5 ms·

You've hit the nail on the head with left-hand-right-handedness at Google. Every interaction I've had with that company reveals behavior reflective of this cond

You've hit the nail on the head with left-hand-right-handedness at Google. Every interaction I've had with that company reveals behavior reflective of this condition. You've gotta scratch the surface to find it, but lately it's not very deep. When I interview places, and the interviewer gives me a single question, I hit them with something almost no one expects ("If you could change one thing without veto, what would it be?"). When I interviewed there at Google some time ago (I turned down their offer because of the answers I got to this question), six out of the seven interviewers I asked replied with some variation on "All the low-hanging fruit has been picked, and most people aren't in a position to solve the gnarly problems, so I wish I could do work that challenges me." This immediately sent up red flags with me, along with the weird sense of hivemind I got at the Googleplex. It wasn't exactly like wandering around a Borg cube, but it was close. Then recently the company I work for has had visitors from Google, and while I'm not involved in the interactions personally, there's a huge sense of this left-hand-right-hand problem even among teams working on the same product, just different groups. This is probably the case with all large corporations after a certain critical mass, but I'm personally experiencing a selection bias for Google in particular.

ma2rten 12y ago
When I interview places, and the interviewer gives me a single question, I hit them with something almost no one expects ("If you could change one thing without veto, what would it be?") I will remember this one. That's a great question for interviews.
- wc- 12y ago
  Even from the POV of the interviewer it's a great question. I'd give my answer then brainstorm with the interviewee about how they would propose solving that problem. Would you feel comfortable asking an interviewee the same question about their last job? It could give a sense of how they think / why they are looking for a new spot but might be a little invasive.

ma2rten 12y ago

When I interview places, and the interviewer gives me a single question, I hit them with something almost no one expects ("If you could change one thing without veto, what would it be?") I will remember this one. That's a great question for interviews.

wc- 12y ago
Even from the POV of the interviewer it's a great question. I'd give my answer then brainstorm with the interviewee about how they would propose solving that problem. Would you feel comfortable asking an interviewee the same question about their last job? It could give a sense of how they think / why they are looking for a new spot but might be a little invasive.