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Why I loved working at Google

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Re: Why I loved working at Google

#21

Post by jsolson »

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 rather like working in the Seattle office. It's large enough to have nice (and getting nicer) amenities, while still feeling mostly like a medium-size shop that happens to be able to pull on all of Google's technical resources.

Also, at least in my case, I don't get that "satellite office" feeling from the work I'm doing. The people I need to talk to most all sit within Nerf gun range.

Re: Why I loved working at Google

#22

Post by Helianthus »

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'm trying to figure out just what makes me uncomfortable about your comment.

In the end, maybe it comes down to: what you have written are words, which are only an appearance. I don't have any means of verifying your record as an eng manager, and this comment doesn't contain any reference to direct activity in this case--nor should it!--because that is the kind of action that should happen within Google's private mechanics.

That's the discomfort: greetings and farewells are formal gestures, but all-too-often empty ones. Yours ring empty to me.

Everything about your post, whether you intended that or not, is constructed to make you/Google look good. I bet you wouldn't say your intent was to make yourself look good, right? Then what was your objective?

And in any case, is any of that a bad thing? Or is it just another comment on corporate loyalty?

Consider that in the context of a naive intern's post in this post-PRISM world:

>>Google’s radical approach to transparency and commitment to the mantra of "Don't be Evil" is extremely admirable.

Right.

---

Please understand, my reaction is purely contemplative. There is a regrettable urge towards conflict when any ideologies meet, but I like to believe we can still come to peaceable verbal agreements. And forgive the irony of this paragraph, if you can.

Re: Why I loved working at Google

#23

Post by asdfprou »

varelse wrote: post #16
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…

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 ex…

It certainly comes to no surprise to anybody that a company as large as Google will have mixups in their hiring/recruiting process.

Often one arm of the organization does not know what the other is doing, although I am sure Google is constantly trying to improve their internal communications in order to prevent exactly this.

As for your point about the black list... I would say it would likely be closer to a note that has been placed in your recruiting profile instead.

Re: Why I loved working at Google

#24

Post by Helianthus »

varelse wrote: post #16
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…

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 ex…

> 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.

Well, I rather think that verifies my criticism of dewitt.

Re: Why I loved working at Google

#25

Post by Helianthus »

asdfprou wrote: post #23
varelse wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ex…

It certainly comes to no surprise to anybody that a company as large as Google will have mixups in their hiring/recruiting process. Often one arm of the organization does not know what the other is doing, although I am sure Google is constantly trying to improve their internal communications in order to prevent exactly this. As for your point about the black list... I would say it would likely be closer to a note tha…

Hahaha come on, just what do you think a blacklist is?

Re: Why I loved working at Google

#26

Post by leothekim »

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…

How difficult is it to switch teams? It seems ridiculous that Google would invest so much time and energy finding bright engineers and then let them go somewhere else because they're bored with what they're working on.

Re: Why I loved working at Google

#27

Post by asdfprou »

Helianthus wrote: post #22
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…

I'm trying to figure out just what makes me uncomfortable about your comment. In the end, maybe it comes down to: what you have written are words, which are only an appearance. I don't have any means of verifying your record as an eng manager, and this comment doesn't contain any reference to direct activity in this case--nor should it!--because that is the kind of action that should happen within Google's private me…

I admit, there are places where my post may have struck some chords with those have been following recent events in the area of privacy and transparency.

However from the perspective of someone who has worked in something like investment banking, I stand by my comment that Google's approach to transparency (at least internally) is headed in the right direction.

Re: Why I loved working at Google

#28

Post by Cookingboy »

Holy mother of generalization! There are literally tens of thousands of Googlers and the author made it seem like they are all the same.

Disclaimer: I currently work for Google and I like a lot of the things here. The company culture that you see every day really is refreshing and encouraging, but deep down, we are individual human beings with different motivations and drives and want different things. There are many people who join and leave Google every day, an considering the size of the company, I can guarantee that not everyone works on those "moonshot" problems every day either.

Google is a fantastic company, but using a 3 months experience to generalize the entire workforce and culture of a company this size is a bit ambitious.

Re: Why I loved working at Google

#29

Post by seanmcdirmid »

varelse wrote: post #20
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Microsoft (my employer) at least doesn't really have this problem. First, we hire from a broader talent base so we usually have talent for teams that aren't as sexy as others. Second, you interview to the team you will be working with, even if it is an internal transfer. This is bi-directional: they aren't just interviewing you, you are interviewing them. Perhaps Google simply needs to make the interviewing more bi-directional at the project/team level to fix the problem. From what I understand, right now allocation works only in one directly: teams bid for the new employee, but the employee doesn't get to bid on the teams!

Re: Why I loved working at Google

#30

Post by raldi »

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 SF office is the bomb.
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