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Most of us at Google are not working on on moonshot projects, and still have a happy life. Still, most non-moonshot projects that people are working on are grow

by xiphias 10y ago

Most of us at Google are not working on on moonshot projects, and still have a happy life. Still, most non-moonshot projects that people are working on are growing nicely, have a long term view, and making lots of impact. Also having free good quality, healthy food with big variety all day long makes a huge impact in life quality.

ethanbond 10y ago
I don't think Google's perks are anywhere close to a differentiator in the market these days.
- majewsky 10y ago
  s/the market/Silicon Valley/
- eitally 10y ago
  But even the things that aren't "perks" are still way beyond what most non-valley companies offer as benefits (insurance, retirement, education, leaves, parental benefits, internal training/development, etc). None of that is uniquely special, and many non-tech companies have pieces of the puzzle, but imho Google is unique among companies it size with the breadth and quality of employee benefits it offers.
JeremyBanks 10y ago
Having a good availability of food which is mediocre (and rapidly declining in terms of appeal, variety, and nutrition) is not a meaningful perk. It is the minimum viable offer when you force most of your employees to work in the middle of nowhere where there are ~no local food options, and spend too much time of their time commuting to justify spending time preparing their own. In this respect I'd probably even prefer Apple where the food is not free (and the price has generally been increasing) but the quality has been much better maintained than at Google.
- xiphias 10y ago
  Google has lots of offices. I'm at the Zurich office, as this is my preference, but there are enough to choose from. I wouldn't go to Cupertino as I wouldn't like to have to drive everywhere (I prefer a bit of walking and 10 minutes by train), but I respect people who like those places. Still, I'm not comparing Google against Apple (which is one of the top revenue/employee companies), but against smaller companies, startups and all the other companies in the world that can't compete that easily with the quality of life that these companies provide.

by xiphias 10y ago

ethanbond 10y ago

I don't think Google's perks are anywhere close to a differentiator in the market these days.

majewsky 10y ago
s/the market/Silicon Valley/
eitally 10y ago
But even the things that aren't "perks" are still way beyond what most non-valley companies offer as benefits (insurance, retirement, education, leaves, parental benefits, internal training/development, etc). None of that is uniquely special, and many non-tech companies have pieces of the puzzle, but imho Google is unique among companies it size with the breadth and quality of employee benefits it offers.

JeremyBanks 10y ago

Having a good availability of food which is mediocre (and rapidly declining in terms of appeal, variety, and nutrition) is not a meaningful perk. It is the minimum viable offer when you force most of your employees to work in the middle of nowhere where there are ~no local food options, and spend too much time of their time commuting to justify spending time preparing their own. In this respect I'd probably even prefer Apple where the food is not free (and the price has generally been increasing) but the quality has been much better maintained than at Google.

xiphias 10y ago
Google has lots of offices. I'm at the Zurich office, as this is my preference, but there are enough to choose from. I wouldn't go to Cupertino as I wouldn't like to have to drive everywhere (I prefer a bit of walking and 10 minutes by train), but I respect people who like those places. Still, I'm not comparing Google against Apple (which is one of the top revenue/employee companies), but against smaller companies, startups and all the other companies in the world that can't compete that easily with the quality of life that these companies provide.