Why Google Employees

8/8/2019 Why Google Employees

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/why-google-employees 1/9

Why Google Employees Quity 0digg y y 16 y y V iew Comments

M ichael Arrington Jan 18, 2009

In 2008 Google HR set up a private Google Group toask former employees why they left the company. We¶ve been forwarded what appears tobe authentic posts to the thread by a number of ex-Googlers, which we reprint below minus

identifying information other than their first names.

The thread shows a brutal honesty about what it¶s like to work at Google, at least from thepoint of view of employees who were unhappy enough to resign. Top amongst thecomplaints is low pay relative to what they could earn elsewhere, and disappearing fringebenefits seemed to elevate the concern. Other popular gripes ± too much bureaucracy, poormanagement, poor mentoring, and a hiring process that took months.

A few of the posts are more positive, and frankly there isn¶t a whole lot here that you don¶tsee in other big companies.

One message stands out though in most of the posts ± employees thought they wereentering the promised land when they joined Google, and most of them were disappointed.Some of them wondered if it meant they were somehow lacking. One person sums it all upnicely:

Those of us who failed to thrive at Google are faced with some pretty serious questionsabout ourselves. Just seeing that other people ran into the same issues is a huge relief.Google is supposed to be some kind of Nirvana, so if you can¶t be happy there how will youever be happy? It¶s supposed to be the ultimate font of technical resources, so if you can¶tbe productive there how will you ever be productive?

The full thread is below.

From: StephenDate: Wed, 28 May 2008 13:25:07 -0700 (PDT)Local: Wed, May 28 2008 2:25 pmSubject: Re: So« Why¶d you left, guys? I mean, seriously.



Actually, I hit the Send button on this before I intended to.I left Microsoft to work for Google in 2005. I stayed 10 months. Iwas demoralized. I shouldn¶t have ever taken that job. I wasdisenchanted the whole time, and yes, like you, my regret over thepoor bargain I¶d made affected my performance.

As I was saying. Google actually celebrates its hiring process, as if its ruthless inefficiency and interminable duration were a sure proof of thoroughness, a badge of honor. Perhaps it is thorough. But Iwould be willing to wager that Microsoft¶s hiring process, which takesa fraction of the time, does not result in a lower-skilled workforceor result in a higher rate of attrition. And let me say this: if Larry Page is still reviewing resumes, shareholders should organize arebellion. That is a scandalous waste of time for someone at thatlevel, and the fact that it¶s ³quirky´ is no mitigation.

I was, like you, offered a considerable pay cut to go to work atGoogle. The relocation package was lame. So were the benefits. (Ihad worked at Microsoft. Microsoft was self-insured, so there were noco-pays.)

In one TGIF in Kirkland, an employee informed Eric Schmidt thatMicrosoft¶s benefits package was richer. He announced himself genuinely surprised, which genuinely surprised me. Schmidt, in thepresence of witnesses, promised to bring the benefits to a par. Heconsulted HR, and HR informed him that it¶d cost Google 22 million ayear to do that. So he abandoned the promise and fell back on his

tired, familiar standby (³People don¶t work at Google for the money.They work at Google because they want to change the world!´). Astatement that always seemed to me a little Louis XIV coming from abillionaire.

I still can¶t recall all the moralizing postures without a shudder of disgust.

From: BenDate: Wed, 28 May 2008 14:43:09 -0700Local: Wed, May 28 2008 3:43 pm

Subject: Re: So« Why¶d you left, guys? I mean, seriously.

Stephen wrote:> He> consulted HR, and HR informed him that it¶d cost Google 22 million a> year to do that. So he abandoned the promise and fell back on his> tired, familiar standby (³People don¶t work at Google for the money.> They work at Google because they want to change the world!´). A



> statement that always seemed to me a little Louis XIV coming from a> billionaire.

I ran into a similar irritation while at Google, actually ± during thattime when the minikitchens were being stripped heavily. I heard that one

of the reasons was cost ± I remember figures mentioned like ³thousandsof dollars per day´ ± and it just didn¶t jive well with me.

I mean, look at the profit numbers. Google¶s net income for 2006, when Ileft, was 3 billion. 22 million a year? Less than 1% of their *profit*.

³Thousands of dollars a day´? Even if it¶s ten thousand, that¶s stillwell under 1%.

Reduce profit by 2% to make your employees much happier . . . well, Iknow what I¶d choose. In some ways it seemed like Google was gettingincreasingly pennywise/poundfoolish, and that just seemed like a dubious

situation.

(Although, to Google¶s credit, they opened up a new cafe that solvedmany of my food-related issues . . . after I left. Sigh.)

-Ben

From: TedDate: Wed, 28 May 2008 17:39:06 -0700 (PDT)Local: Wed, May 28 2008 6:39 pmSubject: Re: So« Why¶d you left, guys? I mean, seriously.

Sounds familiar (I was at Kirkland too.)Google took longer than any company I ever worked for to get thru thehiring process (approx 5 months from resume to job start.)

