Living the Good Life, Leaving Google Behind

inetsee writes with an article in the San Francisco Chronicle profiling seven early Googlers who have left the company, part of a cohort the article claims amounts to 100 out of the first 300 workers hired by Google. For these former employees, all the acclaimed perks of life at the Googleplex can't compete with calling the shots in their own lives. Google's chef is opening his own restaurant, Olana Khan has started a non-profit that makes micro-loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries, and Aydin Senkut has become an angel investor. Others are simply enjoying retirement, making things in the garage shop or skydiving in South Africa.

Re:People getting tired and moving on

[Rob T Firefly]

This just in - the same seems to be true of successful retired employees of McDonalds, Saks 5th Avenue, K-Mart, the Long Island Railroad, AT&T, Mel's Diner, NASA, Frito-Lay, Ford, Mad Magazine, Slappy's Bait Shop, Paramount Pictures, Goya, the NSA, and Roy's Gerbil Grooming.

In the meantime...

[Piroca]

I've done about 10 interviews with them, they went OK (although they don't really seem to know what they are doing in their hiring process...) but after the "on-site" interviews 2 months ago they simply forgot to get back to me with feedback. I imagine this happens with a lot of people, they spend several months being interviewed with google and getting this sucky treatment. Google deals with the hiring process as an investment, and as it seems, so do the job applicants. Part of the people that get actually hired will spend some time in the company and get away for a "promotion" in another company just because they've worked for Google, partially motivated by the way the company dealt with them since the beginning.

The advertising market didn't collapse per se

[Rogerborg]

Big companies spend about 15% of their budget on advertising, because that's what advertising consultants tell them that they need to spend. That hasn't changed. What happened was that they stopped spending too much of it on untargetted advertising. Google lets them spend it on targetted ads, which even if they don't get clickthroughs still buys them brand awareness among potential customers. Google does this very well indeed, and the question that you should be asking is: how does any other ad-supported service stay in business.

Re:Unemployment?

[FLEB]

Part of it is that they're not just posting adverts on their own sites, they're also posting ads on services and acting as an ad broker posting ads on other peoples' sites, with a simple, rather unobtrusive, and relevant method to boot. To compare them to past (Web 1.0?) companies, they're not just Yahoo!, they're DoubleClick as well. There are also other sources like licensing their search system to a number of other players (which I suppose makes them a bit "Inktomi" as well).

Even then, I agree that it's a bit odd that they're as high afloat as they are right now, but I think that if things start going sour, they do have respectable and consistently innovative search technologies that they could apply to any number of pay-for products or services (kind of like pre-AOL Netscape did, although not that well, when the browser wars made their flagship browser go freeware-- selling server software and other such things on the reputation of their free products).

Re:100 out of 300 in 6 years, not that bad actuall

[pubjames]

Me too. I thank the Lord that Andersen Consulting rejected me - several years later I met a couple of the guys that did get in and they were both depressed and on the verge of leaving. Some of their friends at the company had even had breakdowns.

Re:Do you want to work for Google?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's funny, I work for Google and work exactly 40-hour weeks. Not all of those 40 hours are spent working, either. My manager doesn't expect any more out of me. I have quite a good life and walk my dog all the time.

Try not to generalize so much. You simply make a fool of yourself.

Re:Unemployment?

[Short Circuit]

So far Google has been known to PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS - they are very much interested in supporting standards and the like. They have been supporting Linux even for apps like google earth and the like. This is the primary difference between Google and Microsoft to my mind. May it last forever.

I'd like to point out that Google doesn't compete with Linux, or even Windows, for that matter. They compete with search engines and office software developers.

Re:Do you want to work for Google?

[Anonymous Coward]

As someone who's worked for Google Mountain View for awhile, my experience couldn't be less like what you're describing.

how many couples walking on the sidewalks do you see? or people walking their dogs?

