Life at Google | Hacker News Reader

Life at Google

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98 pointswglb57 comments

It's important to note that in any sufficiently-long "Google Diary" post one must see at least 2 mentions of Google's food. I've visited Google's campus 3 times: each time more impressed than last with the food and amount of people that stuck around and had a healthy meal. Based on my completely anecdotal and limited evidence, I would argue that one of Google's strongest points is the food.

The food is great. Better, though, are the people. :-)

Jealous of both.

It's interesting that other companies are also feeding their employees quite well. I did some contract work at Twitter a while back, and I have to say the food there is also top notch. Whoever caters that gig is amazing.

Oh for goodness sakes, they just need to buy my company already so I can get a decent meal. It's not like they don't have an office across the street from me in the Town Center!

>[M]y flatmate was a taciturn Czech who worked on "data security". Tim, curious: "What sort of data security work?" Heavy Czech accent: "Every sort of data security."

The man takes his job seriously.

Probably ex-Czech Navy. You don't fsck with those guys.

There's something about navy-guys from landlocked nations.

That's what the Czech want you to think. They are really, really good at protecting data. I am not allowed to reveal more.

See you back at the Hexagon.

Did you know that there is actually a Bolivian Navy?

Their fsck will ensure the consistency of data you didn't even know you had.

Ah, more self-infatuation with his new Rock Star job. Note the reference to mere mortals "Normal People don't live like this". Yes, happily I don't sleep in Company beds, eat Company meals, congregate in designated company areas, ..., do they issue Scrip like the old mining towns?

Glad you're enjoying your new career....(but pssst: your life isn't really very interesting).

I agree with you. Remember that episode of The Simpsons where Homer moves the family to a new town which is run by Scorpio, the head of the towns power plant, and everything is managed by The Company, oh and Scorpio happens to be a world class terrorist? That's how the article reads to me.

But they had a hammock district in Scorpio's town, how could he be that bad?

A supervillain that really cares: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QEsjd1WZuY

Doeney "The only supervillian I would take a bullet for"

I do not know the author so I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure this is not bravado or bragging, but rather a critique on a culture that encourages you to tip the scales towards work in a work-life balance. This line says a lot to me:

> But, if you like your work, it’s sure easy to get through a whole lot each day

By "normal people" he means normal Google employees who live near the office; as opposed to his experience as someone traveling to visit the office and separated from his family, friends, and normal daily routines.

You are aware that this is somebody's personal blog, yeah? And that it's only here because people other than the author submitted and voted it up, right?

In other words, you're not the intended audience. If you can find value, so be it. If not, it's not the author's fault or problem.

By the way, I think you missed a healthy dose of sarcasm in the post, but nevermind.

It's on the web...the author deemed his story to be compelling enough for the world. If he wants to avoid unintended audiences, he should seek a more private forum. Otherwise, opinions will follow.

And, I'm not saying the author has committed any fault. I am pointing out a problem he has: his ego.

The only thing missing was putting on a Google Jumpsuit in the morning - other than that, they're feeding him and housing him. Kind of creepy, but sounds like fun in some ways too.

It sounds like being a Japanese salaryman... except with better pay.

And less booze.

But just the right amount of sushi

From what I gathered about your posts on japanese salarymen though in Japanese BigCo that's the rule whereas in this article Tim points out that his recent experience was the exception.

Postscript: This is a little unfair. Normal people with lives in the neighborhood, aren’t doing this every day or even most days.

I loved that postscript. Apart from the Google housing, I do pretty much all of those things every day, discounting Google Coffee and Google Bacon. Of course, there's always evenings and weekends... sorry, Google Evenings and Google Weekends.

On the other hand, I wasn't even offered Google housing when relocating. Bah.

I half expected it to be the "Google Airport" instead of just airport.. it felt odd not seeing Google preceding it.

Tim must not have flown through Moffett Field.

http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-06-05/business/17163317_1_go...

Yeah, isn't he supposed to be working from home in Canada?

I guess he is just visiting the main campus for a while. That would explain why he is put up in the temporary corporate housing just off Castro.

"Google" is mentioned 22 times in the article.

It's the use as an adjective that's disconcerting. But as you stated, sounds fun in a way.

