10 ms·

Why I Left Google

143 points by jeanhsu 16y ago

btipling 16y ago
There are what like 20,000 or 40,000 people who work at Google? One of them leaves and feels compelled to write an article about it and then post it themselves to HN? What else was there in this article? You're going to work on Android apps because of some professor who inspired you, wonderful. You know if I was to self-post something to HN, I'd at least try to mention something I'm working on, or some technology I'm using or some idea I have. There's nothing like that here. There's nothing here. I don't understand what the upvotes are for? Moral support?
- michaelhoney 16y ago
  Why so negative, btipling? The OP's striking out on her own, and that's exciting. She's not pimping a new thing, just trying to convey her feelings. Lighten up, dude.
  - nazgulnarsil 16y ago
    oh it's a chick. nvm.
  - dschobel 16y ago
    I agree it's hard to be negative about someone striking out on their own but I think he does have a point that unless you know Jean personally why would you care when the sum total of the content was "google is great but I want to do my own thing"?
- _delirium 16y ago
  I think people often look for contrarian takes. That's not a bad predisposition really, because they often tell me something new--- something like "Why I Love Being A Janitor" might have something interesting in it, while "Being A Janitor Isn't For Me" is basically what I'd expect, so probably wouldn't read it unless it had some particularly unique take on why being a janitor isn't the best job in the world. That said, this article didn't tell me a whole lot about why Google might not be as great a place as you think, except the stuff I expected (it's a big company, you're not really in control, etc.).
- jacquesm 16y ago
  I think the upvotes are by people in similar situations that are mentally cheering her on. Good for her by the way, upvoted. Let's see who is next to strike out on their own. HN is all about start-ups, this lady is going to do one that makes it worth following her adventures, there will be lessons to be learned for lots of people in what she goes through and that starts at the moment she made the decision to quit, which can be surprisingly hard when you're in a cushy job. Golden handcuffs, no key. You have to break them first.
  - frossie 16y ago
    Moreover I think it says something of interest about Google - while she is trying to be positive, you can read it closely to see some organisational issues - projects being cancelled despite staff enthusiasm, and an environment that feels too "safe". I think these things speak to other topics that have proven of interest to HN, such as the lower appeal of Google to new talent, and whether Google will be a platform for innovation in the future.
    - nostrademons 16y ago
      Projects getting canceled is the flip side of being able to try new and risky things in a small team without a heavyweight approval process. There's no way that Google would be able to bring to market every single idea that comes out of engineers heads. So they let them experiment a bit in the early stages and then pick the winners once the teams have had a chance to survey the territory. It's probably my biggest annoyance with working at Google, but I accept it because I know the alternative is worse. If you never canceled projects, then the only things you'd be allowed to work on are Big Important Things blessed by some VP high up, things that are too big to fail. That's how many other big companies work, and they usually end up with idiotic projects where it becomes apparent to everybody (except the VP) that the project is a waste of time, and yet they keep going because some executive staked his career on it. BTW, startups face this problem too. The equivalent to a canceled project is a failed startup - there're only so many new products that the market can bear, so consumers choose to put their dollars into the products that are most useful and let the others die. The difference between this and the Google model is: 1.) You get to decide when to quit (or the market decides for you, if you run out of money). 