Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why I Left Google

blogs.msdn.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 322 posts

Re: Why I Left Google

#231

Post by jrockway »

beatle wrote: post #207
michaelochurch wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mischaracterize the slotting process, which is now largely gone anyway (and you should know this so I'm not sure why you're bring it up as if it were a present problem) I said that they got rid of it, but I think the fact that such an obviously bad idea could get in the door in the first place is symptomatic of out-of-touch managers, and the same people are still there-- just coming up with new bad ideas (like th…

>This is the era when Google decided to get "real managers" and they hired a bunch of executives from places like Oracle, IBM, and Intel. Wrong. The problem with Google started with the new CEO. The decision to focus on Facebook, the Motorola acquisition, Google+, integration across all Google products and services,etc. these are not mid-level management decisions. These are decisions made by Larry Page. The problem…

Why is integration a problem? It's working pretty well for Apple.

Re: Why I Left Google

#232

Post by toddnessa »

This article could easily be paired with the Godman-Sachs article to teach a business class on the value of having right priorities in business. Often businesses lose themselves placing the pressures of business ahead of the priorities that got them to where they are in the first place. Sort of the proverbial "putting the cart before the horse" analogy. Google should focus on being itself. It sounds as if they have lost touch with what they really were in the first place. After all, they were the search engine that changed the world to such a degree that most everyone now says "google it" in reference to searching the web.

Re: Why I Left Google

#233

Post by jrockway »

danielhunt wrote: post #147
jrockway wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here are my thoughts as an engineer at Google. These are my own thoughts, not Google's :) I don't think Google is fighting for its life; people are not defecting away from search to use Facebook's search or Bing or whatever. Right now, Google+ is something like, "let's see what happens if we build a social component and integrate it with our products". It doesn't seem like much right now and it's certainly not killin…

Actually, speaking as an android user who LOVES that I can auto upload my pics to the GOOG, I absolutely hate that Google has any social platform at all. Because G+ exists it makes Facebook a competitor. Can I easily share my auto uploaded pics with my Facebook friends? Not at all. Can I change where I upload my pics to? (Ie : not picasa) not at all. Picasa is about lock in. Not about user experience.

Auto-upload is a feature provided by the G+ app. There is absolutely no reason why Facebook can't include that functionality in their app. (It would be nice if this was as nicely integrated as contacts in the dialer, but it's not yet. It's due to developer time constraints or the fact that nobody has thought about it yet, not due to lock-in. Remember, Google is the company that lets carriers ship Android phones with Bing as the default search engine!)

Re: Why I Left Google

#234

Post by jrockway »

danielhunt wrote: post #223
megablast wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Google and Apple already see the facebook threat, and are trying to limit helping it grow any further. Even without G+, you may not have had this sort of FB integration to Google. The only reason Microsoft is sidling up to FB is in an effort to get some traction in mobile and the web space.

I suppose 'lock in' was the wrong choice of words to use. I understand that the data is only there because I chose to auto-upload it, and I also understand that I can easily re-upload the photo to facebook, but my point was that Google themselves are actively preventing me from doing something like that through the Picasa interface. I think you understood the meaning behind my point, but I'd argue that they shouldn't…

"Actively preventing"? How?

Re: Why I Left Google

#235

Post by ChuckMcM »

anthonydchang wrote: post #192
edwardw wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your comment is a case in point. Anyone familiar with your story (at Google and, as you know, there are many of us who are) knows how totally skewed your perception is. Speak for yourself, would you? I'm myself a victim, unfortunately. I never even knew my Perf when I was with the company, only discovered it accidentally after I left. The process is very broken for me. Thanks @michaelochurch, I now know better abou…

Huh? You didn't see those links on the left? You missed those emails that told you Perf is completed and please go in and check your reviews?

Generally yes, you can see your peer reviews. What you can't see is your calibration score. And your calibration drives all of your compensation. There have been folks with really good reading peer reviews who have had really low calibration scores because their manager, for one reason or another, gave them that score.

