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I’ve never worked at Google but my read on them is that they’re an algorithm company, not a product company. They tend to hire algorithm nerds and pass on folks

I’ve never worked at Google but my read on them is that they’re an algorithm company, not a product company. They tend to hire algorithm nerds and pass on folks who, like Max Howell, can design and build useful products. As a result, their core, algorithm based, functionality is successful, but they fail at new product design over and over, creating and retiring flawed products ad infinitum.

Jare 9y ago
I think this is a very important point that is not getting enough attention. Sure Google is enormously successful, but it's not clear that all the places they fail are a necessary part of building their success, and thus could still benefit from improvements.
shawnee_ 9y ago
they’re an algorithm company, not a product company. As a result, their core, algorithm based, functionality is successful, but they fail at new product design over and over, creating and retiring flawed products ad infinitum. Interesting that this refusal to adapt still persists. After reading this article, I dug up my old (2006) rejection email from Google; and just as I remembered, it wasn't quite so nice. This is basically what it said: "After careful review of your qualifications, we've determined that you have nothing. None of your skills are a match for anything at Google, and we don't foresee that changing any time in the near future. Good luck in your endeavors." I'd applied as a technical writer. Today I'm writing documentation at Intel for data scientists, engineers, and machine learning experts. Because guess what? Algorithms will get you only so far. Sometimes you don't need to add more engineers to solve a difficult problem, you just need better documentation.
- nawitus 9y ago
  Is that a direct quote?
  - scandox 9y ago
    Yeah I am also keen to know if "You have nothing" is a direct quote. That would be remarkable.
  - icebraining 9y ago
    That "basically" means it's not an actual quote.
    - shawnee_ 9y ago
      Paraphrasing, but it doesn't matter. I'd applied because I admired it as a company that could help you find answers for pretty much anything. I wanted to be a part of that. Yet clearly was it the intent of the email to inform me in a very specific way that they had scrutinized and deemed my skill set useless for "all" jobs at Google. They went out of their way to tell me that no jobs at Google would be a fit for my "experience and qualifications". This was 2006 and it had IPO'd not long before. I'd been out of grad school for about two years at that point, and I knew that "growing" companies are supposed to need all kinds of people. It was baffling. Long story short: this (and other) rejections rendered my self esteem pretty wrecked. This one though I look back to as the cruelest one and what more or less launched me into a pretty severe downward spiral that lasted about four years. That Google is still (condescendingly) rejecting creative and intelligent people like Mr Howell for not fitting into their mold ... that is still baffling.
  - sudhirj 9y ago
    Think the author is paraphrasing. Saying that as written would get the interviewer and HR fired.
rsp1984 9y ago
I did work at Google and, IMO, your analysis isn't that far from the truth. Plus every project is massively overstaffed on engineers and massively under-staffed on project and team managers, which is by design because, you know, SWEs at Google "don't like to be told what to do" and they will "organize themselves"...
- dmurray 9y ago
  And yet, Max Howell wouldn't see himself as a PM. Even if that would be where he could be the most help to Google! He'd want to be an engineer who makes up for his slight deficiencies in academic Computer Science with an excellent understanding of what Google's customers want. Apologies to Max and Google if I misrepresented what you wanted out of this.
tmountain 9y ago
Example: Google Play Music doesn't even have basic "search inside my library" functionality. I work at a product obsessed startup now, and that lack of functionality is the type of thing we'd address very quickly. It feels like Google is content to stand up products that "work" whilst having very little regard for the end user experience. Maybe I'm wrong, but I've seen tons of people asking for basic functionality in their music platform, and the user base seems to be flatly ignored.
- shrikant 9y ago
  > Google Play Music doesn't even have basic "search inside my library" functionality. Is this within some custom app that you've got? I'm a heavy user of Google Play Music to listen to my library across various locations, and I'm always searching inside my library!

Jare 9y ago

I think this is a very important point that is not getting enough attention. Sure Google is enormously successful, but it's not clear that all the places they fail are a necessary part of building their success, and thus could still benefit from improvements.

shawnee_ 9y ago

they’re an algorithm company, not a product company. As a result, their core, algorithm based, functionality is successful, but they fail at new product design over and over, creating and retiring flawed products ad infinitum. Interesting that this refusal to adapt still persists. After reading this article, I dug up my old (2006) rejection email from Google; and just as I remembered, it wasn't quite so nice. This is basically what it said: "After careful review of your qualifications, we've determined that you have nothing. None of your skills are a match for anything at Google, and we don't foresee that changing any time in the near future. Good luck in your endeavors." I'd applied as a technical writer. Today I'm writing documentation at Intel for data scientists, engineers, and machine learning experts. Because guess what? Algorithms will get you only so far. Sometimes you don't need to add more engineers to solve a difficult problem, you just need better documentation.

nawitus 9y ago
Is that a direct quote?
- scandox 9y ago
  Yeah I am also keen to know if "You have nothing" is a direct quote. That would be remarkable.
- icebraining 9y ago
  That "basically" means it's not an actual quote.
  - shawnee_ 9y ago
    Paraphrasing, but it doesn't matter. I'd applied because I admired it as a company that could help you find answers for pretty much anything. I wanted to be a part of that. Yet clearly was it the intent of the email to inform me in a very specific way that they had scrutinized and deemed my skill set useless for "all" jobs at Google. They went out of their way to tell me that no jobs at Google would be a fit for my "experience and qualifications". This was 2006 and it had IPO'd not long before. I'd been out of grad school for about two years at that point, and I knew that "growing" companies are supposed to need all kinds of people. It was baffling. Long story short: this (and other) rejections rendered my self esteem pretty wrecked. This one though I look back to as the cruelest one and what more or less launched me into a pretty severe downward spiral that lasted about four years. That Google is still (condescendingly) rejecting creative and intelligent people like Mr Howell for not fitting into their mold ... that is still baffling.
- sudhirj 9y ago
  Think the author is paraphrasing. Saying that as written would get the interviewer and HR fired.

rsp1984 9y ago

I did work at Google and, IMO, your analysis isn't that far from the truth. Plus every project is massively overstaffed on engineers and massively under-staffed on project and team managers, which is by design because, you know, SWEs at Google "don't like to be told what to do" and they will "organize themselves"...

dmurray 9y ago
And yet, Max Howell wouldn't see himself as a PM. Even if that would be where he could be the most help to Google! He'd want to be an engineer who makes up for his slight deficiencies in academic Computer Science with an excellent understanding of what Google's customers want. Apologies to Max and Google if I misrepresented what you wanted out of this.

tmountain 9y ago

Example: Google Play Music doesn't even have basic "search inside my library" functionality. I work at a product obsessed startup now, and that lack of functionality is the type of thing we'd address very quickly. It feels like Google is content to stand up products that "work" whilst having very little regard for the end user experience. Maybe I'm wrong, but I've seen tons of people asking for basic functionality in their music platform, and the user base seems to be flatly ignored.

shrikant 9y ago
> Google Play Music doesn't even have basic "search inside my library" functionality. Is this within some custom app that you've got? I'm a heavy user of Google Play Music to listen to my library across various locations, and I'm always searching inside my library!