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16-01-2008 6:25pm#1
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I'd have reservations about working for Google. The people I know who work there tend to be insufferable smug know-it-alls. There's a strong geek culture there, which can be very irritating to be around if you don't buy into it. As I mentioned in another post a few years ago, the cliques in my college 10 years ago and who were perceived as being weird, nerdy, smarter-than-thou have now started to coalesce in Google. I've seen people who work in Google post on their blogs that they consider their colleagues to be 'intimidatingly smart', which to me speaks volumes about the manner in which a lot of people in Google act.
I just finished reading a really good book on the history of Google (The Google Story, David Vise). The beginning of the book goes into detail about Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Although they're gifted and intelligent, to be honest, in lots of ways they don't come across as particularly likeable. Their personalities are often encountered in Computer Science (and I should know, I'm doing a PhD in Computer Science). Bright, but obnoxious, constantly playing petty intellectual games to establish their superiority, lacking in mainstream social skills, abrasive, irritating personalities.
Of course, it's horses for courses, and some people would relish being in the Google environment. I wouldn't. Brin and Page themselves even admit that each thought the other was obnoxious when they first met. Great company, fantastic products, but by golly, I wouldn't want to work there: it's a company founded by people who embody all that which I find to be aggravating about working in computers/IT/software, and which attracts herds of misanthropic geek-sheep.
The OP is only looking for a temp position though, so this is kind of academic.
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I had 4 interviews each an hour long and I still didn't get the job
And thats not mentioning the telephone interviews I had to do before even stepping on site.
What can I say...when your good your good! Only joking!
My interviews were pretty hard. Ever answer i gave didn't seem to be enough, they always wanted more. I eventually I had to say "and then nothing, i can't elaborate anymore".0 -
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Dublindude and newestUser, I note your points with interest. But wouldn't it depend on the department though? Sorry to stereotype but I get the impression you're talking about people who work in engineering, IT, etc.
As for there being a strong "geek culture" well all I can say is... SOLD!!
/heads off to update CV
It would of course depend on the department. And, I'm painting with broad strokes, thousands of people work for Google. *Some* of them must be sound! However, it's a company which has a very strong corporate culture/identity, and while it's not your traditional corporation, people who work there do seem to share lots of similarities. To put it in an extremely blunt (and, I admit, unfair and harsh manner, but I haven’t got all night) they're geeks.
Bear in mind though, that when I say 'geek' I don't mean 'boards.ie geek'. Most of the posters on boards.ie are not typical of the people who work at google. The people on this site, however, are:
www.linux.ie
I know for a fact that many of the contributors to that site are working/have worked with google. You want to get a feel for Google culture (especially in Ireland) it's as good a place as any to go on the web.
I also wouldn't be so quick to think that the geek culture in Google is a good thing. It's quite possibly a *very* different kind of geekiness than you've ever encountered. It's not your average Joe-Bloggs-World-Of-Warcraft-Trenchcoat-Mafia-Sci-Fi geekiness. It's different - it's hard to explain unless you've been around it.
At the back of that book I read, 'The Google Story', there's an appendix called the 'Google Labs Aptitude Test'. It's some kind of standardised test that Google (jokingly maybe, I dunno) put up on their site in 2004. If people wanted to work with them, they had to answer the questions on test, and send their answers in with their applications. I'm not sure if this was meant to be tongue in cheek, but I think that the kinds of questions that the test asks are a good representation of what kind of interests and aptitudes Google wants it's people to have. For example:
'Write a haiku describing possible methods for predicting search traffic seasonality'.
'What's broken with Unix? How would you fix it?'
'How many different ways can you color an icosahedron with one of three colors on each face?'
'In your opinion, what is the most beautiful math equation ever derived?'
'On an infinite, two-dimensional, rectangular lattice of 1-ohm resistors, what is the resistance between two nodes that are a knight's move away?'