2.) You don't get paid for the time you spend deciding. For many people, this is a bargain worth making, but you should know that's the bargain when you take it. I've been on both sides - I took a pretty nice job in a financial software startup for a couple years out of college, then founded my own company, then folded it up and went to Google, and won't rule out eventually founding another company. The advantage of letting someone else make the decision of when to quit is that these people have had lots of experience picking winners, so once my head was primed with a few failures, I figured it might be a good idea to watch some folks who've actually had some successes and see what they do differently.
- pg 16y ago
  This is a very mean thing to say. An unfortunate example of the sort of comment I have in mind when I say that while the articles on the frontpage of HN are roughly what they've always been, the comments are meaner. And worse still, it got net 18 upvotes. Would you say this to someone if you were talking face to face? I hope not.
  - adrianwaj 16y ago
    I don't agree. By the sounds of it, this person left Google, and is trying to convince herself and others it was the best move. "You left Google, to do what??" "You're crazy." Not offering a shoulder to cry on is not mean.
  - ivankirigin 16y ago
    from a 1019 day old account, too
  - jedwhite 16y ago
    Interestingly, the account is not only 1000+ days, but the same user says their first account was banned: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2157137 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2157137 So chances are this was a mean commenter in the earlier days too. But it would seem back then it was unusual and unacceptable enough to get the account banned, whereas now the meanness is more common place. On balance though, as someone who lurked for a long time before signing up to contribute, it is still one of the most supportive communities anywhere that I've had any involvement with personally.
kevinelliott 16y ago
Your reasoning is synonymous with why I never accepted an offer from Google in the past. Big companies often have a lot of perks, but much like continually buying electronic toys every week, it's only medicating most people's existence. Breaking out on your own to create your own products forces you to adapt in ways a "cushy" corporate job just can't stimulate. And although it's infinitely harder, the battle is worth fighting through. Seeing it through, persevering, and then driving home a success, all on your own (or with some help) is an experience you simply can't replace. Best of luck to you. This is a great community to help see you make it happen. And congrats!
- random42 16y ago
  Thats one of paths. Not every (talented) person has the risk appetite or drive to create new products. Company like Google are wonderful place for those dare, I say, majority cases. There is no "one true way".
- kayoone 16y ago
  Not everybody drives home a success though. However, i would argue that even failing with your own company is an experience you will get alot of good things (bad ones aswell obviously) out of that make you stronger.
  - kevinelliott 16y ago
    Most people don't drive home a success. Those failures still teach hard lessons, ones that a cushy job rarely can. Not that I'm even suggesting this is for everyone, but those willing to take the plunge will certainly gain from the effort, whether successful or not.
- kkowalczyk 16y ago
  How many offers did you get and why were you going through the interview process in the first place if you knew you would not accept an offer?
  - kevinelliott 16y ago
joshfraser 16y ago
"I felt that if I stayed, I would look back at this time years down the road, and wonder, what else could I have done? After I turned in my laptop and completed my exit interview on my last day, I felt such exhilaration and relief. A whole world of opportunity was out there, and I drove home with a ridiculous grin on my face." Love it! What great inspiration to anyone considering taking the leap into entrepreneurship. There will be plenty of challenges along the way, but there are few things in this world more rewarding.
tristanperry 16y ago
