3 ms·

not much. i quit a few months ago and so happy to be out of that insane place. they compare your work against your coworkers, so its constant competition, even

not much. i quit a few months ago and so happy to be out of that insane place. they compare your work against your coworkers, so its constant competition, even if you meet your "goals". they also have zero work/life balance. all that free food and google shuttles wear off after a couple of months. then their non-stop work life settles in and you realize you made a horrible decision by accepting the job offer. the only bright side is you get stock options and have a great company on your resume.

amaks 13y ago
Apparently you haven't worked for Microsoft. Google is engineer's heaven compared to MS.
- benched 13y ago
  The Microsoft experience varies a lot throughout the organization. I was on a workaholic team for a year and it was a nightmare. The other four years, though, my typical day was from 10:30-4:00, and whenever I didn't feel like going in I'd "work from home" - typically on my XBox. The majority of the MS people I know have similar work ethics. (Though, it should be noted, we did get our work done. I got the highest review ratings every year I was there.)
- ksk 13y ago
  >Google is engineer's heaven compared to MS. How so? I'd be crushed at the thought of using my skills to get people to click on ads, or coming up with new ways to mine their data.
  - ksk 13y ago
    On second thoughts, I realize this is bit of a generalization but then again, I was replying to a generalization :P
- PavlovsCat 13y ago
  Yes, and? WTF does this have to do with anything? "Maybe you should work in North Korea, Microsoft is really cozy in comparison" "Thanks for your input, Captain CouldJustifyAnythingThatWay" "Oh, maybe you should try reading comments from dev/random, they're much worse!"
- asveikau 13y ago
  I worked at Microsoft and I was unhappy with a lot of the issues people talk about. I knew a few people internally who talked about Google like they did a better job at company culture, at engineering, at management. Maybe I bought into that myth a little myself, too. What I've come to realize with some time away from MS and having talked to Googlers is that Microsoft and Google are essentially the same beast. From what I've heard all the worst complaints I had about MS culture also exist at Google. For now, Google has an edge because their peak coolness is more recent than Microsoft's. I'm reminded of stories from folks who worked at MS in '99 or something like that, when it was still very much a big company but much more pleasant to be at. Maybe Google in 2013 is like Microsoft in 2003. In this theory, the "great place to work" factor is still there, but past its peak, declining, and will decline further, to the point where they eventually get to where Microsoft is today on this trajectory. Personally I think that too many people at MS are obsessed with competing with Google, and making such comparisons, to the point that they are blinded to the idea that Google can be viewed as the old thing.
amaks 13y ago
AFAIK, Google doesn't have stock options. I don't think you worked for Google.
- Cookingboy 13y ago
  We get stock units directly, maybe that's what he meant. I certainly find my team has a pretty decent work-life balance, and we are at a pretty high pressure org as well.
- robrenaud 13y ago
  They did for awhile. I still have some vesting.
- auctiontheory 13y ago
  I think it's pretty clear he meant RSUs. "Stock option" is still the colloquial term.
10098 13y ago
Try MS, that's where the real competition is :-) I've heard horror stories about how someone on the team simply has to get low performance score, and when you get a low score it's basically a signal that you're getting fired. I can't imagine how poisonous that must be.
- skinnycow 13y ago
  This is now no longer the case.
- milhous 13y ago
  MS ended stack ranking over a month ago: http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/12/5094864/microsoft-kills-stack-ranking-internal-structure http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/12/5094864/microsoft-kills-s... But yeah, a pretty bad system in principle.
  - 10098 13y ago
    Good for them, then.
declan 13y ago
"the only bright side is you get stock options" Didn't Google stop giving out stock options something like five years ago? Sounds like "ex-googler1", an account created an hour ago, isn't actually one.

amaks 13y ago

Apparently you haven't worked for Microsoft. Google is engineer's heaven compared to MS.

benched 13y ago
The Microsoft experience varies a lot throughout the organization. I was on a workaholic team for a year and it was a nightmare. The other four years, though, my typical day was from 10:30-4:00, and whenever I didn't feel like going in I'd "work from home" - typically on my XBox. The majority of the MS people I know have similar work ethics. (Though, it should be noted, we did get our work done. I got the highest review ratings every year I was there.)
ksk 13y ago
>Google is engineer's heaven compared to MS. How so? I'd be crushed at the thought of using my skills to get people to click on ads, or coming up with new ways to mine their data.
- ksk 13y ago
  On second thoughts, I realize this is bit of a generalization but then again, I was replying to a generalization :P
PavlovsCat 13y ago
Yes, and? WTF does this have to do with anything? "Maybe you should work in North Korea, Microsoft is really cozy in comparison" "Thanks for your input, Captain CouldJustifyAnythingThatWay" "Oh, maybe you should try reading comments from dev/random, they're much worse!"
asveikau 13y ago
I worked at Microsoft and I was unhappy with a lot of the issues people talk about. I knew a few people internally who talked about Google like they did a better job at company culture, at engineering, at management. Maybe I bought into that myth a little myself, too. What I've come to realize with some time away from MS and having talked to Googlers is that Microsoft and Google are essentially the same beast. From what I've heard all the worst complaints I had about MS culture also exist at Google. For now, Google has an edge because their peak coolness is more recent than Microsoft's. I'm reminded of stories from folks who worked at MS in '99 or something like that, when it was still very much a big company but much more pleasant to be at. Maybe Google in 2013 is like Microsoft in 2003. In this theory, the "great place to work" factor is still there, but past its peak, declining, and will decline further, to the point where they eventually get to where Microsoft is today on this trajectory. Personally I think that too many people at MS are obsessed with competing with Google, and making such comparisons, to the point that they are blinded to the idea that Google can be viewed as the old thing.

amaks 13y ago

AFAIK, Google doesn't have stock options. I don't think you worked for Google.

Cookingboy 13y ago
We get stock units directly, maybe that's what he meant. I certainly find my team has a pretty decent work-life balance, and we are at a pretty high pressure org as well.
robrenaud 13y ago
They did for awhile. I still have some vesting.
auctiontheory 13y ago
I think it's pretty clear he meant RSUs. "Stock option" is still the colloquial term.

10098 13y ago

Try MS, that's where the real competition is :-) I've heard horror stories about how someone on the team simply has to get low performance score, and when you get a low score it's basically a signal that you're getting fired. I can't imagine how poisonous that must be.

skinnycow 13y ago
This is now no longer the case.
milhous 13y ago
MS ended stack ranking over a month ago: http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/12/5094864/microsoft-kills-stack-ranking-internal-structure http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/12/5094864/microsoft-kills-s... But yeah, a pretty bad system in principle.
- 10098 13y ago
  Good for them, then.

declan 13y ago

"the only bright side is you get stock options" Didn't Google stop giving out stock options something like five years ago? Sounds like "ex-googler1", an account created an hour ago, isn't actually one.