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Googler... ex-Googler

nerdy.dev

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Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#811

Post by pton_xd »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #421
pjmlp wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a lesson that all senior developers know pretty well, that is why companies rather hire naive juniors, instead folks that already mastered how the game gets played, and cannot be sold on company mission, values, or whatever snake oil gets talked about during interview process.

And while I was still employed as a seasoned developer (before recently retiring) I felt it was my role to pass along some of my cynicism to the new hires and younger devs. Some of them seemed a little surprised to see me call bullshit in a group meeting. (Good luck to you boys and girls.)

Meanwhile, they all roll their eyes at the "jaded greybeard" advice. I know, because many years ago I was doing the eye rolling. I guess some lessons really can only be learned through experience.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#812

Post by geodel »

Scandiravian wrote: post #367
apwell23 wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

low eu salaries implies finding job is hard. fact.

There's a higher monthly salary in the US, sure. However, you're expected to work very long hours (60-80 hours per week) and get basically no time off In my current position I'm hired for an expected 37 hours per week. This can be more if I'm asked to work overtime, but my weekly hours cannot exceed 45 hours per week on average in a 3 month window without additional compensation Additionally I have six weeks of paid…

This 60-80 hrs/week maybe a startup myth. Since Europe in general has far fewer startups than US people hear these wild numbers in Europe far less. For normal big tech worker, or enterprise workers 40 hrs is really the norm. Now many people specially in contracting, consulting can stretch hours for billing purpose or impressing upon clients thats a different matter.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#813

Post by mcv »

wiether wrote: post #366
azangru wrote: post #324

I'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…

> for me personally, this is also a huge disillusionment in Google This feels like "I installed Chrome before Google went evil". https://fortune.com/2025/03/19/tesla-owners-elon-crazy-bumpe...

Google dropped their "don't be evil" a very long time ago.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#814

Post by palmotea »

crazygringo wrote: post #666
palmotea wrote: post #633

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It does, but if you've removed the damage they can do, then to the company it's preferable to have more people angry who can't do damage, than less people angry but some of them will do damage. Eh. That's a bad way of thinking, but one that I think is tempting to software engineers. It's basically taking software security thinking (appropriate for things ) and applying it to people in a context where the consequenc…

> Eh. That's a bad way of thinking, but one that I think is tempting to software engineers. This has nothing to do with software engineering. It's about business risk management. I'm not justifying it, just explaining the sad reality of it. > You know, you're not required hire those kinds of people in the first place. Hire people who get along with others. I'm glad you have a crystal ball to perfectly predict how eve…

> This has nothing to do with software engineering.

You should note I said that way of thinking "is tempting to software engineers," not that is exclusive to them or has anything specifically to do with software engineering.

> It's about business risk management. I'm not justifying it, just explaining the sad reality of it.

The actual sad reality that some people chose to treat others unkindly pre-emptively.

> I'm glad you have a crystal ball to perfectly predict how everybody will act in future situations.

I don't, but I think you can minimize your risk, if that's what you need to avoid being an asshole. Then you have to practice trusting others.

> But sometimes it's the people who seem the most pleasant and helpful who take layoffs the worst, because they feel the most betrayed after everything they gave emotionally in good faith.

Honestly, that seems like an argument for making sure employees have good work-life balance, so they're not giving an unhealthy to the point where they feel betrayed.

But I suspect the people who think "I'll make them angry, but that's OK because I'll make sure they can't any damage," are probably also the kind of people who would knowingly exploit an over-committed employee.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#815

Post by pton_xd »

basfo wrote: post #776
NooneAtAll3 wrote: post #81

my take on this is that "2 week notice" should probably apply to businesses as well?

I worked for a well-known SaaS company for 4 years. A few months after we were acquired, I decided it was time to move on. I gave a 3 week notice to ensure everything was properly handled before my departure. Two days later, I couldn’t log in to my PC. I was, for all intents and purposes, fired from my actual work. Technically, I was still employed and paid for those remaining days, but I was locked out and never got…

That's standard practice for tech companies. Once you hand in your notice your access is cut and you'll be escorted off the premises that day.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#816

Post by ryandrake »

scarface_74 wrote: post #808
ryandrake wrote: post #767

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't believe my office is my family, but I expect to at least be treated with a baseline level of decency, civility, dignity, respect, and kindness, which are non-monetary and (by my reading of your post) unnecessary in your office full of Vulcans. The fact that these things are seen as optional and unimportant explains a lot of what's happened to public discourse.

Was it indecent for Google to lay someone off, remove all access and give him 16 weeks of severance + two additional weeks for each year of service?

I didn't say anything about Google.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#817

Post by scarface_74 »

ryandrake wrote: post #816
scarface_74 wrote: post #808

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was it indecent for Google to lay someone off, remove all access and give him 16 weeks of severance + two additional weeks for each year of service?

I didn't say anything about Google.

The submitted article was about Google…

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#818

Post by eadmund »

spacemadness wrote: post #611
wyclif wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If anyone here has only worked in the EU and wants to see what the US layoff process is supposed to be on a good day, just watch the movie Margin Call and the scene where Eric Dale is called into the office by HR to be fired. There's a scene where they put a folder in front of him with a brightly-coloured sailboat on the cover labelled "LOOKING AHEAD." It's exactly as grim as it sounds.

American companies play mental games and gaslight everyone by calling it “a hard decision” and try to place the empathy back on the executives who get paid 10-100x the employees they just fired without warning. It’s sociopathic behavior.

I don’t think that’s really fair. It can certainly be a hard but necessary decision. And what does it matter that a CEO makes more than his employees? Even if he makes 50 times what they make, that means even if he gave up all of his salary he could only save the jobs of 50 employees.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#819

Post by winrid »

ygouzerh wrote: post #687
mont_tag wrote: post #623

ISTM 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…

> It's a fact of life I will argue the contrary. Companies with US mindset makes us think that. Countries with social safety net have a better way of handling it. Even in the country where I am now living, Hong Kong, which is very liberal, half of the companies let you have 1 month of notice period.

And even in China the layoff policy for pregnant women is way more humane than in the US.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#820

Post by aeyes »

gedy wrote: post #737
singron wrote: post #662

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be too late now, but I've successfully negotiated (before signing) retention deals like this to be pro-rated in the event of non-voluntary termination. It's perfectly reasonable for exactly this reason, and companies have no legitimate reason to deny it.

Agreed, this is/should always be the deal basically - "here's a bonus so you stay while we transition" is the only reason many folks stay post aquisition. It should not be revokable, especially last minute.

To me its a massive red flag that Google would promise a cash bonus 2 years in the future, they could have given stock with an appropriate vesting schedule for retention. All the retention deals I have seen were done like this, only for the very short term (less than 6 months) a cash bonus makes sense.
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