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What I learned getting acquired by Google

shreyans.org

561–570 of 645 posts

Re: What I learned getting acquired by Google

#561
post #548

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again my complaint is not the end result isn't "impressive" in isolation it's that it's not impressive for the amount of time and money dumped into it compared to any other space program on earth. I said "for the money we pump into it".

A claim not realy supported by 2022 space program budgets so: https://www.statista.com/statistics/745717/global-government...

Based on the data shared you're right and my assertions are wrong or at least overblown. To be honest I was thinking mostly compared to the Indian space program and their recent successes and I see that the data confirms that they have pumped less money and have (imo) done way more. But overall I'm wrong in the way I was positioning this, thanks for sharing, I did some more research on account of your comments.

Re: What I learned getting acquired by Google

#562
post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe for the c-suite

c-suite would be +20 million each, any early employee should have enough options to get a two to five million after a nice acquisition

That’s unrealistic in many cases

Re: What I learned getting acquired by Google

#563
post #458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there's a pretty big difference between filing a ticket to open the building next door and having free workspaces around the world you don't have to do paperwork to use.

IIRC it was a very simple ticket with just the building code and expected dates you would be there. Once badged in, you got to use everything inside. I get that just badging in is a way better experience, but when I travelled to other offices it was just another bullet point on my travel to-do list. I don’t know/remember what the policy was regarding same-city buildings, as there was just one office in my country.

Same city buildings were also restricted until the ticket was approved or the front desk allowed you in

Re: What I learned getting acquired by Google

#564

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That seems OK to me. Why should children who are lucky to be born into a stable middle class family have a large financial advantage over other children? Are you for real? Because it is not my or my children's fault other children don't have anything to inherit. This is how life works. You do whatever you can to get ahead of other through any means necessary to have a better future. You should not exepect the same…

> This is how life works. You do whatever you can to get ahead of other Except its not how life works. Because we decided to make a law against it. You're trying to argue that the law is bad by... saying that it's not a natural law of the universe (no law is, murder is neutral on a cosmic scale) > So the world would be better if everyone was poor, right if you're arguing in this sort of bad faith its pointless discus…

> If you want a wealthy society, make it so hardworking people born into poor families can outcompete wealthy failsons

This is a very wrong assumption. You cannot have the same outcome even if you start from the same position - everyone poor or everyone rich.

Re: What I learned getting acquired by Google

#565

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get it. Why would you be pissed if those were the rules of the company you were contracting to? As a contractor you get paid more than the regular employees because you take on a greater risk (such as being fired at any moment without any explanation) and you do whatever you're told. If you don't like it you can always look for another client. My point being you can't have your cake and eat it too. Does it su…

Hospitality is a fundamental virtue. Skimping out on food is maybe the fundamental transgression of norms. The anger is subconscious and maybe primal. I was a "contractor" from an in practice body shop consult agency, not an actual contractor. I did every day office work for three years, being part of a normal work group going to every day meetings etc. But I don't think that matters. If you have an actual consultant…

I think we're talking about different things: contractors are paid more than regular employees doing the same thing. And they don't have any benefits the actual employees have.

> Also, the pay was somewhat lower. I was fresh out of uni so I didn't know better.

What you describe is outsourcing, not contracting.

Re: What I learned getting acquired by Google

#566

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is how life works. You do whatever you can to get ahead of other Except its not how life works. Because we decided to make a law against it. You're trying to argue that the law is bad by... saying that it's not a natural law of the universe (no law is, murder is neutral on a cosmic scale) > So the world would be better if everyone was poor, right if you're arguing in this sort of bad faith its pointless discus…

> If you want a wealthy society, make it so hardworking people born into poor families can outcompete wealthy failsons This is a very wrong assumption. You cannot have the same outcome even if you start from the same position - everyone poor or everyone rich.

> You cannot have the same outcome

you aren't arguing seriously. reread what I said. You're replying as though I said the complete opposite of what I actually said.

Re: What I learned getting acquired by Google

#567

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Contractors should cost more than a FTE you’re buying expertise and the contractor is shouldering the risk and burdens of not being a FTE.

Yeah, except the contractor sees none of that money if they go through a staffing agency.

Yes, but that market is not exactly a monopoly.

Re: What I learned getting acquired by Google

#568

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, you began your comparison with the most profitable consulting firms… 2 things - 1) Accenture has an EBIT of 20%. 2) The tippy top of the consulting pyramid plays on branding in a way that the average firm does not. The VAST majority of service driven firms will not become McKinsey etc. making this a poor comparison Finally - I doubt that the top firms have those margins, I would most definitely like to be correc…

Note I mention profit before distributing to equity holders. The highest prestige and therefore most profitable consulting companies are all partnerships. Some highly profitable consulting companies that are partnerships have very high margins, if you don't include the profit sharing component of the pay of equity partners (but do include bonus and fixed salary). The primary public source I can point to is that many…

The idea of equity in a consulting-type business is pretty strange, on the face of it.

Leaving aside the partnership fair/unfair model, equity = access to capital.

But consulting-type businesses are essentially headcount machines, because the product is 1 person's time.

So why do you need access to capital?

Granted, it makes expansion easier (hire ahead of work), but as far as profit distributions go, what are equity holders providing in exchange for their slice of the profits?

Re: What I learned getting acquired by Google

#569
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not in practice, because they use a hiring entity to dictate the terms. You're expected to show up on a schedule, do the work etc. much like a FTE, but you're not an FTE. I think some folks have this illusion of software contractors that this is somehow common, it really isn't. The norm is you-are-almost-but-not-quite an employee type work environment, and thats at the better places. I've worked at a place where cont…

As a contractor, you are an FTE... just for a different (almost always much worse) company. And that arrangement exists solely so that the company whose work you're actually doing can fire you more easily or avoid legal liability.

> And that arrangement exists solely so that the company whose work you're actually doing can fire you more easily or avoid legal liability.

It might mostly exist for that reason, but not 'solely'.

Otherwise, there would be no contractors in eg Singapore.

Re: What I learned getting acquired by Google

#570
post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised this even legally flies. Seems like the legal equivalent of creating a shell company.

What surprises me the most is how a corporation like Google is incapable of meeting temporary staffing needs internally, by shifting people already on their payroll around projects. It's as if they are just admitting that they are shit at managing projects and workloads and scoping work to the point that they need external help to plug these gaping holes in their load management. How many people do they need to pay t…

Many countries make legal distinctions between direct employees and contractors.

Those kinds of regulations are a prime driver for this kind of contracting.

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