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I'm not anonymous; it's easy to figure out my identify from my HN profile. I didn't work on Stadia, but I did work on Google Fiber for a couple years only to h

I'm not anonymous; it's easy to figure out my identify from my HN profile. I didn't work on Stadia, but I did work on Google Fiber for a couple years only to have almost all that work cancelled, and I'm still sad about it many years later. At the time, I really wouldn't have appreciated people on HN rubbing salt in the wound.

bombcar 4y ago
You both have a common enemy - nobody is blaming Google being Google on the employees - they also get abandoned without support and their project cancelled.
solardev 4y ago
For what it's worth, I don't think anyone blames the engineers doing the work. That thought never even crossed my mind... In fact I think Google has some of the best engineers in the world. Sadly, they're handled by some of the worst management and leadership in history. Your CEO has no vision or charisma and the whole company is just spinning in place, waiting for something to happen. Your middle management looks like little fiefdoms actively working against each other in some eternal civil strife. Google is its own worst enemy. From the outside it looks like you guys are a bunch of really smart lab rats stuck in some perverse maze, being forced to run little Hunger Games style competitions to entertain some higher power. I wouldn't want to work there for a million dollars. It jumped the shark a decade ago. Fiber was just another tragedy in a long long list, another fight Google picked and then chickened out of. Google hasn't had a major success in recent memory, just a graveyard of half-assed attempts. But that's a bigger cultural problem at your company, not the fault of any engineer or single team. I sincerely feel for you, and I hope you got out and found something more constructive. Edit: Sorry, not Fi, Fiber.
- endtime 4y ago
  I left Google earlier this year. I think it was the right move for me at the right time. That said, I think your view of Google is a bit darker than the reality.
  - solardev 4y ago
    I hope so! They have a lot of talent, I just hope they eventually get better leadership to actually steer the ship somewhere, instead of just relying on the sheer inertia of ads.

bombcar 4y ago

You both have a common enemy - nobody is blaming Google being Google on the employees - they also get abandoned without support and their project cancelled.

solardev 4y ago

For what it's worth, I don't think anyone blames the engineers doing the work. That thought never even crossed my mind... In fact I think Google has some of the best engineers in the world. Sadly, they're handled by some of the worst management and leadership in history. Your CEO has no vision or charisma and the whole company is just spinning in place, waiting for something to happen. Your middle management looks like little fiefdoms actively working against each other in some eternal civil strife. Google is its own worst enemy. From the outside it looks like you guys are a bunch of really smart lab rats stuck in some perverse maze, being forced to run little Hunger Games style competitions to entertain some higher power. I wouldn't want to work there for a million dollars. It jumped the shark a decade ago. Fiber was just another tragedy in a long long list, another fight Google picked and then chickened out of. Google hasn't had a major success in recent memory, just a graveyard of half-assed attempts. But that's a bigger cultural problem at your company, not the fault of any engineer or single team. I sincerely feel for you, and I hope you got out and found something more constructive. Edit: Sorry, not Fi, Fiber.

endtime 4y ago
I left Google earlier this year. I think it was the right move for me at the right time. That said, I think your view of Google is a bit darker than the reality.
- solardev 4y ago
  I hope so! They have a lot of talent, I just hope they eventually get better leadership to actually steer the ship somewhere, instead of just relying on the sheer inertia of ads.