This continuous Google worshiping is really tiring. When you talk to Googlers nowadays, they seem to be pretty depressed as interesting projects dried up, and demoralized by seeing people spending 90% of their time playing office politics and backstabbing getting promotions. Compare Google in 2006 with the one in 2016 - would you really like to work there these days? If you are smart, you can build a core of your business and then let yourself be acquihired by the big players if you wish to, why bother with employment at Google unless it's your first job outside university?
Any data to back up your assertions? It's often rated #1 best company in the USA to work for [0] and has a pretty high 4.4 rating on Glassdoor (from 4300+ reviews) [1].
Honestly, despite years of thinking otherwise, I have absolutely no interest in building a business. Wanted to do the startup thing, tried bootstrapping a mobile app consultancy around 2008, etc. I went entirely broke (after having been a grad student, so no great feat, really) trying to convince myself to do the things I knew I needed to do to build a business.
After a few years elsewhere, I now work on Google Compute Engine. In particular I'm tech lead for the team that builds our virtual NIC and hypervisor-level networking features. I get to spend most of my days focussing almost entirely on how to make a piece of technology better and faster for our customers. Moreover, I get to do this with a set of team of people who are all outstandingly bright, polite, and dedicated to our common cause. Sometimes a business case has to be made when particular decisions will move the needle on costs, efficiency, revenue, etc., but that's a far cry from having to actually build/run the business itself.
I very much like working at Google in 2016. I get to work on technology and witness clear customer benefits without having to worry about building/running the business, meaning I also get to have a solid work/life balance.
If you are smart, you can build a core of your business and then let yourself be acquihired by the big players if you wish to, why bother with employment at Google unless it's your first job outside university?
Because if you care more about tech than about building products, startups suck. It's a whole culture based on wasting money with inefficient technology (cough cloud) at a ridiculously small scale, both in usage and in complexity.
I've had 20% projects at Google that I spent a few weeks working on and likely handle more traffic than a whole batch of YC backed startups.
Comments
This continuous Google worshiping is really tiring. When you talk to Googlers nowadays, they seem to be pretty depressed as interesting projects dried up, and demoralized by seeing people spending 90% of their time playing office politics and backstabbing getting promotions. Compare Google in 2006 with the one in 2016 - would you really like to work there these days? If you are smart, you can build a core of your business and then let yourself be acquihired by the big players if you wish to, why bother with employment at Google unless it's your first job outside university?
Any data to back up your assertions? It's often rated #1 best company in the USA to work for [0] and has a pretty high 4.4 rating on Glassdoor (from 4300+ reviews) [1].
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google#Corporate_affairs_and_c...
[1] https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Google-Reviews-E9079.htm
Disclosure: I do NOT work at Google.
Honestly, despite years of thinking otherwise, I have absolutely no interest in building a business. Wanted to do the startup thing, tried bootstrapping a mobile app consultancy around 2008, etc. I went entirely broke (after having been a grad student, so no great feat, really) trying to convince myself to do the things I knew I needed to do to build a business.
After a few years elsewhere, I now work on Google Compute Engine. In particular I'm tech lead for the team that builds our virtual NIC and hypervisor-level networking features. I get to spend most of my days focussing almost entirely on how to make a piece of technology better and faster for our customers. Moreover, I get to do this with a set of team of people who are all outstandingly bright, polite, and dedicated to our common cause. Sometimes a business case has to be made when particular decisions will move the needle on costs, efficiency, revenue, etc., but that's a far cry from having to actually build/run the business itself.
I very much like working at Google in 2016. I get to work on technology and witness clear customer benefits without having to worry about building/running the business, meaning I also get to have a solid work/life balance.
This article is not worshiping Google and talks about timeless issues in every org/team. It's a long read but worth the time.
Because if you care more about tech than about building products, startups suck. It's a whole culture based on wasting money with inefficient technology (cough cloud) at a ridiculously small scale, both in usage and in complexity.
I've had 20% projects at Google that I spent a few weeks working on and likely handle more traffic than a whole batch of YC backed startups.
Depends on the startup
Not everywhere is a joyful money incinerator.
That would apply for any company that's been a while.