www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Google-Reviews-E9079.htm?reviewId=2382&reviewText=Featured+Review#pageHead
Hide Details Career Opportunities 35 Satisfied Communication 39 Satisfied Compensation & Benefits 41 Very Satisfied! Recognition & Feedback 35 Satisfied Senior Leadership 38 Satisfied Work/Life Balance 40 Satisfied Fairness & Respect 35 Satisfied "Do you approve of the way this person is handling the job of leading this company?" Google operates the leading Internet search engine, offering targeted search results from billions of Web pages. Results are based on a proprietary algorithm -- Google's technology for ranking Web pages is called PageRank. The company generates nearly all of its revenue through ad sales. Advertisers can deliver relevant ads targeted to search queries or Web content. Google also operates the Google Network, a network of third party customers that use Google's advertising programs to deliver relevant ads to their own Web sites. Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page each have nearly 30% voting control of the company.
Google fosters a college or academic feel where you never need to leave the campus in order to find sustenance or a respite from the daily grind. Google-colored Swiss balls (those bouncy orbs you see freakishly fit people doing sit-ups on in infomercials) invade the office cubicles and give the workspace a much more play-pen sort of feel. To bolster the dorm room ambiance, Google also supplies pinball machines; Foam darts are passed out for 'dart wars' during especially hectic times, and silently encourage the employees to roll away from their ergonomically arranged desks to fling projectiles at unsuspecting coworkers. If the alcohol upsets your stomach and a retreat to a bathroom is what you crave, fear not! In addition to having showers in almost every building, Google boasts toilets with heated seats, built-in bidets, and dryers for those who prefer to relieve themselves in a more "green" fashion." Cons: "If you enjoy your individuality and time alone, Google is not the place for you (keep in mind I'm not an engineer). Google pushes a highly "googley" atmosphere, which is something akin to what the Brady Bunch would be like if they lived in communist Russia. Everything from the carpet to the bathroom tiles incorporate the Google colors into its design. People are encouraged to have googley attitudes, wear plastic smiles, and not to question the infallible nature of the executive management group. If you like feeling awkward during forced group activity, Google is your haven. It isn't exactly "forced" (no guns), but if you don't participate you become labeled as "ungoogley." Once deemed "ungoogley", you're practically viewed as a rotten apple that threatens to spoil the bunch. If you can endure and appreciate the googley atmosphere, you might also enjoy Google's uncanny ability to clot information within the hierarchy. Very little is shared throughout the company because from the moment you're hired, secrecy is revered. But to be honest, most of those who read this review won't even be able to get a job there. Whether you're right out of college or are putting your kids through college, your academic standing will be asked about, your transcripts required. If you went to Podunk U, your chances are worse than the rumored 1% of applicants. I'm not saying that high standards aren't important, but Google discriminates against creative and diverse applicants by employing such arbitrary standards. probably not the best way to understand what the masses want." just because you struck it rich with AdWords does not mean whatever you create will be tech gold. unless you are calling Google's mergers and acquisitions innovative (just because Google owns YouTube does not mean you can take credit for the innovation). You aren't above traditional marketing, and when the AdWords profits stagnate, you'll change your tune.
Hide Details Career Opportunities 15 Communication 15 Compensation & Benefits 40 Employee Morale 15 Recognition & Feedback 10 Senior Leadership 50 Work/Life Balance 30 Fairness & Respect 10 Jun 16, 2008 "Google is deteriorating at the edges" Senior Software Engineer in Santa Monica, CA -- Current Employee Pros: "You interact with great developers, original thinkers and interesting people all the time. Unlimited munchies are great, three free meals a day (or two in satellite offices) is great, medical benefits, partial subsidy of fitness membership, subsidy for ongoing education (though in reality you are unlikely to have time to use it) are all pluses. Being on the winning team feels good, especially when winning an uphill battle against an entrenched monopolist." Cons: "The days when Google was the coolest place in the world to work are gone. Many managers at Google got their jobs just by having low employee numbers and are otherwise unqualified. Once entrenched they tend to show little concern for their reports, concerning themselves with "managing up" to their own manager. Google is supposed to have a project matrix where tech leads are peers, not managers, but managers commonly flout this and micromanaging is endemic. Moving between projects is limited by complex procedures and is rarely attempted. In satellite offices the selection of projects to work on is limited and to make matters worse it is discouraged for engineers to work on projects not centered in their own offices. Being friends with your manager is a more effective way to get promoted than showing competence. In fact, showing too much competence or initiative is a good way to earn the ire of your manager. Performance evaluation is supposed to be by peer review but in reality, feedback from peers is ignored and only the manager's rating is taken seriously. Political infighting and character assassination are increasingly the norm at Google. Managers turn a blind eye to it, perhaps because they have found such techniques useful in developing their own careers. Google base compensation is on the low side, and is supposed to be more than made up for by incentive bonuses, but these are largely illusionary because few employees receive the necessary "exceeds expectations" performance evaluation. Managers at Google tend to consider themselves special people, better than engineers. Few will bother to greet or otherwise acknowledge the existence of anybody other than another manager if they pass them in the hall. Except for the weekly TGIF cross-company sessions where the founders candidly answer questions from all employees, management at Google is increasingly secretive about procedures and plans." Advice to Senior Management: "Google engineers tend to be first rate but managed by unqualified, self-obsessed managers who were promoted into their positions just by being in the right place at the right time. This cannot possibly be optimal for Google's long term growth. Stop listening to the voices of managers telling you what a great job they are doing, because their main skill is self promotion. They don't care about the welfare of the company or their reports, only about themselves. From their point of view the system is working well because they are free to do as they please. The situation has already deteriorated to the point where many of the best engineers plan to leave as soon as their initial stock awards finish vesting. Google is increasingly becoming a great place to be an intern, and that is about it." arrow-rt View and Add Comments arrow-dn Hide Comments share this Share This Review Employee Satisfaction Rating: 50 Very Satisfied!
Hide Details Career Opportunities 50 Communication 50 Compensation & Benefits 50 Employee Morale 50 Recognition & Feedback 35 Senior Leadership 30 Work/Life Balance 40 Fairness & Respect 45 Jun 11, 2008 "Still the best experience of my life" Engineering Project Manager in Mountain View, CA -- Past Employee (2008) Pros: "In my opionion, Google is truly the best large company to work for. The people were just as googley, the environment was just as comfortable. I have never felt so taken care of by an employer nor felt an employer go out of its way to make work easy for its employees. From the ease of dealing with the tech stop (our version of technical support), to the overhaul of the mini kitchens to ...
|
http://csua.com/feed/