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Scale, But No Innovation

Software Engineer
Former Employee
Worked at Google for 6 years
January 31, 2023
Mountain View, California
2.0
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookDoesn't Approve of CEO
Pros

You get to work on problems at a huge scale. The company is so big and moving around is so easy that you can practically do anything you want.

Cons

Google used to be a place of innovation and experimentation. People were encouraged to hack on things, create side projects, and propose projects. Now, upper management wants everyone in "alignment". If you create a side project that benefits thousands of people internally, saves the company money, or fixes longstanding bugs, you get a gentle pat on the back and zero credit at performance review time. I was laid off without warning. People still at the company will join me for lunch, but are so afraid of being fired that they won't even sign me in to let me pick my things up from my desk. About "diversity & inclusion", when you have career events for people based on the way they look, that's called "exclusion".

Advice to Management

The CEO, Sundar, taking responsibility for bad decisions, would be resigning, along with other executives who participated, not firing 12,000 people. You must have enough money. Do you really need more?

Additional Ratings

Work/Life Balance
4.0
Culture and Values
1.0
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
1.0
Career Opportunities
4.0
Compensation and Benefits
5.0
Senior Management
1.0

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