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There's no bait and switch anywhere. Employment is primarily at-will, and anyone can walk out anytime. Also, companies have certain identities in certain time-

There's no bait and switch anywhere. Employment is primarily at-will, and anyone can walk out anytime. Also, companies have certain identities in certain time-windows. Apple was a computer company in the late 90s, by late 2000s it had already gone through 2 identities: a music player company, to primarily a phone company. Employers cannot guarantee what work and markets they will and won't chase. Being a cloud infrastructure and AI company, it's predictable for Google to decide to go after one of the largest spenders in the space, defense.

xiphias2 8y ago
If you listened to the TGIFs made by Eric Schmidt 12 years ago, it was totally different. It looked like there's enough opportunities to make a lot of money without going to the war industry (I can't call defence what the U.S. is doing). What do you think ,,Don't be evil'' means? We (non-Americans) were all writing code and staying at Google in the late evenings, sometimes working on weekends because we really though that Google is different. Of course when 2008 happened, a lot of things changed, the optimism changed to being cautious and more frugal, which everybody understood. Since then Google changed it's motto, but the code and the network effect stayed with it.
- writepub 8y ago
  > We (non-Americans) were all writing code and staying at Google in the late evenings You weren't really doing Google a favor, they were paying you well above market for your work. The fact that your nationality is a point for you to highlight is indicative of your warped expectations. You chose to move to America, no one forced it on you. And you chose to work for Google. If America welcomed you, allowed you to freely express yourself and thrive professionally, WHY is liking America, or supporting the defense establishment that protects your civil liberties and safety, and creates a stable socio-political environment for YOU and million others who immigrate and live here, such a toxic thing? America is the world's most sought after immigration destination for a reason, it's OK to acknowledge the positives, and like it for the same
  - xiphias2 8y ago
    Actually no, I didn't work in America, I worked in Switzerland, and worked for Google Switzerland, not that it matters. I was thinking of moving to US before I knew how much less people are payed there generally compared to Zurich, and how hard life is there compared to Switzerland in reality (it's very different compared to what I saw in American movies, but maybe that was my naivity :) ). US ,,defense'' department is killing a lot of people that have done nothing bad. It didn't kill people in my country (I'm lucky that my country joined the EU), but it could have. I'm generally against killing people, but I understand that it's part of the power play governments are doing. Still, I don't want to help it. About the pay: yes, you're right, they payed a lot. When I joined Google the first time in my life, I loved it so much, I would have worked for free, just to be able to read the design docs that weren't available back then, and learn from great people.
    - writepub 8y ago
      How do you feel about Switzerland? Would you refer to Swiss patriotism as toxic? I wouldn't! Switzerland, the country that made it possible for Nazis to store their wealth in numbered accounts, and still holds the largest reserve of illegal wealth of other nation's dictators and despots, that actively chooses to enable money laundering and refuses to take political sides because of danger of losing illegally stored wealth in numbered accounts to other tax havens! Despite this seemingly evil characterization, if I were Swiss, I'd take GREAT pride in all the positives of Switzerland! Patriotism, in itself, isn't toxic! Also, reducing complex issues to single punch-line friendly lies, like America Defense == Evil, is futile. Watch how Switzerland can be reduced to Switzerland===Safe Haven For Nazi Gold! Which is false.
      - xiphias2 8y ago
        Storing the Nazi gold was very bad, I agree. But many things that you are refering to as money laundering are just individual privacy rights strongly protected by the constitution that take priority over government needs (which I view as a great thing). Tax heaven: as I see taxes as generally not that well used, I'm happy that Switzerland's goal is not just simply to maximize taxes that it take from other people.
skybrian 8y ago
There are few guarantees in life, and if you got paid well for your work then you're doing pretty well. It's something of a luxury, but nonetheless, many people do work for more than a paycheck. Sometimes they want to be part of something larger than themselves. They believe in the mission. When they go to work for the government, we call that patriotism. But companies encourage people to be mission-oriented as well. Google, in particular, encouraged this, particularly in the early days. Sure, they pay taxes, but their mission was not and still isn't about supporting America's military. If you attract a bunch of idealists by talking up your company's mission, is it a surprise they take it seriously? Maybe we should all be cynics and work solely for a paycheck. I'm not sure most Silicon Valley employers want to get by just hiring cynics, though.

