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I think one of the major advantages a tech company can have against their competitors is their culture and recently, Google seems to be losing out on this a lot

I think one of the major advantages a tech company can have against their competitors is their culture and recently, Google seems to be losing out on this a lot. IMHO there is a huge difference between companies that just have workers and companies that are a group of people working towards a common goal/vision

john_yaya 5y ago
What happens when that common goal is antithetical to the company’s ability to turn a profit?
- amanaplanacanal 5y ago
  It would be bad for the company. Do you think Google is at risk of not being able to turn a profit?
  - dekhn 5y ago
    If they forgo all the defense spending in the US and it goes to Azure and AWS instead, it will leave Google a perpetual third-runner. I'm generally of the opinion that Google (leadership) can select the customers they want to take on in cloud (such as defense), with whom they want to work on, so long as they're not breaking laws in the places the data is stored or processed. And googlers who don't like that should quit in protest rather than trying to muck things up on the inside. Does that mean that forgoing defense contracts mean Google won't profit? Probably not, but cloud services aren't just about profit.
  - austhrow743 5y ago
    I certainly do. Not based on losing the revenue generated directly by U.S. Customs and Border Protection contracts or any other government agency, but based on having icy/arms length relations with governments. It's very important to them that governments dont see them as a problem and start looking at all the different ways to dismantle them and poke in to their business. Maintaining multifaceted relationships with them, having lots of different connections with lots of different departments, goes a long way to helping prevent that.
redis_mlc 5y ago
This is nonsense, since nobody and no company is ever woke enough for the mobs. Even the organizers of the French Revolution had their heads cut off in the end. There's a reason for the saying, "Go woke, go broke."

john_yaya 5y ago

What happens when that common goal is antithetical to the company’s ability to turn a profit?

amanaplanacanal 5y ago
It would be bad for the company. Do you think Google is at risk of not being able to turn a profit?
- dekhn 5y ago
  If they forgo all the defense spending in the US and it goes to Azure and AWS instead, it will leave Google a perpetual third-runner. I'm generally of the opinion that Google (leadership) can select the customers they want to take on in cloud (such as defense), with whom they want to work on, so long as they're not breaking laws in the places the data is stored or processed. And googlers who don't like that should quit in protest rather than trying to muck things up on the inside. Does that mean that forgoing defense contracts mean Google won't profit? Probably not, but cloud services aren't just about profit.
- austhrow743 5y ago
  I certainly do. Not based on losing the revenue generated directly by U.S. Customs and Border Protection contracts or any other government agency, but based on having icy/arms length relations with governments. It's very important to them that governments dont see them as a problem and start looking at all the different ways to dismantle them and poke in to their business. Maintaining multifaceted relationships with them, having lots of different connections with lots of different departments, goes a long way to helping prevent that.

redis_mlc 5y ago

This is nonsense, since nobody and no company is ever woke enough for the mobs. Even the organizers of the French Revolution had their heads cut off in the end. There's a reason for the saying, "Go woke, go broke."