A very good read. The job naturally sounds awesome: I mean, free gourmet food and heated toilet seats?!? (Oh yeah, and that other stuff: good pay, working with geniuses, etc etc ;-)) But equally, the ending really does IMO show that she's made the correct decision: "After I turned in my laptop and completed my exit interview on my last day, I felt such exhilaration and relief. A whole world of opportunity was out there, and I drove home with a ridiculous grin on my face." That definitely is a nice ending to a great blog post. Best of luck to Jean.
aforty 16y ago
She graduated with a liberal arts background and was an engineer at Google? I graduated with a degree in computer science and I can't even get them to call me and setup an interview. I'm a smart guy with some good work experience under my belt already and my resume looks great.
- bane 16y ago
  You probably went to the wrong school. Google is notoriously discriminating when it comes to pedigree even if you have a decade of post-school experience under your belt.
- dagw 16y ago
  Maybe her liberal arts background gave her an advantage? There must be thousands of people with more or less identical world class CS background at Google. They might consider having someone with a different perspective on things a good thing. Even if you are a programmer, having a big picture understanding of things beyond code and algorithms can be a huge advantage.
  - stevenbedrick 16y ago
    Agreed. I mentioned something like this in a comment the other day- a liberal arts background can be a massive help to one's ability to function as a programmer, and when I was hiring programmers at my old job, I routinely found that candidates who had spent some significant time outside of the CS building tended to work out better than less well-rounded candidates.
    - wyclif 16y ago
      There's a company in the UK that has been profiled on HN before-- their name escapes me now-- but they are famous for hiring Oxbridge liberal arts graduates and training them in computer science and software development. Anybody remember who I'm talking about?
- mdiep 16y ago
  Google likes to hire women. They go out of their way to do so. (So does Microsoft.) That substantially raised her chance of getting an interview and a job.
gvb 16y ago
Jean has a picture in her album that is metaphorically Life in a Big Company: http://lh6.ggpht.com/_jwxdZ0d5COI/TD-SgCdOmYI/AAAAAAAAHb4/pkkbb0HHjkc/IMG_2498.JPG?imgmax=640 http://lh6.ggpht.com/_jwxdZ0d5COI/TD-SgCdOmYI/AAAAAAAAHb4/pk... * Walled garden. * Various plants (projects) pushed into the corner. Tidy, but the organization of them is somewhat arbitrary. Some are taller and bushier, but some are looking kind of scraggly. Many are on the shelf. * Watering can and broom: maintenance is always there waiting. * Manager in the foreground asking "What are you doing? Why aren't you sweeping? When am I going to get fed?"
- KMStraub 16y ago
  One of the funnier things I've read in a long time. Thanks.
pmorici 16y ago
I've got a stupid question. When people quit their job and go solo like this, what do they do about health insurance? Do they just forgo it since their young and it's unlikely they will need it or are there affordable plans you can get when you don't have insurance through your employer? I've looked around the Internet but can only find vague information on the topic. For example this http://www.ahipresearch.org/pdfs/2009IndividualMarketSurveyFinalReport.pdf http://www.ahipresearch.org/pdfs/2009IndividualMarketSurveyF... document seems to indicate that someone in their late 20's would pay just under $2,000 on "average" but the numbers seem to range wildly with location and some family plans going as high as 13k per year which seems ridiculous. Edit: This thread though it contains helpful responses confirms my suspicion that getting non employer health coverage is a complete CF.
- SMrF 16y ago
  The last startup I did my cofounder did not have a job. (I still kept my job to help fund things). If I recall correctly he was able to get "oh shit, I have cancer" insurance for somewhere around $100/month. I think his deductible was $5,000 or some nonsense. As a young guy I think this is a fairly reasonable amount of risk to take on. Although this would be basically impossible if you had some sort of preexisting condition. Unless you live in Europe or somewhere with universal healthcare.