xiphias2 8y ago

If you listened to the TGIFs made by Eric Schmidt 12 years ago, it was totally different. It looked like there's enough opportunities to make a lot of money without going to the war industry (I can't call defence what the U.S. is doing). What do you think ,,Don't be evil'' means? We (non-Americans) were all writing code and staying at Google in the late evenings, sometimes working on weekends because we really though that Google is different. Of course when 2008 happened, a lot of things changed, the optimism changed to being cautious and more frugal, which everybody understood. Since then Google changed it's motto, but the code and the network effect stayed with it.

writepub 8y ago
> We (non-Americans) were all writing code and staying at Google in the late evenings You weren't really doing Google a favor, they were paying you well above market for your work. The fact that your nationality is a point for you to highlight is indicative of your warped expectations. You chose to move to America, no one forced it on you. And you chose to work for Google. If America welcomed you, allowed you to freely express yourself and thrive professionally, WHY is liking America, or supporting the defense establishment that protects your civil liberties and safety, and creates a stable socio-political environment for YOU and million others who immigrate and live here, such a toxic thing? America is the world's most sought after immigration destination for a reason, it's OK to acknowledge the positives, and like it for the same
- xiphias2 8y ago
  Actually no, I didn't work in America, I worked in Switzerland, and worked for Google Switzerland, not that it matters. I was thinking of moving to US before I knew how much less people are payed there generally compared to Zurich, and how hard life is there compared to Switzerland in reality (it's very different compared to what I saw in American movies, but maybe that was my naivity :) ). US ,,defense'' department is killing a lot of people that have done nothing bad. It didn't kill people in my country (I'm lucky that my country joined the EU), but it could have. I'm generally against killing people, but I understand that it's part of the power play governments are doing. Still, I don't want to help it. About the pay: yes, you're right, they payed a lot. When I joined Google the first time in my life, I loved it so much, I would have worked for free, just to be able to read the design docs that weren't available back then, and learn from great people.
  - writepub 8y ago
    How do you feel about Switzerland? Would you refer to Swiss patriotism as toxic? I wouldn't! Switzerland, the country that made it possible for Nazis to store their wealth in numbered accounts, and still holds the largest reserve of illegal wealth of other nation's dictators and despots, that actively chooses to enable money laundering and refuses to take political sides because of danger of losing illegally stored wealth in numbered accounts to other tax havens! Despite this seemingly evil characterization, if I were Swiss, I'd take GREAT pride in all the positives of Switzerland! Patriotism, in itself, isn't toxic! Also, reducing complex issues to single punch-line friendly lies, like America Defense == Evil, is futile. Watch how Switzerland can be reduced to Switzerland===Safe Haven For Nazi Gold! Which is false.
    - xiphias2 8y ago
      Storing the Nazi gold was very bad, I agree. But many things that you are refering to as money laundering are just individual privacy rights strongly protected by the constitution that take priority over government needs (which I view as a great thing). Tax heaven: as I see taxes as generally not that well used, I'm happy that Switzerland's goal is not just simply to maximize taxes that it take from other people.

skybrian 8y ago

There are few guarantees in life, and if you got paid well for your work then you're doing pretty well. It's something of a luxury, but nonetheless, many people do work for more than a paycheck. Sometimes they want to be part of something larger than themselves. They believe in the mission. When they go to work for the government, we call that patriotism. But companies encourage people to be mission-oriented as well. Google, in particular, encouraged this, particularly in the early days. Sure, they pay taxes, but their mission was not and still isn't about supporting America's military. If you attract a bunch of idealists by talking up your company's mission, is it a surprise they take it seriously? Maybe we should all be cynics and work solely for a paycheck. I'm not sure most Silicon Valley employers want to get by just hiring cynics, though.