Google reviews

The days when Google was the coolest place in the world to work are gone. Google is deteriorating at the edges. 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.

You do not get all the perks. For example, team off-sites. It does suck when your colleagues are raving about how they really bonded during the team's off-site, and you can't really relate. Sense of connecting is really important at a work place, and sense you are restricted from having that even if your work excels your peers can't fully scope it because the lack of connection. You don't get all the knowledge. You are blocked from participating in Grow classes that the rest of your team gets. If you want to compete you must go out of your way and pay for classes, that your team members (sometimes) get for free. They are constantly learning and growing with ease and accessibility. While you're juggling to keep up, while being financially stable in this ridiculously economy. You do learn from your colleagues. Well, the nice ones but (yes, even at Google) there are mean and very mean people. Even management is mean. Not everyone at Google is Googley (that's a fact). Especially, once they see your red badge. Once they see red it is like the respect is gone. Some do treat TVCs as though they are slaves whose knowledge is mediocre and opinions don't matter. From my experience thus far, Google consist of 15% genuinely nice, 20% nice, 35% mean, and 30% really mean people. Oh, and the majority of the 15% are TVCs. My experience: You work your butt off and are doing the same work as your full-time teammates for below market pay with very little to sometimes no recognition. Your opinions do not matter. They only bought you on to do the hard slave labor.