Letters to the Editor
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Work/Life Balance
Google was like all the other startups, only they had money and were lucky. I've bounced around the periphery of their crew for years and years. For the first few years, they seemed to work people 24/7 with a promise of big riches, like everyone else. They were very, very lucky. Lots of those folks did get money. One thing I found disturbing was that, as time went on, the option packages got smaller and the prices got higher. I did some math and calculated someone had to work 24/7 for 5 years to get about 100K. That didn't seem worth it. Another was that a lot of people got chewed up and spit out, like Brian Reid.
I went in to talk to them just before they went public and heard about all of these concierge services and free meals. They also said "no telecommuting" from my home an hour away. I won't talk about how they ran the place or their projects because I may have signed an NDA. So, I only brush on the culture, not the projects. I did not get in and was, quite frankly, relieved. In retrospect, I may have gotten about 60-80K from those options after the requisite years (making guesses on what I heard the offers were at the time.) My own time is worth more than that.
Now, they've wised up and have started offering jobs to people over 40. I get the impression the culture's changed for the better in some ways, but I still think it is way too homogenous and self-congratulatory. I cannot think of the Groucho Marx quote about clubs that would have him as a member, but you get the idea.
I'm very happy to be working in a company that is so diverse as to have people ranging from their late teens to their mid-70s and are very diverse in their outlook on life. I also have a normal work schedule (unless there's a big release), which allows me to do volunteer work to benefit my community.
I view free meals as one of nature's warning signs when it comes to employers. They're compensating for something.