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Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

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Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#31

Post by solarkraft »

cromwellian wrote: post #22
pwinnski wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At Google, developers were the product, not overhead. As such, they were supported lavishly, with meals and massages, at a level not previously seen, at least not in career available to people who weren't fifth-generation Ivy grads. And the pay, total comp is still trumpeted here at HN as among the highest around. Sure, a lot of people saw those perks as being aimed a particular demographic: young people without atta…

Yup. I was at Google for over a decade, I should have left years ago for a startup, I had offers, but I loved what I did, I loved my fellow coworkers, and I was well compensated. There was little reason to leave, and a lot of reasons to stay.

Have you left?

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#32

Post by yibg »

SQueeeeeL wrote: post #2

Was Google really a beloved employer? I feel like that was vapor marketing hype most real people saw through as bs, you'd pretty much see constant stories of overwork and toxic teams run by incompetent "project managers" just like every other overvalued Silicon Valley FAANG shop

For a while now Google has been seen as the place you go to coast, at least if you're not gunning for promotions.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#34

Post by champagnepapi »

turdprincess wrote: post #26
costanzaDynasty wrote: post #21

I may be a very basic software engineer with neither high YOE or high quality skills but what would I get excited about from a FAANG job nowadays? These companies that I've used everyday for nearing 2 decades from even a user perspective have become stale. Mountains of money and the best talent and even simple issues that have lingered for years are not fixed in favor of big ideas that no one wants.

You get excited for one reason and one reason only - the money. FAANG jobs pay between double and triple of normal software gigs. Some folks want to optimize for interesting work, or groundbreaking products or autonomy. Thats cool - you might not find that at a FAANG. Some folks optimize for the biggest paycheck. For that its basically two options - FAANG (and adjacent) or High Frequency Trading. To each their own!

How does one get into HFT?

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#35

Post by deltree7 »

The only thing that matters in a layoff is "severance package"

Everything else is useless.

If your co-workers liked you and wanted to say goodbye, they will call and throw a party. If I'm fired, there is no reason for me to log on to my workstation. All relevant documents are given to you anyway. Your personal items will be shipped to you.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#36

Post by croes »

Mizoguchi wrote: post #20

Not sure what the author expected Google to do. Are they supposed to have individual meetings and a farewell party with 10K (ex) employees? My dad worked for the same company for 35 years then retired. In my 20 year career I have worked for at least half a dozen companies. There's no such thing as job security anymore, as long as you are employed by someone else you are disposable, no matter how hard you work and how…

I doubt that these 10k all have the same supervisor, so it's totally possible to tell everyone in person.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#37

Post by tenpies »

pwinnski wrote: post #13
SQueeeeeL wrote: post #2

Was Google really a beloved employer? I feel like that was vapor marketing hype most real people saw through as bs, you'd pretty much see constant stories of overwork and toxic teams run by incompetent "project managers" just like every other overvalued Silicon Valley FAANG shop

At Google, developers were the product, not overhead. As such, they were supported lavishly, with meals and massages, at a level not previously seen, at least not in career available to people who weren't fifth-generation Ivy grads. And the pay, total comp is still trumpeted here at HN as among the highest around. Sure, a lot of people saw those perks as being aimed a particular demographic: young people without atta…

> As such, they were supported lavishly, with meals and massages, at a level not previously seen, at least not in career available to people who weren't fifth-generation Ivy grads.

I think if you push further back, we did see it. Go find the oldest retired IBMer you can and ask them what it was like in the good days. You'll find it was very similar.

Sure, they didn't do the whole come-be-an-activist-while-ignoring-your-actual-job thing, and there were no nap pods, but the perks were up there. From free food to the parties (and yes, your kids are coming to many of them and they and your wife/husband are going to get free gifts from IBM at every chance). There was a time when landing a job at IBM was like getting a job at Google was a while ago - except that they still did the employee-for-life thing and even if you were laid off, it was with your consent (and an obscene benefits package).

But you also did have to do actual work, not just attend one meeting per week with no deliverable.

Edit: Actually I think it may have been even better back then. There was no company shuttle to the office. You had a company car. There was no roommate while giving 60% of your income to a landlord, housing was still affordable and your spouse didn't really have to work unless they wanted to.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#38

Post by deltree7 »

costanzaDynasty wrote: post #21

I may be a very basic software engineer with neither high YOE or high quality skills but what would I get excited about from a FAANG job nowadays? These companies that I've used everyday for nearing 2 decades from even a user perspective have become stale. Mountains of money and the best talent and even simple issues that have lingered for years are not fixed in favor of big ideas that no one wants.

Don't worry, you'll never get into FANG companies.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#39

Post by cromwellian »

solarkraft wrote: post #31
cromwellian wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. I was at Google for over a decade, I should have left years ago for a startup, I had offers, but I loved what I did, I loved my fellow coworkers, and I was well compensated. There was little reason to leave, and a lot of reasons to stay.

Have you left?

Laid off, and from the one division I thought would be less subject to layoffs: AI. (I thought Ads would be well insulated too, but I know a lot of Ads folks who were let go). But I'm not that broken up about it, because I feel like tech is getting exciting again, almost like the 90s, when everyday, some new amazing thing comes out. Last week in AI for example, super exciting.

There's a lot of opportunity now to build cool stuff in this emerging ecosystem, it's totally unknown space, and what's going to exist 5 yrs from now is going to be as crazy as all of the companies that now exist because of smartphones, or the invention of the browser.

I think Google (and OpenAI) might be the best places for AI research, but I'm not sure Google is the best place for applied-research at the application level. I think the startup ecosystem is going to explore that space way more rapidly, and it'll be fun to play in that space.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#40

Post by turdprincess »

champagnepapi wrote: post #34
turdprincess wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You get excited for one reason and one reason only - the money. FAANG jobs pay between double and triple of normal software gigs. Some folks want to optimize for interesting work, or groundbreaking products or autonomy. Thats cool - you might not find that at a FAANG. Some folks optimize for the biggest paycheck. For that its basically two options - FAANG (and adjacent) or High Frequency Trading. To each their own!

How does one get into HFT?

I think your options are:

* get a CS degree from a top tier program, preferably a PHD

* Pivot in from a normal software job. This is probably only possible if you have a bunch of C++ experience, and some top (FAANG) names on your resume.

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