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I used to work at Google in support. You were not talking to a random engineer - the support people are all dedicated support contractors. Most of the teams a

I used to work at Google in support. You were not talking to a random engineer - the support people are all dedicated support contractors. Most of the teams are all non-technical and the only thing they know about how the product works is from a two week training where most of the time is spent on learning how to avoid lawsuits.

gcb0 12y ago
support people at Google is there only to fill regulation minimums.
- danielvinson 12y ago
  The teams I was a part of most definitely were not just for minimums (Chromebook/Glass). Google has incredible support for their hardware products.
  - gcb0 12y ago
    that's honestly awesome to hear. my experience in the past made me avoid newer Google products because support in the past was non existent. last thing i bought was a nexus one. i for the bad touch screen (registers ghost touches after screen is on for a while) and i could either complain on forums and be ignored or start a return with htc that from the forums histories ended with a device on worse condition and save touch screen bug sent back...
drzaiusapelord 12y ago
How do people think google puts software engineers on the phone randomly? That's just an insane idea. I mean, these guys all make what 150k starting with 250k+ salaries not unheard of and you really expect their managers to go, "Oh btw, you're on helpdesk this week. Put on your headset and talk to clueless people for 8 hours today."
- diminoten 12y ago
  It was in The Internship, that's what put the idea in my head, and as far as I know it's in there because they do/did do that, with the idea being you get a better understanding of who you're writing features for if you get your questions from the horse's mouth occasionally.
- colanderman 12y ago
  I once worked at a startup-bought-by-bigco that did almost exactly this. Granted it was level 4, not level 1 support; and it was on a quarterly, not weekly, basis.

gcb0 12y ago

support people at Google is there only to fill regulation minimums.

danielvinson 12y ago
The teams I was a part of most definitely were not just for minimums (Chromebook/Glass). Google has incredible support for their hardware products.
- gcb0 12y ago
  that's honestly awesome to hear. my experience in the past made me avoid newer Google products because support in the past was non existent. last thing i bought was a nexus one. i for the bad touch screen (registers ghost touches after screen is on for a while) and i could either complain on forums and be ignored or start a return with htc that from the forums histories ended with a device on worse condition and save touch screen bug sent back...

drzaiusapelord 12y ago

How do people think google puts software engineers on the phone randomly? That's just an insane idea. I mean, these guys all make what 150k starting with 250k+ salaries not unheard of and you really expect their managers to go, "Oh btw, you're on helpdesk this week. Put on your headset and talk to clueless people for 8 hours today."

diminoten 12y ago
It was in The Internship, that's what put the idea in my head, and as far as I know it's in there because they do/did do that, with the idea being you get a better understanding of who you're writing features for if you get your questions from the horse's mouth occasionally.
colanderman 12y ago
I once worked at a startup-bought-by-bigco that did almost exactly this. Granted it was level 4, not level 1 support; and it was on a quarterly, not weekly, basis.