Is Google the new Microsoft?
and Microsoft the new Google?
Reflecting on 18 Years at Google
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Re: Reflecting on 18 Years at Google
#52Great post, epic that he calls out his idiotic upper management. I've only been at Google a little over a year and while I'm mostly happy with my management chain, I have run into directors who clearly should have been fired for overselling and underdelivering huge projects that impact my team.
I am surprised just how 'bottom up' so much is done at Google, and I wonder if that is why Sundar ended up where he is. Unlike so many other large companies, engineers who build consensus have way more influence on upper management's priorities than other places.
So being someone who is good at building consensus is a good way to built clout at google, more so than any other place. But this isn't alawys good. Sometimes I miss old boring "F500" companies where I can go to the one principal engineer (or director or whatever) and show them my idea, and how it doesn't get in anyone else's way, and boom they either approve or deny it.
No spending months convincing everyone and their mother to make a small (but significant) change.
Re: Reflecting on 18 Years at Google
#53A lot of glorified companies are completely filled with corrupt, inept management. I hope this recession destroys this management culture and brings back the ethos of innovation in engineering and product.
Be the change you want to see.
I'm not holding out. Public companies all turn into this.
One solution is to make greed and going public a shameful thing; but who's going to do that?
Re: Reflecting on 18 Years at Google
#54I find it refreshing that this post actually calls out specific problems and people. IMO, too many of these company culture posts keep the complaints somewhat vague which makes them harder to evaluate.
Re: Reflecting on 18 Years at Google
#55This is interesting, surprisingly blunt, and quite on point about the current malaise, but . . . I think this is the perspective of someone that was happily drinking the kool aid for longer than they should have been. For example, my impression was that had Android assimilated into the wider Google they would have failed. The wider Google views the fact Android isn't Chrome OS as a strategic failure, but the truth is…
This podcast reinforces what you're saying about Android, from the perspective of an early Android engineer when it was acquired by Google:
Re: Reflecting on 18 Years at Google
#56Another article that highlights Vic Gundotra’s arrival and rise at Google as the beginning of their decline.
I almost forgot about Vic! He hasn't been relevant for quite some time though, right?
Are you suggesting his influence still lingers?
Re: Reflecting on 18 Years at Google
#57What an amazingly well-written article. It's incredible how well it describes the feelings that I've struggled to vocalize on my own.
Re: Reflecting on 18 Years at Google
#58As a current Googler of approximately the same tenure, I can't speak to the comments on Jeanine Banks (never met her), but I agree with every other word of this. It's frustrating to continue to see both the level of genuinely well-intentioned work that the public is unfairly (and often viciously) critical of the motives of, and also the (at this point) complete absence of concern for the user, the long term, and the…
> It's frustrating to continue to see both the level of genuinely well-intentioned work that the public is unfairly (and often viciously) critical of the motives of, and also the (at this point) complete absence of concern for the user, the long term, and the company culture at the highest levels of Google.
This sentence is an oxymoron.
How can the work both be "genuinely well-intentioned" and at the same time have "complete absence of concern for the user"?
Re: Reflecting on 18 Years at Google
#59> “Much of these problems with Google today stem from a lack of visionary leadership from Sundar Pichai, and his clear lack of interest in maintaining the cultural norms of early Google.” Ouch. I know a lot of outsiders believe that, but to have someone who spent 2-decades at Google saying it publicly is rough.
It feels like tech generally has a CEO vision problem.
Andy Jassy + Sudar for example.
off the top of my head I can only think of Zuckerburg, and maybe Satya. (Although Satya is more an exceptional operator than visionary.)
Re: Reflecting on 18 Years at Google
#60As a current Googler of approximately the same tenure, I can't speak to the comments on Jeanine Banks (never met her), but I agree with every other word of this. It's frustrating to continue to see both the level of genuinely well-intentioned work that the public is unfairly (and often viciously) critical of the motives of, and also the (at this point) complete absence of concern for the user, the long term, and the…
I can empathize with you and the linked writer feeling frustrated that public perception isn't able to match your privileged perspective as an insider... but in both cases I feel my eyes roll involuntarily here.
From the outside looking in, Google has acted as a giant self-serving monopolistic hoarder of wealth and power, and has spent decades systematically absorbing and puppeteering creativity and optimism to squeeze as much long term profit as possible.
The only difference we can see recently is they are more interested in short term profit than long term, which makes their insidious power grabs more obvious and less convoluted.
Actions speak louder than words and I don't see how someone could look at Google's actions over the past 20 years and objectively claim the company hasn't always been the poster child of capitalism