4 ms·

Xoogler here, left in 2015. I don't think Google's offices have been "happy" or "exuberant" for a long time. The big cultural shift was already underway when I

by jpm_sd 3y ago

Xoogler here, left in 2015. I don't think Google's offices have been "happy" or "exuberant" for a long time. The big cultural shift was already underway when I left.

asah 3y ago
Xoogler as well - arguably, you could see this coming in the late 2000s. but also: it depends a LOT on which division/group you're in and especially who your manager is - I know a lot of happy googlers who continue to knock-out kickass stuff.
- francisofascii 3y ago
  > it depends a LOT on which division/group you're in Yep, that seems to be the takeaway message and applies to any large organization you find yourself in. Applies to not just companies, but country locations and city locations.
- iainmerrick 3y ago
  I was thinking about this when reading John Calhoun's post about Tom Dowdy, which has been doing the rounds recently (probably via Daring Fireball): https://www.engineersneedart.com/blog/dowdy/dowdy.html https://www.engineersneedart.com/blog/dowdy/dowdy.html This was the 2nd half of the 90's and Apple was at that point in its history when it was circlng the drain. It was another lesson that would be reinforced over and over in my three-decade career as a programmer: if you work very long in this field, know that everything will eventually change. It was the supposed "dark times" to be at Apple: whole teams would be suddenly let go (the rest of us that lingered still might go through the abandoned offices of once co-workers looking to pull RAM out of their hardware for our own development machines). Some engineers like Tom, could see the writing on the wall early enough and knew when to switch teams. Tom ended up moving to the QuickTime team where he was able to continue to use his graphics talents. Later he worked on the iTunes visualizer if I recall correctly. It's possible to join a company at a bad time and still have a good experience there. (I don't know if everyone is aware how bad things got for Apple back then. IIRC they tried to sell the company to Sony, but Sony turned them down. They only survived due to investment from arch-nemesis Microsoft.)
  - aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA 3y ago
    I ran the strings command on the iTunes application once. Inside the app somewhere were the words "We miss you, Tom."
- lesuorac 3y ago
  I think it's really the new open layouts where you might not even sit with your team members. It's definitely a different experience being in a row of desks with a lot of random people versus being in a cube-farm with your team.
hiddencost 3y ago
Yeah :| my problem right now is that I haven't been outside in a very long time, am paid incredibly well, and really have hyper specialized in getting stuff done at Google. The things I've done I can only really explain well to googlers. So it's been quite challenging finding a role outside that pays me as well.
- jpm_sd 3y ago
  <Woody Harrelson wiping tears with money.gif>

by jpm_sd 3y ago

Xoogler here, left in 2015. I don't think Google's offices have been "happy" or "exuberant" for a long time. The big cultural shift was already underway when I left.

asah 3y ago

Xoogler as well - arguably, you could see this coming in the late 2000s. but also: it depends a LOT on which division/group you're in and especially who your manager is - I know a lot of happy googlers who continue to knock-out kickass stuff.

francisofascii 3y ago
> it depends a LOT on which division/group you're in Yep, that seems to be the takeaway message and applies to any large organization you find yourself in. Applies to not just companies, but country locations and city locations.
iainmerrick 3y ago
I was thinking about this when reading John Calhoun's post about Tom Dowdy, which has been doing the rounds recently (probably via Daring Fireball): https://www.engineersneedart.com/blog/dowdy/dowdy.html https://www.engineersneedart.com/blog/dowdy/dowdy.html This was the 2nd half of the 90's and Apple was at that point in its history when it was circlng the drain. It was another lesson that would be reinforced over and over in my three-decade career as a programmer: if you work very long in this field, know that everything will eventually change. It was the supposed "dark times" to be at Apple: whole teams would be suddenly let go (the rest of us that lingered still might go through the abandoned offices of once co-workers looking to pull RAM out of their hardware for our own development machines). Some engineers like Tom, could see the writing on the wall early enough and knew when to switch teams. Tom ended up moving to the QuickTime team where he was able to continue to use his graphics talents. Later he worked on the iTunes visualizer if I recall correctly. It's possible to join a company at a bad time and still have a good experience there. (I don't know if everyone is aware how bad things got for Apple back then. IIRC they tried to sell the company to Sony, but Sony turned them down. They only survived due to investment from arch-nemesis Microsoft.)
- aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA 3y ago
  I ran the strings command on the iTunes application once. Inside the app somewhere were the words "We miss you, Tom."
lesuorac 3y ago
I think it's really the new open layouts where you might not even sit with your team members. It's definitely a different experience being in a row of desks with a lot of random people versus being in a cube-farm with your team.

hiddencost 3y ago

Yeah :| my problem right now is that I haven't been outside in a very long time, am paid incredibly well, and really have hyper specialized in getting stuff done at Google. The things I've done I can only really explain well to googlers. So it's been quite challenging finding a role outside that pays me as well.

jpm_sd 3y ago
<Woody Harrelson wiping tears with money.gif>