Comments on: Why I Don’t Work At Google

By: Coach purses

Coach purses — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 12:12:02 +0000

…

many thanks for sharing the info…..

By: Shannon -jj Behrens

Shannon -jj Behrens — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 23:45:30 +0000

Great post.

By: Jannet Liederbach

Jannet Liederbach — Sun, 30 May 2010 21:49:26 +0000

I pretty much never comment on stories . . . but this one is exceptional. Thanks for posting this. It really makes sense the way you put it. Wish someone else had told me sooner.

By: Jon

Jon — Sun, 30 May 2010 19:09:37 +0000

I’d argue that Microsoft actually uses a specific process to NOT get the job done. Ballmer gets some jollies, IMHO, out of raising barriers. And, do notice that MS ISN’T getting much done anymore. My first job was similar – working for the gummint. Little gets done, of course.

I doubt Google’s much like that, since they are getting things done.

After that, I did some consulting and startup work, and was much happier. I’ve also worked and been happy at one smallish, growing company that was well-run and also getting stuff done -though I’ve also been unhappy at a startup that never delivered, either. Top management and company size make unbelievably huge differences. The trick is to find a well-run spot (do people where you’re interviewing look happy with themselves?).

By: Sergey

Sergey — Sat, 29 May 2010 22:38:33 +0000

The fact that you feel compelled to justify why you don’t work at Google is pretty telling. Doing so in a public blog that was submitted to HN is even more so. You know your friends are really saying, “if you are so smart, why don’t you work at Google?” This gives you some cognitive dissonance, because you are insecure and have a big ego.

Ask me how I know

By: pierre

pierre — Sat, 29 May 2010 21:56:37 +0000

Being bright does not guarantee success — just look at Mensa.

One of my favourite quotations: “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” (Coolidge)

By: Mohammed Shehata

Mohammed Shehata — Sat, 29 May 2010 18:59:16 +0000

Such places like Microsoft and others uses a specific process to do the job, so that would actually affect the delivery time, however any modification in the middle is hell, the process to generate something and make the right documentation and consider everything with the modification will take really long time, on the end you can see you’ve spent couple of years doing nothing at all, that’s why I like small companies that uses Agile system or basic process to deliver the right job and get the money, and that’s how you feel the satisfaction out of your work, you done something that out there and rock, put it in your website or portfolio, great feeling, I like freelancing too because it is to open and flexible, regardless money you really earn much of experiences out of it.
Thanks for sharing the article .

By: Calvin Lam

Calvin Lam — Sat, 29 May 2010 08:51:38 +0000

You shouldn’t generalize your experience to a company, like Google and Microsoft. Why? because in my opinion, you were just unlucky with the opportunities in those companies. I’ve worked at Google for couple years, and it was the most amazing learning experience. My team at Google released every month or two. Now, I’m working at Microsoft (why did I switch from Google to Microsoft? That’s a whole different story). Microsoft teams can be very agile depends where you end up. Not as agile as you would release a feature in 2 weeks, but we release many features in a package every 2-3 months. That’s pretty agile for a company that is big as Microsoft, where you work with many different teams. What I’m trying to say is that you should not point your finger at those companies, but you should point your finger at your unluckiness with teams, opportunities, and managers. There are teams that aren’t as productive as others; however, there are so many teams that get shit done. That’s why Google and Microsoft are driving the game.

By: Stew Heckenberg

Stew Heckenberg — Sat, 29 May 2010 05:56:02 +0000

I’ve been interviewed a couple of times by Google, but only got to the second or third phone interview each time.

I agree with the ability to get shit done being greater than how “smart” you are. I’d argue that it requires more smarts to finish a job on or ahead of schedule given resource and time constraints than to re-invent the wheel.

That’s not to say that Google don’t deliver — I’m stoked to be using their App Engine for example. But, because they keep hiring so many smart people, they’re bound to also hire ones that can also get shit done, and it’s like the anaology of throwing a crapload of monkeys in a room with typewriters and them cranking out Shakespeare. Eventually.

I’m proud to say that while I don’t remember syntax or definitions that well, I’m a good problem-solver and I have experience with getting shit done. Whether someone is “smart” is neither here nor there, it’s what they can do.

By: sarahmei

sarahmei — Sat, 29 May 2010 04:39:42 +0000

Full disclosure – I did interview at Google a few years ago, at the San Francisco office. We didn’t get to the offer stage. At the time they were looking for people to work in that office on internal web apps, and I just couldn’t get excited about it.

My recruiter and I talked about having me interview with some groups down in Mountain View that were doing more interesting things, but that’s a 2-hour commute each way for me. So I had to pass. I was really disappointed at the time. I enjoyed the interview process and thought the people I met were quite bright, but it just wasn’t the right type of work for me.

The good news is that I absolutely love my current job. Having a job that fits me so well has helped me articulate why some of the previous ones did not.