thanks. I also know people who work at Google who are hired straight of college just like described in the article. Can you or anyone provide us with
1. actual % of people in different age group working at google.
2. Please let me know what department you are working in. That might provide some insights.
Occasional Perks is great. However, if the company rely on that to retain its' employees than something rotten.
Google is just a new IBM, Dupon of our time.
I have heard that google will pay employee's family member $2000 every month after their death for 10, 20 years. I think that is great way to make people have great programming skills to stay with the company even if they are not doing anything exciting or creating values for humanities.
Even if I had the hard data, I doubt I would be at liberty to disclose them. I work on both infrastructure and on consumer facing apps stuff (like gmail). My role working on the GWT compiler means I interact with dozens of other product teams, so I have a pretty good idea of the average age of people I have to sit in meetings with.
Google used to be a youngish company with a low median average age, I'd say that started to change even as far back as 2005. The demographics of the company are greying.
I don't really stay at Google because of the food or other benefits, I stay because of the people, culture, and products. If it ever becomes a shitty place to work on those grounds, then a startup will start to look much better. Many Googlers have in fact encountered shitty politics within their particular area and left the company eventually.
That is, the idea that Google is not an interesting place to work, but a shitty workplace that needs to "bribe" people to stay because it's so rotten is so far from reality is hilarious. I think Google could drop a lot of the perks tomorrow, and there's be some disgruntled #firstworldproblems people whining, but they'd ultimately stay. As I mentioned and was quoted in this TechCrunch article (http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/25/sugar-water/) a lot of the problems that startups "solve" in the Valley are utterly trivial, and if you really want to work on stuff like flying stratospheric balloons, or grand mega-AIs, or whatever Jeff Dean is cooking up next, there aren't many places outside of academia you can flee to.
The perks by and large serve to keep employees happy and undistracted. Happy employees equals happy culture equals higher propensity to work together collaboratively instead of being shit balls to your co-workers because you don't have good healthcare, or must commute outside the office to get crappy subway sandwiches every day.
If you don't think Google is doing anything exciting, or creating value for humanities, than pray-tell, what company in this area that doesn't have great perks, is doing better in those categories?
1. actual % of people in different age group working at google.
2. Please let me know what department you are working in. That might provide some insights.
Occasional Perks is great. However, if the company rely on that to retain its' employees than something rotten.
Google is just a new IBM, Dupon of our time.
I have heard that google will pay employee's family member $2000 every month after their death for 10, 20 years. I think that is great way to make people have great programming skills to stay with the company even if they are not doing anything exciting or creating values for humanities.