'Tis known in refined company, that choosing K things out of N can be done in ways as choosing N minus K from N: I pick K, you the remaining. Find through a cooler bijection, where you show a knack uncanny, of making your choices contain all K of mine. Oh, for pedantry: let K be no more than half N.'
Google geeks and computer scientists love these kinds of problems. They obsess over them. They rate, and rank, and judge, and bitch about each other, based on each others abilities at solving these problems. It doesn’t matter whether or not these problems are essential to doing their work, or whether they’re ‘just for fun’. Having the kind of mind that is good at solving these problems is important. Most people would consider this to be a narrow minded fashion in which to judge people. Computer geeks don’t however. And if you’re not okay with this (and lots of people aren’t) Google might not be for you.
The point I’m labouring is that when you describe someone as a geek on boards, you’ll generally get people thinking of a kind of fan-boy character (eg into video games, science fiction, weird bands, funky books/films). This is a million miles away from what a computer scientist is, and what a lot of people in Google seem to be like. Most of the people in forbidden planet/games workshop/GAME/Tower records (that last one is a bit of a stretch) couldn’t give a f*ck about the kind of problems in the GLAT. Don’t confuse them with Googlers. Googlers are special, a breed apart amongst geeks. Why do you think they need so many rounds of tests and interviews to establish if you’re one of them or not?
And I know this really only applies to engineering/techie heads, but this attitude/atmosphere might ‘spread’ to non-technical departments. Even still though, I accept this mightn’t be a bad thing for lots of people. The sick b*stards. 0 -
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PeakOutput wrote: »i hope to work for google at some stage. i have no problem with intimidatingly intelligent people, in fact i quite enjoy speaking with people who are clearly smarter than me, but i cannot stand what sounds like elitism in some of these same people.
eg. in college i do a course that involves computers and happens to be in the computer science dept but it dosnt really require any knowledge of how the things work. a friend of mine got a mac and wasnt sure how to install programmes on it and asked the head of the computer soc to show him how to install something(as the guy was sitting there with his own mac on his lap flicking threw i-tunes) his responce was "ehhh no your in a computer course you should know that already". i almost lost the rag but stopped myself at you arrogant cnut
I would judge the head of the computers soc's behaviour to be quite typical of a lot of 'power users' in computing circles. Guess where a lot of these power users end up working? Give me a G, give me an O, give me another O, ....
Techies can be quite ruthless in establishing their Alpha-Geek credentials, and asserting their rank in the geek pack. Sorry buddy, your mistake was you asked another techie a techie question. Dumb move.
Of course, not all techies are like this. Just the w@nkers. You'll get them in some flavour or other whatever industry you work in.0 -
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newestUser wrote: »Their personalities are often encountered in Computer Science (and I should know, I'm doing a PhD in Computer Science). Bright, but obnoxious, constantly playing petty intellectual games to establish their superiority, lacking in mainstream social skills, abrasive, irritating personalities.
Well summed-up-I've met many of these people in the IT game0 -
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Hee hee, brilliant post newestUser!
So would they be like, maybe, Comic Book Guy? Yeah he's into the usual Star Trek/superheroes/sci fi/Dungeons & Dragons stuff but he's also exceptionally unpleasant and arrogant - and would obsess over mathematical problems and feel smug about the fact that he knows this **** and most people don't.
I'm loathe to answer this question, because I've never worked in Google myself, and it's been years since I've had anything to do with any of the people who I know work in Google. So I'm borderline talking out of my back passage when I talk about Google culture (you will not make me admit I am totally talking out of my back passage on this subject! Never!). And, despite often finding the stereotype I'm describing really irritating, there's a lot I admire about Google and the people who work there. It's just not for me.