The interview process was very mixed: They had me slated as a WindowsDeveloper for some reason, tho everyone on my interview loop wonderedwhy. I flubbed my first coding pretty bad but after that it was clearthat no-one on my interview loop had enough experience or knowledge tolevel me. On the other hand they figured that out and scheduled afollow on interview with the head of the Kirkland office who askedreasonable and pertinent questions.

Unlike the previous posters, I was happy with my salary and (for somereason I can¶t articulate) I kept my own private medical insurance«

Also I was surprised that Google seemed to be proud that they didn¶tcommunicate from one interviewer to the next: at Microsoft it was agood opportunity to find more appropriate interviewers, etc. if a



person seemed misslated. Oh well, I thought my interview and hiringprocess was an anomaly.

From: LaurentDate: Thu, 29 May 2008 08:10:08 -0700 (PDT)

Local: Thurs, May 29 2008 9:10 amSubject: Re: So« Why¶d you left, guys? I mean, seriously.

I also left Google after only 5 months.

As soon as I got inside, I had the feeling of being swallowed by agiant borg :)

Really, I felt like I didn¶t exist, watching people buzzing aroundwith laptops.

I did however meet with Larry and Sergey during a product reviewmeeting, and have only good things to say about these 2 guys.

Regarding compensation, I did have to negotiate quite a bit to get onpar with what I earned before.

For options however, I didn¶t get much (something like 180 options and330 gsu).

What was strange with me at Google was: while outside, I had all thesebig ideas I could do if I ever worked there.

Once inside, you have 18,000 (at the time, Feb 2008) other googlersthinking the same things.

I think it¶s a good move for them to have App Engine: they won¶t needto hire that many people anymore, or buy small garage-guys becausenow developers will be able to develop over the Google OS for free forGoogle :)

One last thing: Google also thinks inside a box (the browser). I feltthis a lot, and was another reason I left. (too constrained)

It¶s no surprise that they push to extend what the browser can do.(Gears, Earth plugin)

Cheers.

From: ³shubaDate: Wed, 28 May 2008 22:01:06 -0500



Local: Wed, May 28 2008 9:01 pmSubject: Re: So« Why¶d you left, guys? I mean, seriously.

Hi Friends,

Yes, I do agree with Stephen about HR. I totally second the statement thatGoogle¶s Hiring process is slack. Agreed, they receive a record number of applications everyday, but still the feeling that the resume is lost in a

µblack hole¶ when there is no reply in as long as 6 months, is terriblydisappointing. Also, the whole exit process could be bettered and ironedout.

I understand when Eric Schmidt says, one doesn¶t work for Google for themoney alone. Job with Google is sure an experience. But, yes, bringing theperks on par with other bigwigs will bring down the attrition level to someextent, thou we all do understand that attrition is not a big problem for

Google right now.

Keep writing!

Shuba.

From: ShelbyDate: Thu, 29 May 2008 10:26:39 -0700 (PDT)Local: Thurs, May 29 2008 11:26 amSubject: Re: So« Why¶d you left, guys? I mean, seriously.

I had an equally ridiculous hiring process ± although mine actuallyseemed normal (by Google standards) until the result. ³And let mesay this: if Larry Page is still reviewing resumes, shareholdersshould organize a rebellion. That is a scandalous waste of time for someone at thatlevel, and the fact that it¶s ³quirky´ is no mitigation. ´ ± thiscouldn¶t be more true.

My experience actually in Aug. 2004 when I was interviewing for asales position in the Seattle office was the typical 13+ interviews,including a day trip to MV where I was told that someone would take meto lunch and instead she took me in a conf. room and interviewed me.So I ended up not eating at all that day until I returned to theairport at 4pm. However, I passed my interviews with flying colorsand was surprised 3 weeks later when I still hadn¶t heard from myrecruiter about the results of the hiring committee meeting. Finallyhe called to tell me that I was rejected because I was currentlyworking as a Flight Attendant. A job I had started 4 months priorbecause it was a great opportunity to move into their management groupbut then the airlines started downsizing management and so I applied



for the Google Travel Sales role instead. However, apparently theelitist hiring committee members believed that FA¶s are stupid andthere was no way they would be able to work at Google. Lucky for methe recruiter agreed it was incredibly sexist and fought with HR tobring me on as a temp. Three months later they resubmitted me to the

committee and had me remove my former job ± instead I mentioned that Iwas ³traveling´ for four months and bingo! I got hired full time. 3+years later I was promoted twice and named a Google Luminary! Goodthink Larry is such an excellent judge of character.

I have to say though, that level of bureaucracy remained pretty muchthe whole time I was at Google. I finally left after a lifestylechange moved me to Austin and they re-nigged on an offer to move meinto the Travel Vertical role for which I was promised before themove. It¶s a real bummer because I loved my co-workers and there area ton of great people at Google. But the management has no power to

influence change because they are micromanaged by the Execs.I¶m very happy at my new company though ± making twice as much andenjoying the benefits of a start-up culture again.

