rollouts. > Design documentation should not be an afterthought but an integral part of the software engineering process. > Coordinate reviews for the design doc and compare the design as it evolves with the original…

[deleted]

Re: Software Engineering Insights from 10 Years at Google

#24

Post by postalrat »

gmiller123456 wrote: post #22
addy_osmani wrote: post #14

Hey folks. Author of this post here. I sincerely apologize, this was accidentally published live prematurely (my fault). It’s got a number of style and structure issues I’ve been working through locally (you are spot on regarding the heading feedback). I have taken it down and will be publishing it in the future once it is actually complete.

Quoted post unavailable.

Do you only take advice from people who never make mistakes?

Re: Software Engineering Insights from 10 Years at Google

#25

Post by hamstrung »

addy_osmani wrote: post #14

Hey folks. Author of this post here. I sincerely apologize, this was accidentally published live prematurely (my fault). It’s got a number of style and structure issues I’ve been working through locally (you are spot on regarding the heading feedback). I have taken it down and will be publishing it in the future once it is actually complete.

I look forward to your post (perhaps after another 10 years) about testing before release and your use of CD.

Re: Software Engineering Insights from 10 Years at Google

#26

Post by passivate »

gmiller123456 wrote: post #20

Is there any evidence that Google is actually better at software engineering than other companies? IMHO, it seems they have enough money to deliberately do things inefficiently which would kill a smaller company, but Google can manage to succeed through brute force. Honestly I think the better example would be from a tiny company that can't afford to do things wrong.

I don't mind admitting Google employs people far smarter than I will ever be, but they're creating and maintaining the largest global spying apparatus in history. Maybe we should be learning from people who're actually making the world a better place.

Re: Software Engineering Insights from 10 Years at Google

#28

Post by trevcanhuman »

addy_osmani wrote: post #14

Hey folks. Author of this post here. I sincerely apologize, this was accidentally published live prematurely (my fault). It’s got a number of style and structure issues I’ve been working through locally (you are spot on regarding the heading feedback). I have taken it down and will be publishing it in the future once it is actually complete.

Honestly, I thought that was the joke (see the twitter algorithm[0]). That there actually aren't much insights from Google regular software engineers could relate to. As other comments have said, Google is the company who can afford to fuck up the most.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31160546

Re: Software Engineering Insights from 10 Years at Google

#29

Post by [deleted] »

passivate wrote: post #26
gmiller123456 wrote: post #20

Is there any evidence that Google is actually better at software engineering than other companies? IMHO, it seems they have enough money to deliberately do things inefficiently which would kill a smaller company, but Google can manage to succeed through brute force. Honestly I think the better example would be from a tiny company that can't afford to do things wrong.

I don't mind admitting Google employs people far smarter than I will ever be, but they're creating and maintaining the largest global spying apparatus in history. Maybe we should be learning from people who're actually making the world a better place.

[deleted]

Re: Software Engineering Insights from 10 Years at Google

#30

Post by nowherebeen »

gmiller123456 wrote: post #20

Is there any evidence that Google is actually better at software engineering than other companies? IMHO, it seems they have enough money to deliberately do things inefficiently which would kill a smaller company, but Google can manage to succeed through brute force. Honestly I think the better example would be from a tiny company that can't afford to do things wrong.

Maybe 10 years ago when they were pushing the envelope. Nowadays, I just don’t see it to be honest. There are a few brilliant engineers for sure, but the new generation are mostly Leetcoders that brag about TC on another social network. You can see it in their open source code too. Critical bugs not fixed for an entire year. You read the code and it doesn’t stand out as anything out of the ordinary. I get the feeling most are focused on promotion packages to raise their TC.

If you read what the majority of them recommend, its similar to the banker's path in the early 2000s. Graduate from Ivy League, spent 3 years at FANG, then 2 years at Ivy League MBA, then back to FANG or join a startup for a few years so you can get a title bump when you do go back to FANG. The type of people that join Google nowadays aren't the type of people that were early employees. They have a very standard charted course to their careers.

Google has reach maturity stage of the company. They have leeway to screw up like what Microsoft did with Windows and Office in the early 2000s. Will they have the ability to push out something completely new and amazing like Gmail or Google Maps (although Maps was a clone of Mapquest, they executed better), where the end users aren't developers themselves? I highly doubt it with an organization as big. There will be a lot of politics involved to get anything done. They have lost the talent to innovate.

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