4 ms·

I also don't understand the "swag obsession" (well, maybe except for the Rust Ferris, Go Gopher and Dart Dash plushies) but neutering conferences and travelling

I also don't understand the "swag obsession" (well, maybe except for the Rust Ferris, Go Gopher and Dart Dash plushies) but neutering conferences and travelling would make me frustrated. Travelling to conferences is a huge learning opportunity: you can upskill by having fun with people all over the world for two-three days. If I worked for a FAANG company where I am supposed to be or become an expert of a technology, and they don't want to pay me for one or two conferences per year, I'd also feel frustrated.

Victerius 4y ago
Let's be real. Most of the traveling to conferences that Google employees do is just an excuse to get out of work and be paid to do so. Pichai is right to tighten the purse strings.
- vintermann 4y ago
  The conclusion doesn't follow from the premise.
- yndoendo 4y ago
  Traveling to conferences allows a person to get OUT of the same old day-in-day , while also allowing to network. This can help fight burn out. Changing up your environment, even temporary, can lead to better problem solving, often during vacation, because you remove the tunnel vision. Would like to see number of psychology and socially studies around it. My opinion of why Meta-verse will fail is because you are using their technology in the same environment. A bad environment is a bad environment no mater how expensive the VR/AR tech your using. And also lacks body language communication.
  - aetch 4y ago
    The benefits you described are the same as a vacation.
    - zinclozenge 4y ago
      Except the employee is paid for travel, transportation, food, and lodging. A while back when I was working at a company that had significant spending in GCP, we'd get free tickets to Next. My director basically said that there wasn't any expectation for the employees he was sending to learn or network, it was basically a semi-vacation. Kind of makes sense honestly.
  - ultrasaurus 4y ago
    For a small company, networking can be the first time people hear of the company. For a company like Google, I wonder how often networking translates instead into chances for other companies to hire away their people (without really helping much vice-versa, everyone knows about Google's hiring process) No matter how much that actually happens, I wouldn't be shocked if it gets echoed and magnified internally as a problem.
- piva00 4y ago
  Those employees are making order of magnitudes of their salary in revenue. Google is having record profits. Why exactly should Pichai tighten the purse strings? For the shareholders? What, exactly, have those shareholders done to create this revenue (except for the ones that are employees and get golden handcuffs shares)?
  - s1artibartfast 4y ago
    Let's be real again, most employees don't touch anything that contributes to revenue.
    - piva00 4y ago
      Then why are they employed? If they perform any function that helps to materialise that revenue they are indirectly responsible for it. Unsure why the HN crowd is so hyper-focused on direct attribution. As a worker in a corporation you are part of a machine, this machine uses you as a part of it and the machine as a whole generates revenue. You might not be the main piston firing and generating power but you are still part of the mechanism. If someone hired you even though you won't be creating any value it's not your problem that the machine is dysfunctional.
      - s1artibartfast 4y ago
        I just think it is a funny juxtaposition when workers shout about the "Value or revenue they created" on one hand and then claim and then claim individual value creation doesn't matter on the other hand. The whole question of where the value comes from and "who deserves it" is central to the argument, and there are a lot of positions with different axioms. I hadn't heard that it is deserved simply for being a warm body in a chair independent of any productivity, so that's a new one. The same could be said of shareholders: Why are employees so focused on direct attribution? As a shareholder you are part of the machine, ect. If you aren't creating any value, its not your problem the machine is dysfunctional...
        4y ago
- unity1001 4y ago
  > Let's be real. Most of the traveling to conferences that Google employees do is just an excuse to get out of work and be paid to do so Absolutely ok. In the world of work, that has been the case for a century or so. That's why those are considered perks. Because that's what they are. Everyone knows it. You just call it 'conference travel'.
captainbland 4y ago
Yeah, I'm not with a FAANG but I'm having an experience where we seem to have replaced all learning opportunities with horrible online presentation style courses. It's like they've taken as many bad practices about providing a learning experience and automated them. Monotonous speaker? Check. Visuals that don't relate well to the content? Check. Wall of text slides? Check. Lack of opportunity to ask questions? Check. Asocial learning environment? Check. Bad pacing? Check. Prescriptive teaching style which doesn't give learners an opportunity to broaden their understanding? Check. Uncompelling or just nonexistent narrative? Check. Badly targeted subject matter? In spades.
- htrp 4y ago
  What happens when you start hiring execs from the rest of the F500 companies to do your "Learning and Development"