  - nikster 16y ago
    I want to know about this insurance - that's exactly what I need. I am not one to needlessly run to the hospital - in fact I avoid it as much as I can - but I would like insurance in case I have a bad accident and need surgery etc. The only plans I found were "free pills, and 10k max coverage" or something ridiculous like that. I need the opposite.
    - joubert 16y ago
      Check out plans with hospital/catastrophe cover. Blue Cross, Aetna, etc. have such plans. Also check out http://www.healthcare.gov/index.html http://www.healthcare.gov/index.html
jacquesm 16y ago
Even if the article doesn't really mention why she left google one line jumped out at me: > I really miss the heated toilet seats. I never ever thought that that would figure in to reasons for leaving or staying at a company. It looks like having her project canceled hurt her pretty badly, big companies have a way of axing projects that do not take the feelings of the people that work on them in to account at all. We all understand it has to happen, how you go about it can make all the difference. I hope that she finds what she's looking for, if you're thinking about doing the same, it helps if you have a better idea of what you're going to do when you quit your job, it helps even more if you've already been experimenting with different avenues while still employed, that way you save some runway that might bite in to your savings in a way that you regret later on. Having a good plan is really important, quitting without having a good plan may work but it will definitely complicate matters. Best of luck to Jean, I hope she keeps us informed about how this all works out.
- ronnier 16y ago
  Who sits on public toilet seats?
  - Mz 16y ago
    Women.
tmarthal 16y ago
My question: Why didn't you work with your management to take a sabbatical leave? One of the benefits of the major corporations is that they have policies in place for leaves of absence. Then you would've gotten the best of both worlds: 1) a fall-back plan if you fail to monetize in your venture 2) a rigid time-period where you need to finish your venture (and not just be open ended on figuring out your life) I did something very similar, after a longer period of time (9+ years) in the corporate world. I needed that time to germinate my technical ability and understand my relevant skillset. For me, it was reading "Hackers and Painters" rather than the Princeton article you linked that got me to pursue my independent career.
- nostrademons 16y ago
  She'd only been there for 2 years. Sabbaticals in most institutions are for people with 5+ year tenures. In a fast-growing company like Google that's still hiring, having a good performance record and keeping in touch with coworkers is practically as good as having a sabbatical, anyway. If she were to reapply to Google and her resume said "Google: 2008-2010" and her old performance reviews were good and she had good code leftover in the version history, do you think Google would turn her down? I know of a bunch of people that left Google for startups or FaceBook or other companies and then returned, and it's basically as if they never left (except that for legal reasons, Google can't preserve their old option grant and has to start fresh with stock compensation).
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
toephu 16y ago
sounds like she's starting to regret it already.. "here are certainly days when I wish I had access to the plethora of knowledge at Google. And there are days (or maybe every day) when I wish I could pop into a massage room for a 15 minute chair massage with my favorite massage therapist at Google. The food is undeniably delicious, and I really miss the heated toilet seats."
KMStraub 16y ago
If you look at her bio, you'll see this author already has a new job at a startup called Pulse. Somehow that dampens this act of bravery for me. For all the upvotes she's gotten, the ending I was hoping for was her decision to become a founder.
warmfuzzykitten 16y ago
She left heated toilet seats? Must be a wacko.
ehosca 16y ago
because you have a big ego ?

