4 ms·
This theme has been repeated a bunch over the last 10 years or so. Google has been in a constant state of decline since the employment surge in the back half of
by kortilla 1y ago
This theme has been repeated a bunch over the last 10 years or so. Google has been in a constant state of decline since the employment surge in the back half of 2010s culminating with a hiring fervor in 2020 that diluted out all of the extremely talented employees.
This severe decline of the median engineer means comp gets cut back, perks get cut back, and most importantly, autonomy gets cut back. Oppressive process and political gamesmanship reign supreme.
Even when I left nearly a decade ago, the idea that something like Gmail could be made in 20% time was a joke. 20% time itself was being snuffed out and dipshit PMs in turf wars would kill anything that did manage to emerge because it wasn’t “polished enough”.
At this point Google is far beyond recovery because it is inundated with B, C and now D players. It’s following the same trajectory of Intel, Cisco, and IBM.
Pockets of brilliance drowning in mediocrity
- qyph 1y agoGmail wasn't created with 20% time. https://time.com/43263/gmail-10th-anniversary/#:~:text=Gmail%20is%20often,an%20email%20thing.%E2%80%9D https://time.com/43263/gmail-10th-anniversary/#:~:text=Gmail...
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- whiplash451 1y agoI think the main point remains (skunk work is now impossible)
- kortilla 1y agoThe purpose of 20% time was to allow things like gmail to be created
- happyopossum 1y ago> comp gets cut back, perks get cut back That hasn’t really been happening - perks and comp have been pretty stable for the past 3+ years at least, so…
- Maledictus 1y agoIn nominal terms, yes, not inflation adjusted.
- taormina 1y agoInflation goes up, perk and comp stay the same, is the same as a % cut
- endtime 1y agoIt has been happening - I was there from 2011 to 2022 and it happened steadily for my last five years. The food got worse, they stopped handing out free phones every year, they cut equity refresh multipliers for strongly exceeds ratings, 20% time became 120% time (as noted elsewhere), and -- shortly after I left -- they changed the rating system such that there were real quotas for people being below expectations. Gone were the days they'd randomly hand out Osprey backpacks outside the cafeteria for no reason (I still use mine), or when your manager could send you to space for creating Memegen, or even when Memegen was controlled by its creator and the team he got funded for it, and not HR. I actually attribute it to Ruth more than Sundar, but who really knows? All I know is I saw a major decline...and people were already saying similar things when I joined, and they were probably right too. This isn't to say Google isn't still a great employer...but yes, perks and comp declined.
- returningfory2 1y agoPerks have gotten better in some dimensions - for example, parental leave is much more generous than it was even 5 years ago. And that’s probably a more important perk than free backpacks tbh.
- whiplash451 1y agoDepends what profile you are trying to invest in.
- AdrianB1 1y agoImportant or motivating? It is not the same thing. For older people that already have kids, parental leave is useless.
- nophunphil 1y agoAren’t we talking about what appears to be a management decision/performance review? What do the other engineers have to do with this? Why are they mediocre?
- nvarsj 1y agoExact same thing happened to M$ in the late 90s/00s. At some point the MBAs and money chasers come in and it's just downhill from there.