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Why did I leave Google or, why did I stay so long?

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Re: Why did I leave Google or, why did I stay so long?

#51

Post by 4eor0 »

jpm_sd wrote: post #19
pyb wrote: post #3

A lot of interesting things here, but also the usual "billionaire complaining about all these entitled employees" vibes.

I'm no billionaire, but I am an Xoogler and his descriptions of employee entitlement and misaligned incentives are spot on.

Another billionaire talking about others having entitlement issues.

Insert line about smelling their own.

This blog post is yet another confirmation for me that similar to how we can have infinitely big small numbers, we can have infinitely verbose rambles around small ideas.

Re: Why did I leave Google or, why did I stay so long?

#52

Post by Macha »

jpm_sd wrote: post #19
pyb wrote: post #3

A lot of interesting things here, but also the usual "billionaire complaining about all these entitled employees" vibes.

I'm no billionaire, but I am an Xoogler and his descriptions of employee entitlement and misaligned incentives are spot on.

I don't believe complaints about covid reductions to perks are unique to tech or well paid jobs however. My father is a slightly above minimum wage factory worker. There was plenty of grumbling in there when they shut down the 50% subsidised canteen with covid too.

Re: Why did I leave Google or, why did I stay so long?

#53

Post by mmcconnell1618 »

itg wrote: post #24

Another "leader" who complains about employees wanting work life balance and they are extremely entitled. These are the type of managers you want to avoid. I'm sure many Googlers are happy you left.

I think the author is correct that some big tech companies create a culture where going to 11am yoga is more important that crunching out a few more lines of code. He's correct that if your focus is on building and scaling product, this culture reduces the velocity of change. However, I see a couple of things the author is missing:

1) Work life balance is about employee long term retention and places like Google spend a lot of energy in hiring, so they optimize for keeping the people they hire.

2) Sometimes an 11am yoga class frees your mind enough to foster creativity. Raw working hours may be reduced but novel solutions might increase.

3) Some tech workers have figured out the odds of hitting it big in a startup or having the next billion dollar idea are not that likely. Instead, they've optimized for a far above average salary with work life balance. There is nothing wrong with choosing that path and this is where the author is missing empathy for people who didn't choose his path.

Re: Why did I leave Google or, why did I stay so long?

#54

Post by pyb »

waheoo wrote: post #42
jpm_sd wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no billionaire, but I am an Xoogler and his descriptions of employee entitlement and misaligned incentives are spot on.

I find the idea that the best paid people in the industry are entitled to be a bit rich. Clearly there is unmet demand for quality engineers or you wouldn't be paying that much and allowing perks to dictate the balance of life equation so royally. Maybe we're not paid enough. It's like you're welcome to pay less, watch the talent dry up and move on. I'm sure you'll be fine? Doesn't Google still make roughly 150x what…

Being an IC is very hard if you want to do the job well. The risks are also underappreciated (massive burnout, etc). It should be compensated fairly.

Re: Why did I leave Google or, why did I stay so long?

#56

Post by znpy »

itg wrote: post #24

Another "leader" who complains about employees wanting work life balance and they are extremely entitled. These are the type of managers you want to avoid. I'm sure many Googlers are happy you left.

I'd like to add... That guy seems to be ignoring the point of view of somebody that is not the boss/former-owner of the startup that got acquired.

Re: Why did I leave Google or, why did I stay so long?

#57

Post by enriquto »

dijit wrote: post #33
macintux wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The “I’m a passionate guy so I can’t communicate without cursing” part was entertaining.

Ugh, I'm this guy and I hate myself for it. I've found that I really have to detach from the situation to use less curse words, such as counting to 5 mentally before saying _anything_. Any other tips for similarly terrible people such as myself?

Just keep cursing. It's not a big deal.

Re: Why did I leave Google or, why did I stay so long?

#58

Post by varjag »

notRobot wrote: post #50
itg wrote: post #24

Another "leader" who complains about employees wanting work life balance and they are extremely entitled. These are the type of managers you want to avoid. I'm sure many Googlers are happy you left.

Yeah, how dare they think that they're entitled to hobbies or a life outside of their job? How dare they take a day off because they're not feeling well and want to take care of themselves? FFS.

His point is a job is not UBI, you supposed to contribute in return and adjust your schedule along other workers (aka a 'workday'). I dunno why is that so controversial.

Re: Why did I leave Google or, why did I stay so long?

#60

Post by waheoo »

dijit wrote: post #33
macintux wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The “I’m a passionate guy so I can’t communicate without cursing” part was entertaining.

Ugh, I'm this guy and I hate myself for it. I've found that I really have to detach from the situation to use less curse words, such as counting to 5 mentally before saying _anything_. Any other tips for similarly terrible people such as myself?

Not giving a fuck.
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