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Googler... ex-Googler

nerdy.dev

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Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#961

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

saagarjha wrote: post #959
ChuckMcM wrote: post #795

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Google is just really bad at this, but seems to think it's not bad at this. That is a very charitable way to look at it, when I worked their I started from that point as well. "Hey, this thing you just did, you did it really badly, can we workshop some ways to not do this so badly in the future?" And yet, again and again they would do something similar again and still do it badly. As the examples piled up, I was ab…

Recruiting is quite expensive, and employees naturally lose to the market rate by staying at one company for a while. I don't think this really matches what you're suggesting.

That comes out of a different budget though, so people care less.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#962

Post by constantcrying »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #950
constantcrying wrote: post #902

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a genuinely terrible idea by the CEO though. Yesterday you paid them, today you don't. If you think that doesn't change your relationship, you have to be a fool.

> It is a genuinely terrible idea by the CEO though. Maybe in your culture, but not all. In many cultures (people have shared numerous personal stories here), there are more humane ways to handle layoffs rather than treating former employees like a trespasser/thief/criminal one microsecond after the announcement.

In my country there are very strong labor protections. You can not fire someone here from one day to another, if they are laid off they have a long time where they are still employed by the company. There are also many companies which will not do layoffs at all, the only way to get fired is for serious misbehavior.

This is the culture where I am from. Nevertheless I absolutely believe that work relationships should be professional relationships, based on the employer paying for the employees time. Mutating that into "trust" will only create problems. The only thing I trust my employer with is him fulfilling his legal obligations towards me and I will fulfill my legal obligations towards him.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#963

Post by AlexeyBelov »

damnitbuilds wrote: post #350
apexalpha wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird, as someone from Europe I've never experience anything else. Layoffs here are always done in conjunction with the unions. People are moved to different jobs, helped with training etc... Only in very critical jobs they'd walk you out immediately but then you still get the pay.

I worked a at large European company. They announced there would be layoffs. But not who, just the date. On that date, they came round during the day, tapping people on the shoulder, who walked out of the room and were never seen in the office again. Grown men were crying, who weren't even let go. I never felt good about that company ever again.

What company was that?

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#964

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

constantcrying wrote: post #899
oblio wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it, really? Aren't US tech interview notoriously difficult? Many rounds of interviews, background checks, etc.? Most purely European companies don't do that. Actually, unfortunately, some of them do, because of American influence. But for sure they didn't use to.

Of course. Companies who fire more also hire more. European companies have very little staff turnover, so new jobs are fewer. Another aspect is that salaries are very even across much of the industry, as it is often negotiated by unions and unless you are also switching roles (e.g. into management) salaries at different companies will be very similar. That is why working for the same company for a long time is much m…

> Another aspect is that salaries are very even across much of the industry, as it is often negotiated by unions

Can you specify what country you're drawing these facts from? Europe does not have standard employment law, and I definitely haven't experienced salaries being set by unions or being common across the industry.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#965

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

homefree wrote: post #449
icemelt8 wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What he meant is that the whole capitalist culture, less regulations, creates a more thriving economy which creates more jobs and hence more options to go to.

Yeah I’d argue this is so clearly the case and it’s one reason among many why the US has an enormous amount of successful tech companies and Europe has some amount that basically rounds to zero in comparison. The ability to hire and fire easily is critical if you want to build successful companies. There’s a reason ambitious founders move from Europe to the US and why most billion dollar tech companies are American.…

> There’s a reason ambitious founders move from Europe to the US and why most billion dollar tech companies are American.

Yes, and it's because of larger, more liquid capital markets make it much easier to obtain VC funding.

> Europe is poor and to an extent I don’t think Europeans really understand.

Europe is definitely not poor in terms of either wealth or income (particularly Western Europe, which is the appropriate comparator for the US).

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#966

Post by constantcrying »

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #964
constantcrying wrote: post #899

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course. Companies who fire more also hire more. European companies have very little staff turnover, so new jobs are fewer. Another aspect is that salaries are very even across much of the industry, as it is often negotiated by unions and unless you are also switching roles (e.g. into management) salaries at different companies will be very similar. That is why working for the same company for a long time is much m…

> Another aspect is that salaries are very even across much of the industry, as it is often negotiated by unions Can you specify what country you're drawing these facts from? Europe does not have standard employment law, and I definitely haven't experienced salaries being set by unions or being common across the industry.

Germany in this case. The high tax rates at progressive rates mean that salary increases mean that income after taxes is quite flat.

There are also union negotiated rates for pay across much of the industry. Even if you switch employer your pay might remain exactly the same, unless you also get promoted and into a higher level or a different industry. "Flächentarifvertrag" it is called.

Obviously this drastically disincentivizes hoping employers.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#967

Post by WorldMaker »

bee_rider wrote: post #908
PaulHoule wrote: post #892

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just wait for IBM to turn into Red Har Linux or maybe Infosysl

That would be nice, if it turned into Red Hat. But IBM was first, right?

IBM owns Red Hat, and companies grow to resemble their acquisitions all the time, though I think more people believe Red Hat is already deep in being borgified to be IBM Linux more than the other way around.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#968

Post by underlines »

abdj8 wrote: post #110

Layoffs are a difficult thing for employees and their managers. I have seen people (one was a VP of Engineering) escorted out of the building, sent in a cab to home along with a security guard (this was in India), not allowed access to computer or talk with other employees. But, recently have had a very different experience. The current company I work for announced 30% layoffs. The list was made public within one hou…

That's the normal way at least where I live (Switzerland) and I am shocked people are being disposed off like that in the states. Is this even legal there? We usually get 1-3 months notice period, then continue to work for these 3 months to teach the new hire or finish our open tasks. If we won't find another job in time, we would get 70-80% of the previous salary until we find another job.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#969

Post by tanjtanjtanj »

SR2Z wrote: post #941
tanjtanjtanj wrote: post #936

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Photos is recent then Google search was recent when Photos was released! It’s a decade old and that’s only if we don’t count what it was before it was spun into its own product, google’s more recent integrations spun as “releases” non withstanding. YouTube INCREASING creator support? That’s news to me and every other YouTube creator. Creator support peaked around the time Photos released, nearly a decade ago and h…

Photos was brand new in 2015. Search is from 1998. I'm not a mathematician but that means that search is about three times older than it... If the point you're trying to make is that Google needs to bring every service they offer up to a billion users within five years of launching it, I don't know if there's much of a point to me trying to convince you

> If the point you're trying to make is that Google needs to bring every service they offer up to a billion users within five years of launching it

Well I didn’t say anything like this or anything that implied anything close to this so I suppose you’d have to engage with what I actually said.

Photos existed and was available to the public before it was “released” in 2015. Even then, 10 years is certainly not recent for a company of Google’s age. I don’t think even IBM would consider a 10 year old product a recent release.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#970

Post by SR2Z »

bdolgov wrote: post #953
tharkun__ wrote: post #949

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not what they said. They said, if Photos is currently recent (aka 2025-2015 = 10 years = recent) then Search was recent when Photos came out (aka 2015-1998 = 12 years = recent). Which given the overall timeframes, I'd say that's close enough to say 10 years ~= 12 years. And they said they'd actually count the non-Photos time of Photos as Photos, so add some to the 10 years.

2015-1998 = 17, not 12.

Yeah this is what drove me a little crazy about his reply. That's almost a factor of 2.
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