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Why I loved working at Google

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Re: Why I loved working at Google

#11

Post by dewitt »

varelse wrote: post #7
dewitt wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found it fairly accurate, and I've worked there seven years. For most engineers most of the time, the job isn't politics or performance reviews. It's writing interesting software with talented teammates. (Counterexamples of course exist, and a handful of vocal ones certainly like to chime in on threads like this. But if it weren't still mostly good for engineers at Google, Google wouldn't still employ the great eng…

As one of the vocal ones(tm), even I would say Google is fantastic if you get allocated onto the right team. This obviously occurs most of the time or the place would be out of business. What led to me becoming one of the vocal ones is what happens when allocation fails and there's really no resort other than trying to fit in doing something completely uninteresting or leaving. Google seemingly does not acknowledge t…

I'm sincerely sorry things didn't work out in your case, varelse. I don't know your backstory, and it wouldn't be my story to tell even if I did.

But I do know it makes me sad whenever I hear that we have any attrition, regretted or otherwise. And I know as an eng manager I try to put myself out there for /any/ engineer who wants a hand, or even just a sympathetic ear. Some cases are just unfixable, but I like to believe we still can repair a good number of them.

I hope things worked out better for you wherever you landed next.

Re: Why I loved working at Google

#13

Post by nl »

pocketstar wrote: post #5

"Google is the home to world-class engineers working on the world’s hardest problems". World-class engineers: true. World's hardest problems: false. Unless google has a secret space program, cold-fusion reactor, cure for cancer, desalination, etc... Perhaps I am naive but monetizing searches, email and other things doesn't count as any of the world's hardest problems.

Search = Teaching computers to understand.

That's pretty hard.

To say what Google does is "monetizing searches" is like saying Walmart operates cash registers. True, but hardly the whole story.

Re: Why I loved working at Google

#14

Post by seanmcdirmid »

dewitt wrote: post #11
varelse wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As one of the vocal ones(tm), even I would say Google is fantastic if you get allocated onto the right team. This obviously occurs most of the time or the place would be out of business. What led to me becoming one of the vocal ones is what happens when allocation fails and there's really no resort other than trying to fit in doing something completely uninteresting or leaving. Google seemingly does not acknowledge t…

I'm sincerely sorry things didn't work out in your case, varelse. I don't know your backstory, and it wouldn't be my story to tell even if I did. But I do know it makes me sad whenever I hear that we have any attrition, regretted or otherwise. And I know as an eng manager I try to put myself out there for /any/ engineer who wants a hand, or even just a sympathetic ear. Some cases are just unfixable, but I like to bel…

Google has to get someone to work on the boring but necessary projects! Google appears to hire high-end passionate talent; these are the people who aren't going to be satisfied doing something they aren't interested in and/or don't involve many hard problems, just lots of necessary grunt work (all projects require grinding, but some more than others). They care too much and are not in it just for the money.

I would be surprised if Google did not know what projects are problematic, but finding solutions would be another matter.

Re: Why I loved working at Google

#15

Post by Shebanator »

pocketstar wrote: post #5

"Google is the home to world-class engineers working on the world’s hardest problems". World-class engineers: true. World's hardest problems: false. Unless google has a secret space program, cold-fusion reactor, cure for cancer, desalination, etc... Perhaps I am naive but monetizing searches, email and other things doesn't count as any of the world's hardest problems.

I think you may be confusing "problems that would have the biggest potential impact on humanity" with "problems that are hard to solve". Which is not to say that curing cancer or colonizing mars is easy. But in what way is, say, desalination harder to do than creating a search service that wants to make all information "universally accessible and useful"?

Re: Why I loved working at Google

#16

Post by varelse »

dewitt wrote: post #11
varelse wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As one of the vocal ones(tm), even I would say Google is fantastic if you get allocated onto the right team. This obviously occurs most of the time or the place would be out of business. What led to me becoming one of the vocal ones is what happens when allocation fails and there's really no resort other than trying to fit in doing something completely uninteresting or leaving. Google seemingly does not acknowledge t…

I'm sincerely sorry things didn't work out in your case, varelse. I don't know your backstory, and it wouldn't be my story to tell even if I did. But I do know it makes me sad whenever I hear that we have any attrition, regretted or otherwise. And I know as an eng manager I try to put myself out there for /any/ engineer who wants a hand, or even just a sympathetic ear. Some cases are just unfixable, but I like to bel…

I had an offer for something more suited to my skills before I left Google, skills that I knew Google would ultimately need, but didn't yet need when I was there. In fact I had previously turned said offer down to join Google in the first place. These employers were happy to have me. All is good there.

What isn't so good is that since I left Google, several positions have arisen that would very much make use of my existing skill set. Several people within have tried to get me considered for those positions only to get shut down by HR without so much as a phone screen. So I would appear to be on some sort of black list. There are worse things in life, but it does seem silly to me.

Re: Why I loved working at Google

#17

Post by asdfprou »

cpprototypes wrote: post #12

Most of the articles and blog posts about Google are about Mountain View. Does anyone know if the satellite offices are good? I think I've read some good things about New York, but haven't heard much about any others.

I actually spent most of my time in the San Bruno office, which is where YouTube's team mostly sits, but occasionally ventured to the SFO office and the MTV offices.

I've heard great things about the New York offices as well as the Zurich, Tokyo, and London offices though!

Personally, I've talked to Googlers all over the world and there seems to be a consistency in openness and passion.

Re: Why I loved working at Google

#18

Post by dumitrue »

cpprototypes wrote: post #12

Most of the articles and blog posts about Google are about Mountain View. Does anyone know if the satellite offices are good? I think I've read some good things about New York, but haven't heard much about any others.

The Los Angeles office is right by Venice Beach, in a beautiful setting. It's a mid-sized office (~500 employees according to http://venice.patch.com/groups/business-news/p/silicon-beach...) in the same time-zone as Mountain View and a less than 1h flight to the mothership should you need to go there.

Unlike the main office, most people don't have to choose between commuting from SF or living in Mountain View, because Venice/Santa Monica is actually a nice area to live in :). Naturally, the breadth of projects is not as big as in Mountain View, but there's a number of exciting things happening here (computer vision, quantum AI etc).

Re: Why I loved working at Google

#19

Post by beder »

cpprototypes wrote: post #12

Most of the articles and blog posts about Google are about Mountain View. Does anyone know if the satellite offices are good? I think I've read some good things about New York, but haven't heard much about any others.

I work in the Chicago office and I love it! Our site lead is really passionate about making sure we're relevant, and the team I'm on has a substantial presence in Chicago, so I don't really feel like I'm in a satellite office.

Re: Why I loved working at Google

#20

Post by varelse »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #14
dewitt wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sincerely sorry things didn't work out in your case, varelse. I don't know your backstory, and it wouldn't be my story to tell even if I did. But I do know it makes me sad whenever I hear that we have any attrition, regretted or otherwise. And I know as an eng manager I try to put myself out there for /any/ engineer who wants a hand, or even just a sympathetic ear. Some cases are just unfixable, but I like to bel…

Google has to get someone to work on the boring but necessary projects! Google appears to hire high-end passionate talent; these are the people who aren't going to be satisfied doing something they aren't interested in and/or don't involve many hard problems, just lots of necessary grunt work (all projects require grinding, but some more than others). They care too much and are not in it just for the money. I would b…

And that's exactly what happened to me. I was senior level talent at the preceding employer with a fantastic track record. When I started at Google, I was effectively told to start over from scratch. I'm not just in it for the money. The money can briefly distract me, but if I don't feel passionate about what I'm doing, I tune out, and ultimately leave.
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