Working at Google has been utterly depressing for over a year

I've been at Google for nearly a decade as a SWE, and internally it's the most depressing it's ever been. Some symptoms come to mind:

- constant rounds of layoffs

- morale is terrible; everyone is overworked and burnt out

- perks constantly being cut

- suddenly extremely hard to get promoted

- executives are suddenly micromanaging teams

- general atmosphere of culture decay and leadership disconnect

I think these are probably just the vibes at MOST companies, but among several competing offers I initially joined google FOR its good culture, so this hits me especially hard. Are all tech companies like this? Some companies prioritize employee well-being and maintain a better atmosphere...but I have no insight into who those companies are. Anyone have thoughts?

same at a big pharma company. I'm guessing the ruling class either deliberately colluded or it was simply in their ruthless capitalist nature to quickly take power back from workers after we had a brief taste of a slightly better life during the "great resignation"

I think this disease is pretty prevalent in tech these days. It has become untenable. I can imagine lots of folks with FU money (presumably folks with the most experience) are considering retiring out of the rat race. I'm not at G but have seriously started to calculate what my number would be (sadly, nowhere close).

i find it funny you didnt mention the constant sunsetting of different products.

but i realize you mentioned similar ones. maybe consequences of google just being too big?

i worked at huge company before, i dreaded it too for the same reasons and i quit.