Victerius 4y ago

Let's be real. Most of the traveling to conferences that Google employees do is just an excuse to get out of work and be paid to do so. Pichai is right to tighten the purse strings.

vintermann 4y ago
The conclusion doesn't follow from the premise.
yndoendo 4y ago
Traveling to conferences allows a person to get OUT of the same old day-in-day , while also allowing to network. This can help fight burn out. Changing up your environment, even temporary, can lead to better problem solving, often during vacation, because you remove the tunnel vision. Would like to see number of psychology and socially studies around it. My opinion of why Meta-verse will fail is because you are using their technology in the same environment. A bad environment is a bad environment no mater how expensive the VR/AR tech your using. And also lacks body language communication.
- aetch 4y ago
  The benefits you described are the same as a vacation.
  - zinclozenge 4y ago
    Except the employee is paid for travel, transportation, food, and lodging. A while back when I was working at a company that had significant spending in GCP, we'd get free tickets to Next. My director basically said that there wasn't any expectation for the employees he was sending to learn or network, it was basically a semi-vacation. Kind of makes sense honestly.
- ultrasaurus 4y ago
  For a small company, networking can be the first time people hear of the company. For a company like Google, I wonder how often networking translates instead into chances for other companies to hire away their people (without really helping much vice-versa, everyone knows about Google's hiring process) No matter how much that actually happens, I wouldn't be shocked if it gets echoed and magnified internally as a problem.
piva00 4y ago
Those employees are making order of magnitudes of their salary in revenue. Google is having record profits. Why exactly should Pichai tighten the purse strings? For the shareholders? What, exactly, have those shareholders done to create this revenue (except for the ones that are employees and get golden handcuffs shares)?
- s1artibartfast 4y ago
  Let's be real again, most employees don't touch anything that contributes to revenue.
  - piva00 4y ago
    Then why are they employed? If they perform any function that helps to materialise that revenue they are indirectly responsible for it. Unsure why the HN crowd is so hyper-focused on direct attribution. As a worker in a corporation you are part of a machine, this machine uses you as a part of it and the machine as a whole generates revenue. You might not be the main piston firing and generating power but you are still part of the mechanism. If someone hired you even though you won't be creating any value it's not your problem that the machine is dysfunctional.
    - s1artibartfast 4y ago
      I just think it is a funny juxtaposition when workers shout about the "Value or revenue they created" on one hand and then claim and then claim individual value creation doesn't matter on the other hand. The whole question of where the value comes from and "who deserves it" is central to the argument, and there are a lot of positions with different axioms. I hadn't heard that it is deserved simply for being a warm body in a chair independent of any productivity, so that's a new one. The same could be said of shareholders: Why are employees so focused on direct attribution? As a shareholder you are part of the machine, ect. If you aren't creating any value, its not your problem the machine is dysfunctional...
      - 4y ago
unity1001 4y ago
> Let's be real. Most of the traveling to conferences that Google employees do is just an excuse to get out of work and be paid to do so Absolutely ok. In the world of work, that has been the case for a century or so. That's why those are considered perks. Because that's what they are. Everyone knows it. You just call it 'conference travel'.

captainbland 4y ago

Yeah, I'm not with a FAANG but I'm having an experience where we seem to have replaced all learning opportunities with horrible online presentation style courses. It's like they've taken as many bad practices about providing a learning experience and automated them. Monotonous speaker? Check. Visuals that don't relate well to the content? Check. Wall of text slides? Check. Lack of opportunity to ask questions? Check. Asocial learning environment? Check. Bad pacing? Check. Prescriptive teaching style which doesn't give learners an opportunity to broaden their understanding? Check. Uncompelling or just nonexistent narrative? Check. Badly targeted subject matter? In spades.

htrp 4y ago
What happens when you start hiring execs from the rest of the F500 companies to do your "Learning and Development"