Google Workplace Debate

Google skims top talent for themselves and feeds the rest out?

I'm sure it's fantastic to work at Google, if you're the kind of person who wants to work in a big company.As for me, I made a cool mashup with the maps API, and they offered me a job, subject to approval by HR. You could tell by the way they were talking that they thought they were offering me a glimpse of a ticket to heaven. When I asked some clarifying questions, they didn't even bother to answer them. Silence for the insolent fool!So arrogant they undoubtedly are. People inside the com

(disclaimer: I work at Google)Google is a great company to work for, but there are many great companies out there. Don't close off other possibly-great opportunities because you're focused on working for a single place. Some random thoughts:- Hiring at Google, despite our best efforts, is a mostly-random affair. The process is optimized to avoid hiring bad engineers, at the expense of frequently rejecting good engineers. If you get rejected, it doesn't mean anything.- The

A few things come to mind, but mostly related to Google 'today' not being the little underdog it was 15 years ago when it started, it's a giant corporation.You are probably employee #sixdigits counting everyone who's no longer employed and #50000-and-something for current employees and that just isn't as prestigious even if their standards haven't changed.They make a lot of unpopular decisions - most things with google plus, no more free google apps with your own domain, significantly chan

Google hasn't hired all the best hackers. They have hired the best hackers that don't have the balls to start their own company.

I can say from my interactions with CS students at top schools that this attitude is common. Google is no longer seen as innovative; everyone wants to work for Facebook or Apple now. Google isn't seen as a bad company to work for, just not sexy like it used to be. It's like going to work for Microsoft: you'll make good money and get some interesting projects, but major engineering decisions happen in an ivory tower and you just have to roll with the punches.

I could believe it as a big tech guy working at a different companyGoogle's internal culture sounds awful to me*. Tons of kool-aid chugging, shadowy political battles, people obsessed with tech for the sake of tech... plus they don't generally interview for a specific position, instead you interview for Google at large and then have to find a team that wants you once you pass the bar.Passing the bar is also obnoxious. Maybe there are a lot of transcendent super-geniuses out the

> He never said they are worseThis is why i asked for clarifications. the OP said 'Google is incapable of hiring the engineers I want to work with', which implies that the engineers he is looking to work with are NOT there. Google is incapable of hiring them, and since they are top quality devs, someone else (more capable) did.> Do I have to explain why that's not a good argument?Yes, please explain. Because you only took the first sentence of my argument. the seco

Welcome to the game! :)The good news is that you are reaching high quality folks if Google wants them.Make sure they understand what they are getting into. Google is great (I'm a Xoogler) but they will be toiling in a very large machine and will have a very narrow locus of responsibility. There is nothing wrong with that -- but make sure that's what they want versus a broader startup role.

I work at Google, worked at Amazon, and you nailed it. Most people at Google are far from coding superstars. But basically everyone is fairly smart, nice, and hard-working. I basically never come across any dead weight.