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Why would anyone want to work at Google at this point? They can't hold onto their people, have very high churn and dissatisfaction rates, etc. I could see may

by rjurney 16y ago

Why would anyone want to work at Google at this point? They can't hold onto their people, have very high churn and dissatisfaction rates, etc. I could see maybe wanting to put in a year to learn the google stack, or if you have a particular area you've been researching and they will pay you to do exactly what you want, but beyond that... there are lots of companies offering better salaries and options with serious value, with similar challenges, that are going places. When you have people leaving despite half million dollar retention offers... why would you jump on that ship? Don't get me wrong - I think Google is fundamentally a good company. I just don't get why people aspire to work there, given the other options available. Is it a mensa thing, with a brand recognizable outside the valley? Like you pass the interview, you're in the IQ club, stamp of approval, all that?

shadowfox 16y ago
> there are lots of companies offering better salaries and options with serious value, with similar challenges, that are going places Genuinely curious. What companies are you talking about?
- rjurney 16y ago
  Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Zynga, etc.
  - astrange 16y ago
    Which places are they going?
    - rjurney 16y ago
      Up.
brown9-2 16y ago
They can't hold onto their people, have very high churn and dissatisfaction rates, etc. Do you have citations for this?
- rjurney 16y ago
  What better way than to link you to google? :) http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=engineer+turnover+google http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&#3... And specifically http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/01/google-making-extraordinary-counteroffers-to-stop-flow-of-employees-to-facebook/ http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/01/google-making-extraordinary... More generally, this is common knowledge around the valley.
  - birken 16y ago
    I think Google has about 10,000 engineers, so this article is saying that over the past 5 years, approx 1% of Google engineers have moved to Facebook. I think this article is light on facts and high on sensationalism. And it is "common knowledge" that Google has "very high churn and dissatisfaction rates"? Is that because Techcrunch or Valleywag says so? I think there is a large vocal minority of (in most cases) non-Google employees who are so quick to talk about how Google is a terrible place to work and everybody hates it. And internally at Google, there are a bunch of happy employees who just laugh at all the made up stories about how they are supposed to feel. Look, people are going to leave Google. That is what is going to happen when you have a bunch of really young and talented engineers working in a big company, but don't think this is because Google is some terrible place to work. I'll bet the satisfaction rates of Google employees is among the highest of any large company.
    - rjurney 16y ago
      That article, yes. Check out any of the many in the google search. This one stands out: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124269038041932531.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124269038041932531.html This is well covered. As to 'common knowledge,' it is common knowledge outside of google that tons of people are leaving because every week someone new shows up from google at these companies. Enough that people notice, kinda like Yahoo. Google is melting. The other oft cited metric is the headcount freeze, while there is still aggressive hiring. Put that together... turnover. If you like it, I don't think Google is a terrible place to work. The opposite is true I'm sure. You're getting a disk golf course that we're not allowed to use ( bastards ;) ). But for whatever reason, dissatisfaction and turnover are high. This could simply be attributed to being all growds up.
peregrine 16y ago
My goal is always to work with highly intelligent people. People always talk about the big fish in a little pond but I think there is more value in being a little fish in a big pond because their is more room for growth. I've noticed that if I'm not learning I'm not happy and its much easier to learn with smart people. Its generally known that Google hires smart people.
- drivingmenuts 16y ago
  But are they happy smart people?
  - hugh3 16y ago
    They wouldn't be very smart if they remained in a job that was making them unhappy, would they? Seriously though, all the (limited sample) of google employees I know seem to be happy with it. I'm sure I'd rather work for Google in 2000 than Google in 2010, but it's still a much better place to work than a lot of other places.
drivingmenuts 16y ago
Personally, I wouldn't want to work there, either, but for different reasons. I don't want to work at an organization where I can't get to know everyone there, at least on some level. Even the marketdroids.
guelo 16y ago
Google is one of the top 5 software companies in the world, it is chok-a-ful of world class talent including many of the luminaries in computer science, they are changing the world with massive innovation every year, and to top it off they are famous for their employee perks and flexibility ... but you'd rather go work for zynga making dumb games? To each his own I guess.
- rjurney 16y ago
  I wouldn't work at Zynga, but your dismissal of them is pretty on par for Google's social media strategy, so it does make sense :)

by rjurney 16y ago

shadowfox 16y ago

> there are lots of companies offering better salaries and options with serious value, with similar challenges, that are going places Genuinely curious. What companies are you talking about?

rjurney 16y ago
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Zynga, etc.
- astrange 16y ago
  Which places are they going?
  - rjurney 16y ago
    Up.

brown9-2 16y ago

They can't hold onto their people, have very high churn and dissatisfaction rates, etc. Do you have citations for this?

rjurney 16y ago
What better way than to link you to google? :) http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=engineer+turnover+google http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&#3... And specifically http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/01/google-making-extraordinary-counteroffers-to-stop-flow-of-employees-to-facebook/ http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/01/google-making-extraordinary... More generally, this is common knowledge around the valley.
- birken 16y ago
  I think Google has about 10,000 engineers, so this article is saying that over the past 5 years, approx 1% of Google engineers have moved to Facebook. I think this article is light on facts and high on sensationalism. And it is "common knowledge" that Google has "very high churn and dissatisfaction rates"? Is that because Techcrunch or Valleywag says so? I think there is a large vocal minority of (in most cases) non-Google employees who are so quick to talk about how Google is a terrible place to work and everybody hates it. And internally at Google, there are a bunch of happy employees who just laugh at all the made up stories about how they are supposed to feel. Look, people are going to leave Google. That is what is going to happen when you have a bunch of really young and talented engineers working in a big company, but don't think this is because Google is some terrible place to work. I'll bet the satisfaction rates of Google employees is among the highest of any large company.
  - rjurney 16y ago
    That article, yes. Check out any of the many in the google search. This one stands out: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124269038041932531.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124269038041932531.html This is well covered. As to 'common knowledge,' it is common knowledge outside of google that tons of people are leaving because every week someone new shows up from google at these companies. Enough that people notice, kinda like Yahoo. Google is melting. The other oft cited metric is the headcount freeze, while there is still aggressive hiring. Put that together... turnover. If you like it, I don't think Google is a terrible place to work. The opposite is true I'm sure. You're getting a disk golf course that we're not allowed to use ( bastards ;) ). But for whatever reason, dissatisfaction and turnover are high. This could simply be attributed to being all growds up.

peregrine 16y ago

My goal is always to work with highly intelligent people. People always talk about the big fish in a little pond but I think there is more value in being a little fish in a big pond because their is more room for growth. I've noticed that if I'm not learning I'm not happy and its much easier to learn with smart people. Its generally known that Google hires smart people.

drivingmenuts 16y ago
But are they happy smart people?
- hugh3 16y ago
  They wouldn't be very smart if they remained in a job that was making them unhappy, would they? Seriously though, all the (limited sample) of google employees I know seem to be happy with it. I'm sure I'd rather work for Google in 2000 than Google in 2010, but it's still a much better place to work than a lot of other places.

drivingmenuts 16y ago

Personally, I wouldn't want to work there, either, but for different reasons. I don't want to work at an organization where I can't get to know everyone there, at least on some level. Even the marketdroids.

guelo 16y ago

Google is one of the top 5 software companies in the world, it is chok-a-ful of world class talent including many of the luminaries in computer science, they are changing the world with massive innovation every year, and to top it off they are famous for their employee perks and flexibility ... but you'd rather go work for zynga making dumb games? To each his own I guess.

rjurney 16y ago
I wouldn't work at Zynga, but your dismissal of them is pretty on par for Google's social media strategy, so it does make sense :)