From: issaraDate: Fri, 30 May 2008 08:50:45 -0700 (PDT)Local: Fri, May 30 2008 9:50 amSubject: Re: So« Why¶d you left, guys? I mean, seriously.

I was hired to work in Google¶s Singapore office. I found out veryquickly that Google International is not the same as Google-US. The

offered pay was way too low to survive in Singapore, so I left after Igot another job offer that I felt was better for me. I really dobelieve that Google is doing some important work with humanitarianmapping projects and digitizing libraries. But for me, I felt thatGoogle¶s popular image did not match its actions in the work place,and that some of the things they did were not very ³Googly.´

Issara

From: ³LisaDate: Fri, 30 May 2008 15:16:20 -0700

Local: Fri, May 30 2008 4:16 pmSubject: Re: So« Why¶d you left, guys? I mean, seriously.

I¶m enjoying this group and this thread.

I had a far different hiring experience ² it moved tooquickly! I wasn¶t actually ready to leave my previous position, but



when the Google recruiter called, it would have been silly not to talkto her.

I had one full day of MV in-person interviews, a few phoneconversations, and the next thing I know, they¶re calling me to

present an offer. In retrospect, I shouldn¶t have accepted it. I spentall of 11 days working at Google before I returned to my previous (nowcurrent ;-) company.

I wish I had asked more questions and asked to meet the team I¶d bemanaging (at least some of them!) before I jumped on board, butGoogle¶s reputation as an employer is legendary. At the time, I feltconflicted, but then I¶d think ³Google wants me, and everyone knowshow hard it is to get hired there. I should jump on this opportunity.´ I don¶t bear any ill will ² I think Google is an amazing company, isdoing some revolutionary things, and is full of smart people. And I

bought shares in 2004, so I hope they continue to be very successful.;-)

Cheers!

LisaFrom: PamDate: Fri, 30 May 2008 15:39:04 -0700 (PDT)Local: Fri, May 30 2008 4:39 pmSubject: Re: So« Why¶d you left, guys? I mean, seriously.

I have been sitting back, surprised at the level of negativityexpressed by those on this thread, and wanted to share my verydifferent experience. Sure, Google isn¶t perfect, its management isn¶tperfect, the HR department isn¶t perfect, etc, but by and large theydo things better/smarter/friendlier than the vast majority of companies out there.

My hiring process back in 2003 was, like some of yours, somewhat drawnout, and I was made to contract for almost 4 months before beinghired, but Google gave me a chance, and I gave Google a chance. AndI¶m so glad.

Forget about the cool products I worked on over the years that are onthe cutting edge of technology and impacting millions of people. We¶remostly talking about work/life balance and job satisfaction. I getsuch a kick out of thinking about the incredible stuff I got to dowhile at Google (watch Barack Obama/Al Gore/Hillary Clinton/ColinPowell/Malcolm Gladwell/Jimmy Carter speak, go to a trapeze class,hear John Legend play in Charlie¶s cafe, go to a chocolate trufflemaking



class, ski on Google¶s dime year after year in Tahoe, to name just a few), not to mention enjoy a work environment at Google thatwas informal, comfortable, safe, and supportive ² so different fromthe work environments of my friends in other industries or at othercompanies.

I wonder if post-Google bitterness is correlated to when you joinedand/or how long you were at Google. It seems that it is. Maybe it¶sthe memories of Google in the first few years I was there that make itit seem magical, but I really do treasure the time I spent at Google.I left a few weeks ago, after almost 5 years at the company, because Iwanted to pursue a markedly different career path. Sure, I had timeswhen I was frustrated with the way Google was doing things, or when Ifelt that my particular project, or assignment was lacking, and Idefinitely had managers that I didn¶t enjoy. But all in all ² what afreakin¶ amazing experience!

²±And, separately, regarding the compensation issue, it seems to me thatGoogle would do their research and pay market wages high enough toattract the best. If good candidates refuse to take the jobs becausethe wages aren¶t high enough to live on, they¶d be forced to raisecompensation.

From: ³LoganDate: Fri, 30 May 2008 15:56:47 -0700Local: Fri, May 30 2008 4:56 pmSubject: Re: So« Why¶d you left, guys? I mean, seriously.

I experienced the same painful hiring process all of you did. Thereputation of Google is why I worked there for three and a half years. Itook pride in where I worked and the work I was doing. I knew I could getpaid more elsewhere but the caliber of people to my left and right wasamazing. I learned a lot and have benefited from the time I spent atGoogle.

When asked by friends and family why I was leaving I came up with anautomobile analogy.

One auto has a 5 star crash safety rating, with good gas mileage, lowmaintenance costs and good performance. Another, has bluetooth for yourmobile phone, 10 cup holders, sexy looking instrument panel, premium soundsystem, DVD player and seat warmer but has poor gas mileage, poorperformance, bad safety rating, expensive maintenance, etc.

Some will make a purchasing decision on what really matters; safety,performance, serviceability. Some will make a purchas



Documents

Why Google Employees