Google has repeatedly made the list of the best companies to work in the world, but this does not mean that working at Google is perfect. To prove this, let’s see what employees of the Internet giants complain about!
“They can hire the best people, so everyone seems… super good.”
“There are students from the Top 10 Universities who do jobs such as providing technical support for Google’s advertising products, manually removing bad-reported content on YouTube, or writing simple code to test the color effectiveness of interactive buttons on the website.”
“Google only cares about measurable improvements”
“Any improvement, improvement that is not recognized based on the dry formula is not a rational use of time,” a former Google software engineer shared. “Usefulness? Error number? No one cares. If you can’t calculate them, no one will care.”
“No time off”
“Balance between work and life. How is the balance? All privileges and benefits are illusions. They keep you at the office and help you become more productive. I’ve never met a person at Google who really takes a weekend or vacation. You may never hear your boss say you have to work all weekend/holiday, but it’s become the culture.”
“Hard to be honest with colleagues”
“It is very difficult to discuss anything unless it is with your friends,” said one former employee. “Debates about goals are even rarer because everyone is very isolated and doesn’t care about other people’s opinions unless they are very important people.”
“The project is arbitrarily canceled”
“The biggest negative for me so far is that projects can be canceled…at will. Worse, people who work on a project that gets canceled when applying for promotion are often rejected because they don’t leave a good impression,” commented an unnamed employee.
“Many managers are promoted excessively”
“Many people are appointed to management positions not because they really know how to manage, but because they are too smart or there is no other way for them to grow. So there are some really smart individuals who are really bad leaders at Google.”
“Human resources are not diverse enough”
“They hire the same people all the time. Same background, same school, same attitude, same interest. Only a few of them are interesting people.”
“Whatever you do, you have to do it on white paper and black ink”
“If you’re in the process of finding a job at Google, negotiate aggressively, ask for a lot, and make sure it’s all black and white. Google often makes very vague promises and doesn’t keep them.”
“Only tech people feel they can make a difference”
“If you work in a position that is not related to technology or engineering (recruitment, salesperson, etc.), it is easy to feel like you are just a small piece of the machine. A lot of the processes are so good that you’re like you’re too good to do it.”
“Office spaces can be very small”
“If you work in one of the four main zones, you feel like you’re crammed in. Scenes like 3-4 people sharing a table or several managers in the same room are not uncommon. When open areas are set aside for games, food, TV, tech chat… it’s hard to find a quiet, private place to think.”
“Google is so big you won’t leave a mark”
“I worked at Google for three years and the decision to leave was really difficult, but there was one factor that helped me make the decision – the impact I had as an individual was so lackluster.”
“Culture lacks maturity”
“Google is like a dreamland – people never grow up. They drink all day, talk constantly, play games and work very little.”
“You can’t work remotely”
“The downside for me is not being able to work remotely, which I’ve been doing really well for the past five to six years.”