Quite a large number, generally while my wife and I are out walking our dog.

if you have a family and they are first in your life above anything else(including work), want to save and not throw money away on outrageous housing costs and want privacy without having to drive one hour one way to work then google is not the place for you even if you could get a job there.

Actually, I'm married, consider my family more important than my job, am saving for a house (and in the meantime paying barely more than I did the last place I lived), and bike to work in about 15 minutes, or drive in ten.

more people are figuring out that they dont want to work 50 or 60 hours a week because they want to do other things, stay healthy and just have a life outside of work.

Sounds like me. I only work about 40 hours a week. I'm in the office a few hours more than that, but take away mealtimes and it's right about 40.

In google's case there are enough people that want to work for them that have the mindset that google is their life and that is why google provides things like laundromats, bringing your pets to work, 3 gourmet meals and swimming pools. if people just wanted to go home for lunch and promptly go home after 5 or 6 pm then what would the need be to offer all these ameneties? think about that one for a moment.

Maybe the reason is that for those of us who occasionally have something unusual come up, it's really wonderful that the company does what it can to help out. Emergency childcare when your normal provider suddenly becomes unavailable? Got it covered. Washer and dryer break down? No problem. Want to actually see your dog during the day for once instead of leaving him at home? Sure.

I don't feel any need to stay at work extra hours because taking advantage of more perks would let me do so -- rather, if I find I _need_ to take care of something else while at work, the perks are conveniently present.

I know that they have offices in NYC and Seattle

And many, many other locations...

heavy traffic, no privacy(unless you want to drive 1 hour one way to work), up to the sky housing costs and taxes and living in a culture where everyone wants to work their whole life and thus they think their employees should have the same attitude. Trying to not to sound too stereotypical i am sure there are other smaller places in these areas that at least offer stable working conditions.

Trying not to sound too stereotypical, I think you're overgeneralizing and are basically smoking crack. You can find people who care for nothing but work and people who have other priorities in life in every place you go, and large numbers of each. And in Seattle and Mountain View both (sorry, never been to New York), there are plenty of places to get away, and there's plenty of privacy even in the midst of bustle, unless of course your definition of privacy is "on the side of a mountain three miles off the grid", in which case Google isn't the only company you might have to drive an hour to work for.

Re:Worst Day Fishing better than Best Day Working

[RESPAWN]

As Robert Mondavi once said: "Find a job that you love and you'll never work a day in your life."

You don't know what you're talking about

[Wee]

Google gives engineers amenities like laundry and dental and meals primarily because it frees the engineer from having to worry about dry cleaning or letting the dog out. Instead of "Gosh, I have to run this errand and that errand today", they can occupy themselves with doing cool stuff. We don't have to worry about getting to the barber on time, because they're right downstairs. I need something dry cleaned, I drop it off, and then it gets delivered to my cube. I don't have to think about any of that nonsense, and so can do more with my time.

As far as working hours, I put in 40-50 hours per week, and that is as much as I'm expected to do. I've worked longer than that on occasion, but it was special circumstances. Sometimes I get in the groove and stay until 9pm or whatever, but that's my choice. I *want* to do that. And you know what? I don't have to worry about missing dinnner. I have no problem putting in whatever time is needed to get my job done -- and that's all you have to do. Nobody expects you to work yourself to the point of burnout.

I also have no trouble walking the dog. I live 5 miles from work, and there's a park right behind me. My neighborhood is probably 85% families, and there is a near-constant flow of pedestrians. The wife and I are walking distance to a grocery store, a nice pub, some restaurants, etc. It's a little sleepy for some types, but it suits us more than living in the big city. There are four gas stations within 2 miles of my house. Housing prices are not all that much more than they were in San Diego. Sure, it's way more than like in Nebraska or someplace, but then again so are the wages. There are also a lot more job prospects out here if I ever decide to move on and find something new.

Have you been to silicon valley? Do you know anyone who works at Google? Because it sure sounds like you really have no idea what you're talking about.

-B