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Geek Paradise, Management Issues

Staff Software Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at Google for less than 1 year
June 12, 2008
Burbank, California
5.0
RecommendsApproves of CEO
Pros

Getting a chance to work on the world's largest distributed system.

Obviously, the company is very focused on employee satisfaction. It's a total geek paradise, with everyone trying to out-geek each other.

Cons

A very flat management structure is a double-edged sword, with all the good and bad you can imagine.

Google also has a problem getting rid of the people who shouldn't be there, although it is getting better at it.

The "geek paradise" can result in people doing things just to prove they are smart.

The biggest complaint I've heard from people is that code reviews get held up because you didn't use some clever idea that some reviewer comes up with during the review.

Advice to Management

Honestly, I'm just in awe of how well senior management is executing. They aren't perfect, but I can't think of a company I've been at where they were doing a better job.

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