Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech
https://www.wired.com/story/inside-google-three-y…
This is a pretty long read, but after reading the full article, I think we need to be concerned with the future of the company. Every company is diverse, but I've never heard of companies literally killing off strategic initiatives due to protesting by its employee base. What's next, employees protesting Cloud because of privacy issues?
It looks like Google was destined to rot from within from the very beginning. Can Silicon Valley survive if they try to marry capitalism with social justice? Too idealistic?
> Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the former Montessori kids who founded Google as Stanford grad students in the late '90s, had designed their company's famously open culture to facilitate free thinking. Employees were “obligated to dissent” if they saw something they disagreed with, and they were encouraged to “bring their whole selves” to work rather than check their politics and personal lives at the door.
I think Bridgewater does something similar and they definitely have a unique workforce to say the least. But still, the CEO is the CEO and if you are changing the direction of the long term future of the company based on protests, the company is not going to survive. Google had to sell Boston Dynamics because of the gov't link. Imagine if they still had it in their portfolio, the company would be so much stronger than it is now
From the article, the problem seems to stem from Google moving away from their "obligation to dissent" as opposed to "rotting away from the beginning."
Correct, the issue is that it's an echo chamber.
Every successful company has a strong culture, but big tech is a unique breed.
I used to work at a FAANG firm. The culture there was non-stop liberal virtue signaling. Employees constantly talked about politics at work, made jokes bashing Republicans (and obviously Trump), and discussions frequently veered off into whether a project was targeting the "right" demographics. Most of the people were unpleasant to work with, as they saw themselves as morally superior to those who disagreed with them. Could not be happier that I left.
On an unrelated note to MBA students: DO NOT work at FAANG.
Well the biggest reason MBAs shouldn't work at FAANGs is because developers run the company. MBAs will never be in a position to make decisions at FAANG. Also they are pretty expendable, as shown with what happened at Amazon a couple years back
Pretty sure people in product run things..
Correct. I did not want to get into a long discussion in this thread since that is a bit off topic. But here are my thoughts in a nutshell.
As you said, FAANG is run by the software engineers. MBAs with technical background can have influence as product managers, but that is dependent on the role and group. But even within FAANG, there is variance. FB+Google are extremely developer centric while Amazon+Microsoft+Apple is where MBAs can have more influence in shaping projects. A good example is the corporate development team at Amazon, which is quite important, as it does not report to any engineering team and is responsible for all acquisitions.
FAANG comp has limited upside compared to banking/PE/consulting. The engineers are the ones who make insane amounts of money, not the MBAs.
You don't acquire transferable skillset. You work on a narrow product/feature and become a micromanager. Or if you are in finance or marketing, you may get to manage a P&L or a marketing project, but you certainly don't get the comprehensive exposure that you would in banking/consulting.
Agree
it is always difficult for business grads to figure out really what to do at tech companies.
Only so many product manager / corp dev roles around.
It is called Silicon Valley for a reason.
If you're that concerned about discrimination about your political views, couldn't you always just not express them in the office? All of this noise is just a manufactured distraction to cover up the more alarming issue: There is a very real risk that Google's advances in AI will lead to Skynet!
But look at our smile.
Come on, who loves ya baby?
Read the article. It's quite good, IMO.
Google had a culture in which they supported you bringing your political views, as well as your other personal viewpoints, to work and explicitly expressing them. This worked...until it didn't.
Same thing happened with Skynet, Irobot, Westworld, 2001 a Space Odyssey, the Matrix... the list just keeps going... There is so much historical precedent, that it's just flat out disturbing that Google isn't treading more carefully.
I read that two days ago and thought it was one of the more interesting articles I've read lately.
I have the opposite takeway though. If anything, the article talks about how Google is making a harder press toward the bottom line and away from left-leaning politics.
ok
Eum velit quibusdam enim voluptatum ut quas consequatur. Aut natus ea in est veniam id quia. Rerum repellat quod eaque vel perferendis et nemo.
Voluptatem repellendus perspiciatis quis dignissimos aut molestiae repudiandae ab. Iste aut quam sed consequatur beatae ea. Aut non nostrum officiis ut. Et quis dolorem illum est et delectus.
Necessitatibus et nesciunt non soluta sunt laboriosam. Ipsam impedit vel vitae non. Veniam quia ut sint harum reprehenderit. Et reiciendis dolor in adipisci corporis.
Consequuntur praesentium expedita facilis aut ullam nobis nulla. Voluptatem ea numquam nobis similique dolor est et. Ut sunt doloremque voluptatum consequatur. Dolor exercitationem quasi dolores non at.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...