Google Tops 100 Best Places To Work 317
inetsee writes "Fortune Magazine's annual '100 Best Companies to Work For' list is out, and Google topped the list in their debut appearance. Some highlights of the benefits of working for Google that caught my eye were the free gourmet meals and the massages. The chance to spend 20% of your time working on your own personal projects also sounds very appealing. Of course, with resumes rolling in at the rate of thousands a day, the competition is fierce."
Large companies. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Intersting that Apple is missing - (Score:1, Informative)
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompan
Re:Google... (Score:5, Informative)
"Fine, but if you're working in a smaller, less demanding company, you might have that time free, so you can work on the projects without the company knowing about it. Far better to market an idea independently than under the auspices of a large employer. At least you have the opportunity for profits far beyond a salary that way."
Check the terms of your employment again. Most likely your employer owns rights to anything you produce while they are paying your salary, unless it absolutely has nothing to do with their line of work (and even then, you are going to want to get a lawyer to make sure everything is by the book). Generally speaking hiding another job on the side from your employer is a good way to get your ass sued.
Re:I want to work at Goolge (Score:1, Informative)
(Many many people at Google, at least in the Bay Area, work incredibly long hours)
--Q
Re:Very small often == very good. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Large companies. (Score:3, Informative)
1) There's a huge park here. For Johnson employees only. Includes a full-service fitness complex (think YMCA) and 9-hole golf course.
2) SC Johnson owns timeshare properties all over the world. Employees can book them for vacations.
Plus, on-site day care, etc. The Johnson family has no one to keep happy but the Johnson family. No quarter-to-quarter management to keep 'the street' happy.
Free drinks still at MS (Score:3, Informative)
If anything, MORE perks have been added, such as upgraded coffee (Starbucks, instead of Farmer's Brothers).
No, nothing like Google and smaller tech companies. It's much more expensive to add perks, obviously, when you're dealing with 40k+ or so employees.
Re:Intersting that Apple is missing - (Score:2, Informative)
These benefits are certainly unusual for many companies on the list, but in Silicon Valley they're pretty mundane.
not all Google employees (Score:3, Informative)
Or even somewhat worse...
I interviewed with them for such a job and was startled to learn that although Google does all the interviewing and hiring, they always hire their entry-level employees through a temp agency for the first year. So while many companies have a one- to three-month probation period, Google has a full year before they trust you enough to bring you on as a real employee.
Re:What about the 100 worst places? (Score:3, Informative)
From the linked page:
"Worst Companies in America to Deal With or Work For"
(Emphasis mine.)
Re:What about the 100 worst places? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:What about the 100 worst places? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:not all Google employees (Score:4, Informative)
I work for Google. Sorry, but your post is misinformed.
As far as I've seen, all the contractors, interns, etc. get the same access to the cafes and microkitchens as everyone else. In the middle of the night you'll often see some of the janitors enjoying a game of pool between emptying garbage cans. I have seen bus drivers -- who technically work for the bus company which runs our shuttles -- grabbing dinner in the cafe before going on their route. Some benefits are limited to full-time employees, but I have never heard of a benefit being limited to engineers.
I know many people who went straight from college to Google and I have never heard of this practice. I myself was considered "entry-level" and this did not happen to me. I do know one person who was a contractor before he became full-time, but this certainly isn't the norm.
Obligatory disclaimer: I don't speak for Google. What I write here are my own observations, not official Google policy, and it's possible I am just blissfully unaware of some other side of the company where things work differently.
Re:Small companies is where its at (Score:3, Informative)
Really? I've worked at and gotten offers from both large and small companies, and the large companies always had much better compensation than the small ones. The small ones were always super-cheap, not just about compensation, but about everything else too, like travel costs, equipment purchases, etc.
Re:Intersting that Apple is missing - (Score:3, Informative)
Instructions for applying for next year at http://www.greatplacetowork.com/best/nominations/
Re:Google... (Score:4, Informative)
(I work at Google. I'm not speaking for them in any official capacity, just talking about my experiences here.)
We try pretty hard to make that be not the case. Most development teams are three to six people, specifically to result in projects that are long on individual excellence and short on bureaucracy.
I've never known Google to do any of these things. If someone did decide to do handwriting tests, faux-snake tests, or whathaveyou, I doubt they'd be asked to do any more interviews. I'm not sure I know what you mean by "Google's puzzles and goofy computer personality tests", but it doesn't sound like anything I've ever seen done here.
I (and to my knowledge, all other interviewers here) tend to ask questions that focus on and understanding of fundamental technical concepts, and the ability to reason effectively with that understanding. We try to stay away from technical trivia questions ("Oh yeah, well what's the -m option to mkdir do!?") and rely on questions about the underlying ideas.
Fortunately, not all of Google is in Silicon Valley; we have offices around the world. I'm not in Mountain View myself.
Re:not all Google employees (Score:2, Informative)
I work for google too, sorry, but your post is incorrect. I'm a contractor on a project that has severely limited its temps to access outside of our building. We can't go to any of the cafes, gym, participate in _any_ company wide events, or even have access to the company network. And if we tried, we'll get fired. We've been told this many times.
Funny thing, alot of the permanent people that I know of, were temps before they became permanent. They had red badges for at least 6 months before they got their white badge. Just so you know.
Man, this site is dead on! (Score:4, Informative)
1) if you don't meet sales targets, at your semi-annual review you get a pay cut. No, you don't get commission. You don't get a huge raise if you exceed your sales targets. You just get a pay cut if you miss.
2) Servant mentality. Employees are forbidden from using the store's elevators, escalators, etc. They must exit in the back of the mall, and even when it's dark out there is no security to ensure than employees get to their cars, and they must park in Antartica.
3) Judging from the previous item, you'd think there is no security. No, there is security -- to watch the employees. My wife had to ge a clear purse (really a bag) because she cannot carry in opaque bags. There is security watching them at their counters. They are watched in the stores. They are watched as they exit and enter. And the mall that she works in is in a good part of town.
4) Poor morale. In addition to mistreating employees, Dillards fosters a very competitive spirit among employees. So nobody likes one another.
5) Bad scheduling. My wife took this job because she has limited availability, since I work and we have two children. This leaves just a few evenings that she can work, and as such she was unable to get a job more like she is accustomed to. Well, of course, they scheduled her overnight to do inventory, which was flat out unnacceptable.
6) After about a month, my wife (being the honest, professional person she is) wrote a resignation letter. When she tried to hand it to the manager, he told her he could not accept it and instead she needed to fill out a form. Management proceeded to avoid her for the rest of the day. Needless to say, she never got a form. She made them take her letter. This is how they treat people who try to do the right thing and give notice. She should have just did a no show on a Saturday or something. That would have served them right.
So, while this site is obviously a not-so-reputable one, they are dead right. Dillards is a horrid place to work, and they deserve to go out of business. Hope you enjoyed reading this. It should make you feel *really* good about your job as you sit at your desk sipping a coffee. I know I do.