511–520 of 645 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's about 'demeaning' different badges, and an intern is inherently temporary, which is the T in 'TVC'.
Interns always got the FTE type experience (able to eat at celebrations, got Schwag, etc!). They weren’t temp in the same sense as T temps - which are temporary workers hired from temp agencies.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
a company that behaves this way should be run out of town It's literally illegal to treat contractors too well.
But remember that is because these companies were exploiting the use of contractors to deny them employee protections. True contractors won’t care: they work for themselves and have multiple clients anyway. But these "red" people are employees in all but name, so that the companies can save money and other protections. A small slip up by Google (Apple/FB/MS/tons of others) and these folks get the protection they dese…
Some companies will even go as far as to prevent you from having multiple clients. Try asking anyone who contracts for Apple if they have any side work…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's common for Google offices to have gyms and pianos?!
A few of the offices even have a pool (Google Dublin, and soon Google London) Because the buildings are usually located in very central city locations - I've often used the offices as a way to kill time til' check-in opens for hotels after a long-haul flight (grab food, caffeinate, have a shower, etc) Recently I took a night train between Stockholm and Copenhagen. Showered in the Stockholm office, walked 5 minutes to…
I got a tour one time of some of the less-visible infrastructure of the building. There is a huge concrete slab under the building that acts as a heat bank, and somewhere there are windcatchers (I don't see them in aerial photographs) which funnel air over the concrete before it goes into the interior. This keeps the inside cool in hot weather and warm in cool weather, without an active air conditioning system.
There are pictures and diagrams of some of the above features here https://mcdonoughpartners.com/projects/901-cherry-offices/ .
It's also nestled in the 280/380 interchange, so my commute very often took me up and back down on 280, which is probably my favorite stretch of road in the world. I grew up in the south bay, a stone's throw from 280, and driving up and down 280 has always been relaxing for me, even when there's (somehow) traffic.
In retrospect, I didn't fully appreciate that office. Thanks for the 5-minute reminisce.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> or do you want Google or whoever to start hiring cooks themselves? Yes? Whats wrong with hiring a cook if you need to cook?
Because Google has no idea how to manage or hire cooks?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
thank you for mentioning this. i was a red badge. it was fucking demeaning. i have a lot of stories, but my favorite was when everyone on my floor got an earthquake safety kit except me. literally google didn't care if i lived or died. the expectation was that if i sucked up enough ("demonstrated my value") they MIGHT make me a real boy, like some bizarre Velveteen Rabbit fetish game. i loved watching how Google woul…
This is a case with contractors in all big companies. You are not a company employee. The expectation is that your employer will compensate you and take you out to lunch, etc, etc. But otoh you don’t need to deal with performance appraisals, office politics and all the other bullshit. Do your work, take the money.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not at Google but I was a contractor at a hospital. All the employees got active shooter training. I guess the contractors were meant to be fodder.
No doubt there are some HR/legal folks wanting to avoid the liability of 'training' someone on something that goes badly. The workaround to that is to have the training in an auditorium and not keep attendance on who is in the room.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s not legally a contractor then. As someone who has done contracting, both for software and in construction plus has hired them and had to be advised by lawyers around the legality of what makes or breaks a contractor… If you are setting their hours, bossing them around and/or providing equipment they are not a contractor they are an employee. This is the law in 100% of the United States.
How would you call people who are hired by bodyshop(IT service providers like Infosys, Cognizant, Epam) and then leased to Google?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's common for Google offices to have gyms and pianos?!
A few of the offices even have a pool (Google Dublin, and soon Google London) Because the buildings are usually located in very central city locations - I've often used the offices as a way to kill time til' check-in opens for hotels after a long-haul flight (grab food, caffeinate, have a shower, etc) Recently I took a night train between Stockholm and Copenhagen. Showered in the Stockholm office, walked 5 minutes to…
Likewise, one time I was on vacation in Hong Kong and just waltzed into the office and hung around for a little while. I actually ran into a friend of mine in the office who I had no idea lived in Hong Kong or worked for Google at the time.
The "red badge" thing was very real. It was really weird having TVCs on your team. You'd all work hard together to launch a thing, and then everybody except the red badge would get a celebratory team tchotchke or a team lunch or something. If you asked about it, the manager would say "we can't give Jim things directly because that might be like compensation and they'd be like an employee." There'd be all-hands meetin…
I don't understand the concern. If a company has a choice of hiring more people with more elasticity, or not hire as much or at all, is that somehow a terrible thing to do? Half of the things that feel like Google wanted to eject them was to satisfy IRS (e.g. paid rides on GBus), not because Google voluntarily wanted to treat them as such. FWIW, most red badgers I knew were of non-engineering job functions and for th…