This wordpress post has been making rounds on the internet as an internal email being passed around at Microsoft about the views of an employee who previously worked for Google. Being the darling of the day, any look inside Google is of interest to a geek like me and probably you readers too. Here's the link, read it then come back.
http://no2google.wordpress.com/2007/06/24/life-at-google-the-microsoftie-perspective/
So what did I learn from this article? Despite the pay and benefits, I really couldn't see myself working at Google and being happy and successful. I have the following observations:
1. Not having a personal space or privacy to call your own would make me feel like a "cog". I need a relatively quiet place to work and there's nothing I hate worse than feeling like people are lookingg over my shoulder.
2. How does the lack of "ownership" on projects work out over the long term? I mean, in every project there are fun puts and boring parts. With people being able to jump around, it makes me wonder if the perpetual beta state of a lot of Google's stuff is due to people simply not being interested in doing the boring maintenance and enhancement tasks at the other end of the life cycle?
3. The management situation disturbed me greatly. 100 direct reports? I would strongly argue that most managers can't manage more than 7 direct reports if they are in something as complex and highly skilled as IT. How much personal recognition and how much of the relationship between worker and manager is damaged by this type of structure?
4. Little in the way of career development and paths? No thanks, I'm only interested in company that works with me on a career development plan. If a company isn't going to be open about advancement paths and helping me achieve my goals while I help them achieve theirs, that's not a very good situation for me to be in for the long term. Will Google be able to keep turnover low over the long term?
5. Insane hours, sorry guys, I have a family (course I still work 50-60 these days, but it's by choice). Sounds from the post like there's a lot of pressure to work 80+ hours a week. I wonder how those high Google salaries look if broken down hourly...
Don't get me wrong, for the most part, I like Google, just doesn't seem like their environment would be a good fit for someone like me. :)