143 points by jeanhsu 16y ago

There are what like 20,000 or 40,000 people who work at Google? One of them leaves and feels compelled to write an article about it and then post it themselves to HN? What else was there in this article? You're going to work on Android apps because of some professor who inspired you, wonderful. You know if I was to self-post something to HN, I'd at least try to mention something I'm working on, or some technology I'm using or some idea I have. There's nothing like that here. There's nothing here. I don't understand what the upvotes are for? Moral support?

michaelhoney 16y ago
Why so negative, btipling? The OP's striking out on her own, and that's exciting. She's not pimping a new thing, just trying to convey her feelings. Lighten up, dude.
- nazgulnarsil 16y ago
  oh it's a chick. nvm.
- dschobel 16y ago
  I agree it's hard to be negative about someone striking out on their own but I think he does have a point that unless you know Jean personally why would you care when the sum total of the content was "google is great but I want to do my own thing"?
_delirium 16y ago
I think people often look for contrarian takes. That's not a bad predisposition really, because they often tell me something new--- something like "Why I Love Being A Janitor" might have something interesting in it, while "Being A Janitor Isn't For Me" is basically what I'd expect, so probably wouldn't read it unless it had some particularly unique take on why being a janitor isn't the best job in the world. That said, this article didn't tell me a whole lot about why Google might not be as great a place as you think, except the stuff I expected (it's a big company, you're not really in control, etc.).
jacquesm 16y ago
I think the upvotes are by people in similar situations that are mentally cheering her on. Good for her by the way, upvoted. Let's see who is next to strike out on their own. HN is all about start-ups, this lady is going to do one that makes it worth following her adventures, there will be lessons to be learned for lots of people in what she goes through and that starts at the moment she made the decision to quit, which can be surprisingly hard when you're in a cushy job. Golden handcuffs, no key. You have to break them first.
- frossie 16y ago
  Moreover I think it says something of interest about Google - while she is trying to be positive, you can read it closely to see some organisational issues - projects being cancelled despite staff enthusiasm, and an environment that feels too "safe". I think these things speak to other topics that have proven of interest to HN, such as the lower appeal of Google to new talent, and whether Google will be a platform for innovation in the future.
  - nostrademons 16y ago
    Projects getting canceled is the flip side of being able to try new and risky things in a small team without a heavyweight approval process. There's no way that Google would be able to bring to market every single idea that comes out of engineers heads. So they let them experiment a bit in the early stages and then pick the winners once the teams have had a chance to survey the territory. It's probably my biggest annoyance with working at Google, but I accept it because I know the alternative is worse. If you never canceled projects, then the only things you'd be allowed to work on are Big Important Things blessed by some VP high up, things that are too big to fail. That's how many other big companies work, and they usually end up with idiotic projects where it becomes apparent to everybody (except the VP) that the project is a waste of time, and yet they keep going because some executive staked his career on it. BTW, startups face this problem too. The equivalent to a canceled project is a failed startup - there're only so many new products that the market can bear, so consumers choose to put their dollars into the products that are most useful and let the others die. The difference between this and the Google model is: 1.) You get to decide when to quit (or the market decides for you, if you run out of money). 2.) You don't get paid for the time you spend deciding. For many people, this is a bargain worth making, but you should know that's the bargain when you take it. I've been on both sides - I took a pretty nice job in a financial software startup for a couple years out of college, then founded my own company, then folded it up and went to Google, and won't rule out eventually founding another company. The advantage of letting someone else make the decision of when to quit is that these people have had lots of experience picking winners, so once my head was primed with a few failures, I figured it might be a good idea to watch some folks who've actually had some successes and see what they do differently.
pg 16y ago
This is a very mean thing to say. An unfortunate example of the sort of comment I have in mind when I say that while the articles on the frontpage of HN are roughly what they've always been, the comments are meaner. And worse still, it got net 18 upvotes. Would you say this to someone if you were talking face to face? I hope not.
- adrianwaj 16y ago
  I don't agree. By the sounds of it, this person left Google, and is trying to convince herself and others it was the best move. "You left Google, to do what??" "You're crazy." Not offering a shoulder to cry on is not mean.
- ivankirigin 16y ago
  from a 1019 day old account, too
- jedwhite 16y ago
  Interestingly, the account is not only 1000+ days, but the same user says their first account was banned: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2157137 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2157137 So chances are this was a mean commenter in the earlier days too. But it would seem back then it was unusual and unacceptable enough to get the account banned, whereas now the meanness is more common place. On balance though, as someone who lurked for a long time before signing up to contribute, it is still one of the most supportive communities anywhere that I've had any involvement with personally.

kevinelliott 16y ago

Your reasoning is synonymous with why I never accepted an offer from Google in the past. Big companies often have a lot of perks, but much like continually buying electronic toys every week, it's only medicating most people's existence. Breaking out on your own to create your own products forces you to adapt in ways a "cushy" corporate job just can't stimulate. And although it's infinitely harder, the battle is worth fighting through. Seeing it through, persevering, and then driving home a success, all on your own (or with some help) is an experience you simply can't replace. Best of luck to you. This is a great community to help see you make it happen. And congrats!

