I had a few minutes today to read
Life at Google - The Microsoftie Perspective Life at Google - The Microsoftie Perspective. It was quite an interesting read that makes me really wonder about how Google really operates and where Google may be going.
There are a few things that sound great. Free clothes that you can just pick up a couple times a week. How nice would it be to know that instead of doing laundry on Tuesday you could count on just picking up a new shirt when you got to work? Also 3 free all you can eat meals are provided every day. This sounds wonderful because of the time and money it would save me in buying and preparing food. The even go as far as to provide on-site health care. Based on this I am thinking where can I sign up. Throw me a job and I can start five minutes ago.
Unfortunately with every great benefit there is a cost. The typical employee is on e-mail 24 hours a day, and seven days a week, and spend most of there evenings working from home. As a father this would kill me. I have to have the time that I can dedicate to my child or I am lost. Beyond that I have to give myself time to recharge to continue to produce the best results I can while I am working.
Another problem I see is that there is no plan for career development. You can earn more money and get a better title but that is all that changes. At some point there needs to be an option to move up into new responsibilities and challenges or employees will become complacent and after time innovation will grind to a halt because everyone will be set into doing what they do and not trying to learn and expand into new abilities.
Overall as I see it now Google is a great place to start a career. Out of college get a start there, but once you have all you can get on your resume it is time to move on. Move into something that will allow you to continue to grow as a person both in your career and out of it. True happiness comes from a full and balanced life, not from a life dedicated to only one task.
Labels: Google