Kvetching About Google
I was going to do an update to the previous post about schizophrenia today. There have been several interesting findings just since I wrote that post (here). But instead, I found an interesting thread about something else schizophrenic: A story at Techcrunch that has the text of emails about why people left Google (Why Google Employees Quit).
Google carefully cultivates a reputation for being the best and for hiring the best. On the other hand, they just had a layoff (story here) so, best or not, they still have to function in the same economy as the rest of the world. And apparently with the same lame practices. Full disclosure: I’ve been laid off several times and this has probably contributed to my general lack of respect for business “leaders.”
Anyway: back to Google and the “why they left” thread, there were a couple of interesting things that came out of this. One was criticism of the hiring process, which could last months. Months after sending in the resume without hearing a word, interviews with completely clueless Googloids (googlebots?) and months without hearing a response. I’ve been through that sort of thing, too. It was so long after I interviewed for my current job before they finally called me back to make an offer that I had almost completely forgotten what it was all about. I had stopped being mad at my then current employer in the meantime, too, so I was not terribly interested in changing jobs. The money they offered made up for that.
All that so they could bring me in as a contract worker! The people directly over me said there was a lot of bureaucracy involved. A lot of different people had to sign off on it. Since I’ve been there we interviewed someone who we thought would be a great addition to the team and recommended he be hired (not as a contract). Now, several months later, we had thought they were finally going to make him an offer soon but last week they had a round of layoffs, so I guess I won’t hold my breath.
I thought that making the hiring process difficult and bureaucratic was supposed to make sure they only had the staff they needed, so that there wouldn’t be layoffs? I remember hearing somebody give that justification one time, anyway. Maybe they meant it sarcastically.
Anyway, this anecdote makes me wonder if Google is just disorganized or if, even as young as the company is, it hasn’t already come under the sway of an entrenched, self-serving and ultimately stupid bureaucracy. It’s a large enough and famous enough company to attract empire builders and parasites. Here’s an interesting question: Assuming that a large company like Google does attract a certain kind of bureaucratic mind, are they attracting the ones who failed in government, or is the government attracting the ones who failed in business – or do they cycle back and forth?
In any case, discontent with getting in to Google was only one of the reasons mentioned for dissatisfaction with being there. Another was inconsistent and even openly destructive management. This was not cited as the norm but as something that, when it came up, was intolerable. Bad management is obviously not a Google-specific problem. Bad managers are actually very common in the world. There has been some social science research that seems to show that the people most likely to move quickly into management, are also the most likely to be self-serving jerks. It may be that Google is so young and has grown so much that those kinds of people have had more opportunities to move up than they would have had in many other companies. There’s also a strong possibility that a discussion about “why I left” is biased toward talking about bad management. For some strange reason, no one ever says, “I left my job after only 6 months because my boss was too wonderful and I wasn’t worthy.”
One interesting thing that came up in one message after another was that the pay was low. I’ve heard many times that Google is a great company to work for. I’ve heard that they create great technology and that they have a fun and open culture that brings out the best in people. This is the first time I ever heard that they were cheap. On the other hand, I have worked for several companies where the people at the top believed the company was so good, that it’s work was so important, that the employees should be honored just for the chance to be a part of it. Not surprisingly, the employees rarely share this attitude. If things at Google were really like this, though, I think it would be more widely known. Google gets a lot of scrutiny. It is something to keep in mind if I ever actually have a chance to work for Google, though. A wise man once said that promises don’t keep you from having to send the children home to the sea, so get the gold up front.
Or something like that. The biggest take away I see from this thread is that there is no company that will magically make your life wonderful. Not even Google. Keep that in mind when judging the promises made and implied by any prospective employer. Then go home to your family and forget the boss, the hours, the pay and all the other stuff that makes work a pain.
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