I agree that many cases are different but the HR process is broken at Google, and it happens to be broken in a way unique to how Google set things up, but the effect is the same at other companies where reviews are a beauty contest.

Re: Why I Left Google

#236

Post by jfager »

philwelch wrote: post #228
jfager wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, so make a better product. Just don't market it as 'the same thing but better', market it as 'different and better'. That's the point.

Ive wasn't talking about promotion. He was just saying that "different" is not sufficient.

The whole point of this thread is that "better" isn't sufficient, either. If people are happy where they are, the only way "the same thing but better" wins is if it's so much better that it covers the perceived switching cost. There aren't a lot of markets where the current leader is so bad that that's something you can actually pursue as a strategy.

Re: Why I Left Google

#237

Post by jasonlotito »

anthonydchang wrote: post #195
michaelochurch wrote: post #165

To understand why Google isn't what it used to be, one has to understand what happened in 2009-2011. This is the era when Google decided to get "real managers" and they hired a bunch of executives from places like Oracle, IBM, and Intel. If Google had told them to wipe their fucking feet off before tracking shitty culture into the place, it might have survived. It didn't. Google has an immense amount of talent "under…

You are truly either delusional or an attention-monger that needs to troll to feel better about yourself. Like cletus mentioned, many people reached out to offer you constructive advice. You ignored everyone, thought yourself superior to everyone. I bet you were just waiting to be the first to comment, no? You did well...not only did you throw Google under the bus, you also threw California under the bus. Learn to ha…

cletus said: "The problem with blog posts like this one is that they're largely ignored for their content. Instead, those with an agenda or an axe to grind (on either side) come out of the woodwork."

Speaking purely as an outsider, you and cletus' comment prove his statement. You both clearly have an agenda, and the tone of your comments only lend credence to the stories.

Re: Why I Left Google

#238

Post by re_todd »

CurtHagenlocher wrote: post #56

As a Microsoft employee, I wish this hadn't been posted to a Microsoft-branded website. Other than that, I thought it was an interesting perspective and I loved the money quote: "I couldn’t even get my own teenage daughter to look at Google+ twice, “social isn’t a product,” she told me after I gave her a demo, “social is people and the people are on Facebook.”"

Another great quote: "Google was the rich kid who, after having discovered he wasn’t invited to the party, built his own party in retaliation. The fact that no one came to Google’s party became the elephant in the room."

Re: Why I Left Google

#239

Post by bonafidehan »

krzyk wrote: post #225
anthonydchang wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are truly either delusional or an attention-monger that needs to troll to feel better about yourself. Like cletus mentioned, many people reached out to offer you constructive advice. You ignored everyone, thought yourself superior to everyone. I bet you were just waiting to be the first to comment, no? You did well...not only did you throw Google under the bus, you also threw California under the bus. Learn to ha…

Come on, why are you riding him so much? Who tried to help him? From your comments here you look more delusional then him. As for the "California" thingy, he can't tell anything wrong about any state?

There's a huge, internal backstory to mchurch at Google. Most of which I don't have the right to share with the public. Most Googlers' responses here are based on that. That's why there is a visible disconnect in their heated responses to mchurch here when viewed from the outside.

Re: Why I Left Google

#240

Post by luriel »

michaelochurch wrote: post #165

To understand why Google isn't what it used to be, one has to understand what happened in 2009-2011. This is the era when Google decided to get "real managers" and they hired a bunch of executives from places like Oracle, IBM, and Intel. If Google had told them to wipe their fucking feet off before tracking shitty culture into the place, it might have survived. It didn't. Google has an immense amount of talent "under…

> * Google is resistant to any change that might improve engineer productivity beyond the rather plodding rate it has now. C++ and Java are the real house languages; Scala's not even on the table. Python is listed as a house language so Google can still hire people but it's rarely used and nearly deprecated in production.

Google is developing Go precisely to improve engineer productivity, so this claim is rather suspect.

Post reply on HN