Anyway, back to speculation and generalisation. I don't think that Comic Book Guy is an accurate representation of Computer Science/techie geeks because comics wouldn't be intellectually demanding enough to form a cornerstone of their identity. Lots of techie nerds like comics, sure, but out of what you said, I'd say this would be the strongest attribute I'd assert with this class of person:he's also exceptionally unpleasant and arrogant - and would obsess over mathematical problems and feel smug about the fact that he knows this **** and most people don't.
Oh yeah, that's right on the money. 0 -
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I work around the corner from Google HQ on Barrow St and all I'll say is that place is full of good looking girls Just thought I'd mention that! Remember reading on boards a few years ago about people going for Tech Support jobs with google having to go through 10 interviews :eek: Madness. 0
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gerrowadat wrote: »As for the number of interviews, 2 phonescreens, and then a half-day of between 2 and 5 interviews is normal, not just for Google, but for any IT job with a multinational. The days of walking into a job after a one-hour chat with a HR droid and a techie are gone, at least in any place you want to work with quality co-workers.
That's so not true. I've worked for a lot of the tech multinationals in Dublin (including Oracle, Microsoft, AOL, Sage and more) and none of them do anything more than two interviews.
I have no doubt there are lovely folk in Google, but the fact that the nastiest weirdest people I've ever worked with now work for Google... I'd never work there (and I would be a very sociable person with very strong tech skills!)
Thanks for he post though. I was hoping someone from Google would come along.0 -
You see, the reason I am having a hard time buying your "we're all lovely" argument is because those two lads I worked with are very clearly unpleasant weirdos. You notice it instantly.
I don't normally dislike people, but these two... there was something seriously wrong with them. So smug and nasty and just ****ing weird.
So if they slipped through the interview process, I would be of the belief many others like them have also gotten jobs there.
Sorry if I'm sounding very critical.
EDIT: Something I discovered later: they were actually friends (although I worked with each individual in a different company.) This again makes me think they (Google nerds) are hiring the kind of people they like/are similar to.
EDIT2: I should probably leave this conversation!! So yeah, that's my opinion on Google anyway...
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gerrowadat wrote: »- We don't target loners/workaholics. Quite the opposite. It's true that a certain proportion of techies are loners, do a lot of work, have social issues, but are gifted, great engineers. You have these at any place. What we miss out on are the folks who aren't great with people, and who aren't very good technically either, of which there are many.
Didn't Google's Dublin offices recently (in the last 2/3 years) run newspaper ads looking for senior engineer/project leader staff, where they described their ideal candidate as someone who was so into their work that other people thought of them as being 'driven by demons'? 0 -
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dublindude wrote: »You see, the reason I am having a hard time buying your "we're all lovely" argument is because those two lads I worked with are very clearly unpleasant weirdos. You notice it instantly.
I don't normally dislike people, but these two... there was something seriously wrong with them. So smug and nasty and just ****ing weird.
So if they slipped through the interview process, I would be of the belief many others like them have also gotten jobs there.
Sorry if I'm sounding very critical.
EDIT: Something I discovered later: they were actually friends (although I worked with each individual in a different company.) This again makes me think they (Google nerds) are hiring the kind of people they like/are similar to.
EDIT2: I should probably leave this conversation!! So yeah, that's my opinion on Google anyway...
So because the two people who were smug and nasty that you knew got jobs in Google your tarring everyone in there with the same brush?
You get knobs in every job.0 -
Dublindude and newestuser - you don't work for Microsoft or Yahoo, do you?
One of the ex-colleagues works in Google (as a developer) now, and he's a lovely bloke.
That said, I'm sure a combination of the 1.0 culture (and the perks) and some geeks could make for some unpleasant individuals. Maybe they're the ones you occasionally see on the Dart with their jackets.. 0 -
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Dublindude and newestuser - you don't work for Microsoft or Yahoo, do you?
I used to work for Microsoft
To be fair I'll give my opinion of that place too...
Very few technical people (I would go as far as the place being full of very "average" people, at best), but the majority of people were fairly sound.
High technical skills = more likely to be a freak?0 -
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