random42 16y ago
Thats one of paths. Not every (talented) person has the risk appetite or drive to create new products. Company like Google are wonderful place for those dare, I say, majority cases. There is no "one true way".
kayoone 16y ago
Not everybody drives home a success though. However, i would argue that even failing with your own company is an experience you will get alot of good things (bad ones aswell obviously) out of that make you stronger.
- kevinelliott 16y ago
  Most people don't drive home a success. Those failures still teach hard lessons, ones that a cushy job rarely can. Not that I'm even suggesting this is for everyone, but those willing to take the plunge will certainly gain from the effort, whether successful or not.
kkowalczyk 16y ago
How many offers did you get and why were you going through the interview process in the first place if you knew you would not accept an offer?
- kevinelliott 16y ago

joshfraser 16y ago

"I felt that if I stayed, I would look back at this time years down the road, and wonder, what else could I have done? After I turned in my laptop and completed my exit interview on my last day, I felt such exhilaration and relief. A whole world of opportunity was out there, and I drove home with a ridiculous grin on my face." Love it! What great inspiration to anyone considering taking the leap into entrepreneurship. There will be plenty of challenges along the way, but there are few things in this world more rewarding.

tristanperry 16y ago

A very good read. The job naturally sounds awesome: I mean, free gourmet food and heated toilet seats?!? (Oh yeah, and that other stuff: good pay, working with geniuses, etc etc ;-)) But equally, the ending really does IMO show that she's made the correct decision: "After I turned in my laptop and completed my exit interview on my last day, I felt such exhilaration and relief. A whole world of opportunity was out there, and I drove home with a ridiculous grin on my face." That definitely is a nice ending to a great blog post. Best of luck to Jean.

aforty 16y ago

She graduated with a liberal arts background and was an engineer at Google? I graduated with a degree in computer science and I can't even get them to call me and setup an interview. I'm a smart guy with some good work experience under my belt already and my resume looks great.

bane 16y ago
You probably went to the wrong school. Google is notoriously discriminating when it comes to pedigree even if you have a decade of post-school experience under your belt.
dagw 16y ago
Maybe her liberal arts background gave her an advantage? There must be thousands of people with more or less identical world class CS background at Google. They might consider having someone with a different perspective on things a good thing. Even if you are a programmer, having a big picture understanding of things beyond code and algorithms can be a huge advantage.
- stevenbedrick 16y ago
  Agreed. I mentioned something like this in a comment the other day- a liberal arts background can be a massive help to one's ability to function as a programmer, and when I was hiring programmers at my old job, I routinely found that candidates who had spent some significant time outside of the CS building tended to work out better than less well-rounded candidates.
  - wyclif 16y ago
    There's a company in the UK that has been profiled on HN before-- their name escapes me now-- but they are famous for hiring Oxbridge liberal arts graduates and training them in computer science and software development. Anybody remember who I'm talking about?
mdiep 16y ago
Google likes to hire women. They go out of their way to do so. (So does Microsoft.) That substantially raised her chance of getting an interview and a job.

gvb 16y ago

Jean has a picture in her album that is metaphorically Life in a Big Company: http://lh6.ggpht.com/_jwxdZ0d5COI/TD-SgCdOmYI/AAAAAAAAHb4/pkkbb0HHjkc/IMG_2498.JPG?imgmax=640 http://lh6.ggpht.com/_jwxdZ0d5COI/TD-SgCdOmYI/AAAAAAAAHb4/pk... * Walled garden. * Various plants (projects) pushed into the corner. Tidy, but the organization of them is somewhat arbitrary. Some are taller and bushier, but some are looking kind of scraggly. Many are on the shelf. * Watering can and broom: maintenance is always there waiting. * Manager in the foreground asking "What are you doing? Why aren't you sweeping? When am I going to get fed?"

KMStraub 16y ago
One of the funnier things I've read in a long time. Thanks.

pmorici 16y ago

I've got a stupid question. When people quit their job and go solo like this, what do they do about health insurance? Do they just forgo it since their young and it's unlikely they will need it or are there affordable plans you can get when you don't have insurance through your employer? I've looked around the Internet but can only find vague information on the topic. For example this http://www.ahipresearch.org/pdfs/2009IndividualMarketSurveyFinalReport.pdf http://www.ahipresearch.org/pdfs/2009IndividualMarketSurveyF... document seems to indicate that someone in their late 20's would pay just under $2,000 on "average" but the numbers seem to range wildly with location and some family plans going as high as 13k per year which seems ridiculous. Edit: This thread though it contains helpful responses confirms my suspicion that getting non employer health coverage is a complete CF.

