> argyle@google.com is no more
I'm working through this on a personal level as well because it's not healthy to make one's self worth dependent on a relationship one has no control over.
Googler... ex-Googler
781–790 of 1001 posts
Re: Googler... ex-Googler
#782I've skimmed through the comments; and seen that most people have commented on the cog in the machine thing, or on layoffs in general and how they suck. To me, the shock from this blog post was about seeing a Chrome developer relations engineer whom I have grown to admire and who has been doing a stellar job educating web developers on new html and css features, get the sack. He was one of the best remaining speakers…
It says they are getting ready for the future when some govt agency splits them up and they are shedding the load now (the areas they will have to sell).
If you're being forced to sell something, wouldn't you want to maximize its value? Wouldn't you retain the most valuable people?
Re: Googler... ex-Googler
#783Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I don't want to work for another US company again if I can help it You can work for a US company in the UE. They have to follow the local rules like anybody else.
A company that has to "follow the rules" is way less desirable to work for then a company that embraces the spirit of the rules. I'm in the US so can't really speak for companies in other countries, but many US companies are doing everything they can to skirt the letter of the law and spending a ton of money to have them rewritten to be less favorable to employees and more favorable to the business. Finding a company…
That's absolutely happening in US-owned companies in EU that used to be great places to work before they became US-owned. They do pay a premium for their bullshit of course.
Re: Googler... ex-Googler
#784Earlier quoted context omitted.
Funny how they're bad at this from start to end. Most of these comments talk about the "end" part, but don't forget: Google has a notoriously laggy hiring process with extreme delays and an unacceptably high level of silence on important issues from recruiters. I have been ghosted so heavily from recruiters TWICE at Google when I was literally telling them "Hey I have offers from $x and $y and I need to decide in 2 w…
Totally unrelated, but I was once contacted by an Amazon recruiter and sent him my resume. He called me to discuss my experience, one of which mentioned that I worked in an environment where my team managed "30,000+ servers". He took the opportunity to say something along the lines of "that's irrelevant, that's smaller than one datacenter in one of our regions". I honestly have no idea why the recruiters from these p…
Linkein is now full of recruiters looking for work, who never had any network.
The barrier of entry to become a receruiter in general is very, very low.
Re: Googler... ex-Googler
#785ISTM software engineers have been living in a privileged and elite world. They are then utterly shocked to be treated like employees are treated elsewhere. Pretty much anywhere if you are let go, your email access and physical access are cut off immediately. Start-ups do this all the time as funding gets tight or there is a need to pivot. I get that this sucks (and have been on the both the dishing out side of this a…
> ISTM software engineers Probably not the International Society of Travel Medicine, what's the abbreviation?
Internet Search and Tele Marketing
Re: Googler... ex-Googler
#786Weirdly, Amazon had far more compassion than Google here. When my role got eliminated at Amazon, I got an email at 5am PT to my personal email telling me that my role was eliminated. It also told me what I would still have access to, and how to access them from the outside.
Crucially, it said that I would still have limited corp access until 1pm, and then told me which things I still had access to.
I got on my work machine, and found that all of my previous emails had been erased (or at least blocked from my view), so I couldn't download an email archive or otherwise see anything. I also couldn't send emails externally anymore. Most of my systems access had been cut off where I could have downloaded or exported anything "secret" as per the email.
But they did let me send emails internally. I still had slack access to affinity groups. So I was able to shoot off a bunch of goodbye emails and slack messages.
And true to their word, at 1pm, my laptop rebooted and I was then locked out. But at least I got to say goodbye and share my personal email and linkedin with a bunch of people, and they were able to send me "so sorry to see you go" replies, which was nice.
Re: Googler... ex-Googler
#787Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Google is just really bad at this, but seems to think it's not bad at this The BigTech firms have been doing this intentionally for a very long time. I started hearing about Microsoft doing the security-escorts-you-straight-out-the-door all the way back in 2012. It's not that they are bad at this, it's that they think the trade-off works out in their favour. And it probably does - what's a few but-hurt former emplo…
> " I started hearing about Microsoft doing the security-escorts-you-straight-out-the-door all the way back in 2012. " Are you sure about that? Microsoft's 2014 layoffs, which were large enough to be reported in the tech press, let employees keep network and building access until the actual layoff date.
Can confirm as well, was laid off from Microsoft in 2023, and I kept access for about a week and a half (and then was paid for an additional 60 days after that, but no longer had access to anything, this was just the WARN period).
Re: Googler... ex-Googler
#788Earlier quoted context omitted.
Slightly tangential question for you- does 48% taxes include healthcare? How about pension? It’s tax week in the US, I think my rate was 22% overall. But another 10% of compensation is health insurance. Another 15% is retirement savings. My municipal water bill last quarter mostly was not for actual water usage (about 40% was for water) rest is system charge and storm water fees. Regarding the VAT thing… we may be ef…
> How about pension? Fun fact I learned the last time this topic came up, social security in the US pays more than German government pensions.
There is more than one pension -- one for old age (which the government is paying) and another from the company plan. The usual trick is to also pay out mortgage by this time, sell the house to buy something smaller and enjoy your life somewhere in a sunny place.
Re: Googler... ex-Googler
#789Earlier quoted context omitted.
Totally unrelated, but I was once contacted by an Amazon recruiter and sent him my resume. He called me to discuss my experience, one of which mentioned that I worked in an environment where my team managed "30,000+ servers". He took the opportunity to say something along the lines of "that's irrelevant, that's smaller than one datacenter in one of our regions". I honestly have no idea why the recruiters from these p…
At Amazon? Yes, very likely.
I remember a few years back when it seemed anyone who (1) had a pulse and (2) had rumors circulating that they might be a software developer got a contact from an AMZN recruiter about once a month if not sooner. It was frequent to have somebody complain on HN about how they could not get an interview with FAANG and I'd say "you really haven't gotten interviews with AMZN" and of course they were getting interviews with AMZN.
Re: Googler... ex-Googler
#790Earlier quoted context omitted.
Slightly tangential question for you- does 48% taxes include healthcare? How about pension? It’s tax week in the US, I think my rate was 22% overall. But another 10% of compensation is health insurance. Another 15% is retirement savings. My municipal water bill last quarter mostly was not for actual water usage (about 40% was for water) rest is system charge and storm water fees. Regarding the VAT thing… we may be ef…
German here. Me and my employer pay 12 (together) for healthcare. I have no clue where the idea of „free“ healthcare came from, but it’s far from free. 20% of your wages is the general rule for healthcare here. On paper, my employer pays me 72k per year. I net 36k of this after taxes and social insurances are paid.
Laughs in 150 EUR per month of basis zorgverzekering from the bottom of the sea