(I think that was a part of a joke)

Agreed, didn't mean to imply otherwise.

I'm pretty sure it's standard operating procedure for large companies to have company housing. I know that if you get hired at Apple or Microsoft they'll put you up in company housing for up to a month while you look around for a place on your own. It's a great perk when a lot of your employees aren't local since they won't have to scramble on the week/weekend before the start to find an apartment and be stuck with the first place they could find that was available immediately.

Of course they do, and I've stayed in company housing myself when working on remote projects. But this goes well beyond that: shuttles, cars, food at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Also the way it's the Google this, Google that sounds kind of funny after a while.

Didn't Microsoft also offer much of this? Back in the day, they were the poster child corporation for bringing kids out of college into a college-like atmosphere, in order to keep everyone on "campus" and thus more likely to keep working. Google has just upgraded the formula slightly for the 21st century.

I had the same company "facilities" on a much smaller scale while working for HP: free HP house in the first month, HP shuttle, HP cantina,...

It's great to avoid employees worrying about non-work stuff. It's a bit big brotherish in a way too, but soooo comfy. Where did I put my soma again?

> It's a bit big brotherish in a way too, but soooo comfy. Where did I put my soma again?

I don't understand this attitude at all. You spend a quarter of the week at work (not including travel time or overtime, 40hr work week). Would you rather work at a shitty company that didn't try and keep you happy?

And really, it's your productivity that pays for that shuttle, housing, cafeteria, etc. Would you rather have it all go to the execs of the company? Or would you rather have it spent on making your work environment better?

Do Google employees gather every morning to sing the company song?

Because if they do, I get the feeling he'd belt it out with enthusiasm.

Only on Friday afternoons.

You just gave me an image of being a Google employee kind of like being a member of the Dharma initiative. Add the jump suits, and you're pretty much there.

It reminds me of The Prisoner an old british series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner

The main character is held prisoner in a perfect but isolated village where he can eat perfect breakfasts and meet friendly people. Except that the village authorities expect from him "information" ;-)

"be mining you" :)

I wonder if the level of Google isolation could be damaging to the company in the long-term. They seem to provide everything their employees need which allows the employees to spend more time on campus and interact with their co-workers.

However, I find that some of my best ideas and inspiration come from talking to people outside the technology field. I would be concerned that there's an echo chamber effect that could slant their ideas toward people like themselves instead of people outside Google.

Based on the last couple of sentences, I guess my reaction might just be based on Tim's hyperbole, though.

An echo chamber that might prevent anybody from realizing the privacy implications of exposing people's email contacts to the world?

I would say it is becoming a problem. It is turning the company away from doing what is right for the user to doing what is 'good' for the company.

For instance in the dl's, any third-party criticism would be quickly followed up belittling the critic's remarks. While disparaging the competition is common of misc-eng in any company, the habit of blaming the user seems more ingrained at Google than elsewhere in my experience. So when someone speaks up, it is immediately dismissed instead of considered.

An echo chamber that's just as bad if all you do is talk to techies in silicon valley all day long...

A lot of people at Google do non-Google things too. I know people training for marathons, doing comedy classes, living in flatshares with 4 artists, etc. But Google's main principle is to design for people like us (everything's tested internally before release), so the cosy bubble isn't all that bad.

I definitely agree. That's what happened with the Buzz + GMail contacts fiasco. They were testing it internally where everyone knew everyone so had no idea why anyone wouldn't want to have all their email contacts added as friends.

"...employees can use these nifty Google plug-in Priuses at no charge..."

Pun intended?

In many ways, Google is becoming a modern marvel. For its breadth, depth, innovation, and ability to keep highly intelligent employees happy and engaged in their job.

What amazes me is that their public image is still one of The Good Guys despite them being a huge corporation (just look at Apple for contrast.)

What public are we talking about? I don't think Apple are considered to be a big bad bad corporation outside of developer circles. On the other hand there have been news reports about how much Google knows about you etc. here in Sweden.

Except then you realize that they're doing this only to benefit their primary business, advertising.

You make that sound like a bad thing. Sounds like capitalism working excellently.

And with Tim you can often count on a nice turn of phrase such as weird Java introspection hairball.

Living the dream

Wow, no politics. Just java, buses and cafeterias.

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