SMrF 16y ago
The last startup I did my cofounder did not have a job. (I still kept my job to help fund things). If I recall correctly he was able to get "oh shit, I have cancer" insurance for somewhere around $100/month. I think his deductible was $5,000 or some nonsense. As a young guy I think this is a fairly reasonable amount of risk to take on. Although this would be basically impossible if you had some sort of preexisting condition. Unless you live in Europe or somewhere with universal healthcare.
- nikster 16y ago
  I want to know about this insurance - that's exactly what I need. I am not one to needlessly run to the hospital - in fact I avoid it as much as I can - but I would like insurance in case I have a bad accident and need surgery etc. The only plans I found were "free pills, and 10k max coverage" or something ridiculous like that. I need the opposite.
  - joubert 16y ago
    Check out plans with hospital/catastrophe cover. Blue Cross, Aetna, etc. have such plans. Also check out http://www.healthcare.gov/index.html http://www.healthcare.gov/index.html

jacquesm 16y ago

Even if the article doesn't really mention why she left google one line jumped out at me: > I really miss the heated toilet seats. I never ever thought that that would figure in to reasons for leaving or staying at a company. It looks like having her project canceled hurt her pretty badly, big companies have a way of axing projects that do not take the feelings of the people that work on them in to account at all. We all understand it has to happen, how you go about it can make all the difference. I hope that she finds what she's looking for, if you're thinking about doing the same, it helps if you have a better idea of what you're going to do when you quit your job, it helps even more if you've already been experimenting with different avenues while still employed, that way you save some runway that might bite in to your savings in a way that you regret later on. Having a good plan is really important, quitting without having a good plan may work but it will definitely complicate matters. Best of luck to Jean, I hope she keeps us informed about how this all works out.

ronnier 16y ago
Who sits on public toilet seats?
- Mz 16y ago
  Women.

tmarthal 16y ago

My question: Why didn't you work with your management to take a sabbatical leave? One of the benefits of the major corporations is that they have policies in place for leaves of absence. Then you would've gotten the best of both worlds: 1) a fall-back plan if you fail to monetize in your venture 2) a rigid time-period where you need to finish your venture (and not just be open ended on figuring out your life) I did something very similar, after a longer period of time (9+ years) in the corporate world. I needed that time to germinate my technical ability and understand my relevant skillset. For me, it was reading "Hackers and Painters" rather than the Princeton article you linked that got me to pursue my independent career.

nostrademons 16y ago
She'd only been there for 2 years. Sabbaticals in most institutions are for people with 5+ year tenures. In a fast-growing company like Google that's still hiring, having a good performance record and keeping in touch with coworkers is practically as good as having a sabbatical, anyway. If she were to reapply to Google and her resume said "Google: 2008-2010" and her old performance reviews were good and she had good code leftover in the version history, do you think Google would turn her down? I know of a bunch of people that left Google for startups or FaceBook or other companies and then returned, and it's basically as if they never left (except that for legal reasons, Google can't preserve their old option grant and has to start fresh with stock compensation).
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]

toephu 16y ago

sounds like she's starting to regret it already.. "here are certainly days when I wish I had access to the plethora of knowledge at Google. And there are days (or maybe every day) when I wish I could pop into a massage room for a 15 minute chair massage with my favorite massage therapist at Google. The food is undeniably delicious, and I really miss the heated toilet seats."

KMStraub 16y ago

If you look at her bio, you'll see this author already has a new job at a startup called Pulse. Somehow that dampens this act of bravery for me. For all the upvotes she's gotten, the ending I was hoping for was her decision to become a founder.

warmfuzzykitten 16y ago

She left heated toilet seats? Must be a wacko.

ehosca 16y ago

because you have a big ego ?