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Lessons from 14 years at Google

addyosmani.com

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Re: Lessons from 14 years at Google

#561

Post by pbhjpbhj »

agobineau wrote: post #541
Aurornis wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The load time improvements had destroyed their company culture. Instead of everyone coming into the office, turning on their computers, and spending the next 10min chatting and drinking coffee One of my early tasks as a junior engineer involved some automation work in a warehouse. It got assigned to me, the junior, because it involved a lot of time working in the warehouse instead of at a comfortable desk. I assume…

insane mindset. This kind of thing is why there is no industry left in anglosphere outside US

Insane mindset that people should work modestly, get paid modestly and live in the fruits of a wealthy society? As opposed to breaking their backs to make a boss even wealthier?

The efficiencies are always to the benefit of the wealthy, the wage gap grows. You work hard, you still get fired.

Cap top wages to 5x the lowest, companies can't own housing except socially beneficial housing, individuals get 2 house maximum.

Re: Lessons from 14 years at Google

#562

Post by toxik »

yobbo wrote: post #392
naijaboiler wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

we are human being interacting with other human beings. what you call "kissing ass" is just learning to influence and work with other humans. It is by far the most useful skill to have in workplace. But don't worry. continue your disdain of it, includeing calling it negative names, and watch your career stagnate.

> It is by far the most useful skill to have in workplace. This might be defacto true in most workplaces, but defending "politics over competence" boils down to "I deserve the rewards from other people's work". People oppose it because it is morally wrong, not because they think it is an inaccurate description of reality.

You say that as if politics is optional. It isn't, decisions need to be made and politics is the process of making those decisions: who decides, and why.

In academia, for example, there is less politics because the publishing system sort of becomes the decision process. You apply with your ideas in the form of papers, the referees decide if your ideas are good enough (and demonstrated well enough) for the wider audience to even get to see. Then some politics, a popularity contest. But crucially this system famously leads to a LOT of resources being wasted, good research that never goes anywhere because nobody cares about it, or bad research that does nothing but everyone cares (cold fusion).

Politics is just a name for how we decide things. And yes, it sucks, but that's because we suck.

Re: Lessons from 14 years at Google

#563

Post by wiseowise »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #373
H8crilA wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need to have the right personality. Either actually enjoy the game, or have an unsatiable (fear-driven?) need for status, or something else of this sort. We don't get to choose our personalities, though some limited modifications are possible - see treatments for personality disorders, for example.

> actually enjoy the game, or have an unsatiable (fear-driven?) need for status, or something else of this sort Ie. Somewhat serious mental disorders as requisite for leadership. I wonder how we got onto this darkest timeline?

Humans were like this since the inception of times. Chieftains, Khans, Czars, Kings, etc.

Re: Lessons from 14 years at Google

#564

Post by lionkor »

drnick1 wrote: post #89

> Addy Osmani is a Software Engineer at Google working on Chrome and AI Thanks for all the spyware in Chrome ig? And for many inane design decisions that favor usability over privacy and security?

> 1. The best engineers are obsessed with solving user problems.

Re: Lessons from 14 years at Google

#565

Post by lionkor »

jsrozner wrote: post #476

I am 70% sure this is partially ai generated. It is furthermore hard to believe that the engineers are working for the users, given that google’s primary activities today are broad enshittification of their products. Because of these two things I did not make it past point 4.

It just reads like a very expensive AI which is very well prompted. I would love to interview him without his phone to see if he can reproduce even 5 of these points.

I'm sure he's a super capable, experienced, and extremely well spoken person. There is no excuse of AI writing outside of writing that pays your bills.

Re: Lessons from 14 years at Google

#566

Post by strken »

yamakadi wrote: post #535
fragmede wrote: post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah the bar for competent is surprising hard to hit. A human being that shows up on time and it's reliable, doesn't have a problem with drugs or alcohol, or has a sick family member and just needs an advance. Good help is hard to find!

I understand the rest, but an otherwise capable person with a sick family member does not clear the bar for competent? Saddening if that’s where we are as a society.

I think the key part of that sentence was "...and just needs an advance", implying that they're going to take the job, ask for a cash advance for a (possibly fictional) sick family member, and immediately quit.

Re: Lessons from 14 years at Google

#567

Post by toxik »

geodel wrote: post #288
k8sToGo wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>b/c they didn’t know how to play politics Or they refuse to play that bs game

True. I used to count myself in that category. Do the work and stay away from games. I was also thinking of myself as clever, self-respecting by doing hard work and leaving daily politicking for others. And now sometime back I got like 2-3 dressing downs from managers, reason being I am not taking leadership feedback seriously enough and mending my ways. This despite I am only one with left with knowledge of legacy s…

Politics and leadership is a responsibility. By avoiding it, you're setting a bad example. Once you know how an organization works, you should help lead it.

If we consider a family, you're essentially saying you'll only "do the work": brush teeth, feed kids, clean up, but not take on any responsibilities for the actual goals of the family. Not pushing to have your kids learn things, just executing somebody else's ideas, driving them to sports; not improving the living situation by perhaps investigating if you should get a bigger car. Nothing leading, only executing the ideas of your spouse.

I exaggerate of course, but there is something there.

Re: Lessons from 14 years at Google

#569

Post by zipy124 »

couchridr wrote: post #502
phyzix5761 wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On average, most large cap stocks (MSFT, GOOG, AAPL, etc) are owned by millions of retail investors through 401Ks, mutual funds, ETFs, and direct ownership.

Of the US stock market half is owned by 1%. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WFRBST01122

Actually I believe this graph is half of US-owned equities and mutual funds is owned by the top 1% of Americans right? This doesn't include other extremely large holders such as sovreign wealth funds like norway/singapore or very large pension funds like the ontario teachers fund etc....

The USA is rather unique in its low pensions compared to countries in the EU or Australia (notable for its high contribution rates).

Re: Lessons from 14 years at Google

#570

Post by hdgvhicv »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #554
eru wrote: post #507

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The price of housing can rise even faster than incomes. Housing is only a part of the basket used to measure inflation. Housing's price rose faster than the weighted basket average, some other goods and services rose slower or even fell.

Accommodation costs are the first part of any sensible measure of inflation. If you're not factoring in housing then you're fudging the figures.

Many people don’t see housing inflation - if you bought a house in 2020 and house prices were up 80% since then it doesn’t affect your housing costs, especially in the US where mortgage rates are fixed for length of term even if interest rates sky rocket.
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