Google Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Google

Pros – - available food onsite
- very competitive salary
- good bonuses
- variety of projects
- clear communication w/ management
- smart people working there

Cons – - traffic in the morning around the main campus
- no "start-up" feeling any more - lot's of people, lot's of projects

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Google

Pros – See your company and maybe your work in the headlines.
Work with some of the best and brightest co-workers in the world.
Work with applications that millions of people use and enjoy.
Great food, good benefits and bonuses.
Information exchange inside the company is quite open, making it easy to find out about opportunities.

Cons – Can be hard to transfer to a new project, which can lead to the need to excel at something you don't like in order to earn your way out of it.

The opportunities for 20% time are real, but you may not have enough time and energy to make use of them.

Management is often hands-off and not necessarily helpful/encouraging. Find peers to encourage and support you.

Current Employee – been working at Google

Pros – everything looks fine to me

Cons – almost no cons to me

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Google

Pros – Nice perk, good compensation. Love the free food.

Cons – Little career growth. Bas Middle management

Advice to Senior Management – Focus on core business and stop investing into peripheral areas.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Google

Pros – Good fame
Good money
Free food/shuttle etc

Cons – You never have a career path.

You'll need months to figure out how to grad an easy number through the legacy system, needless to mention about the reviews, permissions etc.

Advice to Senior Management – Learn from microsoft, cuz you are the microsoft of 2000 now.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Google

Pros – Career development, impact and range.

Cons – Compensation and lack of transparency at times.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Google

Pros – everyone wants to join Google because it is a giant party. Free Food, onsite everything, free seminars, movies and lectures. But you have go to produce. They don't care if you party all week long but when the deadline arrives, you need to deliver.

Cons – Engineers rule at Google. Leadership and management are weak, as these geeky guys and gals are more comfortable talking to their keyboard then to subordinates. The lack of leadership is one of the great weaknesses for this organization.

Advice to Senior Management – Leadership matters. You can't just throw a bunch of engineers at a problem with little oversight, planning and motivation and hope to have a happy ending.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Google

Pros – You will have a chance to work with some of the smartest people in the industry

Cons – No real cons, but you have to be very good and productive to keep the job

Advice to Senior Management – Keep it up guys!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Google

Pros – Free food, good benefits, nice workplace....
Many young people.

Cons – Not sure if it is in its peak. It will eventually going down, just like microsoft, cisco.....

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Google

Pros – - Average level of engineers is very high. Not everyone is a superstar, but there are practically no "dummies".
- Lots of interesting technologies to learn. Many things have been almost a revelation for me.
- Management is generally competent and caring, but see below.
- High transparency, especially of technology - can easily find and look at any code. Projects are usually well documented, removing unnecessary obstacles for learning.
- Free food, shuttle rides to work, pretty generous vacation time.

Cons – - Work may be stressful
- Promotion opportunities may be limited
- You may start to feel strange: highly-qualified, competent... and just one "number" among others
- Cramped cubicles
- Since about a year ago, switching groups became much more difficult.

I've been very happy at Google for the first 2-3 years (see "Pros"). The work could be demanding, but that was not bad, since demands were coming from other engineers eager to use my stuff and eager to report any problems, cooperate, etc.

However, gradually I started to feel as if the company hires the best and brightest only to put them under a nice, but hard-working manager, whose task is to keep them busy at all times no matter what. That's where most of my work stress eventually started to come from - though maybe it was just my personal "luck". I had a feeling that despite creating several successful projects, other achievements and expertise in several areas, I am not officially allowed any time to contemplate what to do next and what may be the best thing for me (and the company). Instead, I just have to generate code and other signs of activity every hour. That was exacerbated by the fact that since summer 2010 engineers lost their privilege to freely switch work groups. You could only go where the upper management thought there is opportunity for the company. Again, that felt like less respect to the very people who, being so bright, are supposed to also sniff where the next useful thing really is.

Eventually, I left for a job at a research lab. So far I am compensated less well overall, but I am much, much more happy (for now at least :-))

Advice to Senior Management – Respect engineers - you come from the same background! Give them, at least at certain level and above, more chance to decide themselves what to do (or not to do) and which group to work at. Also think how to improve promotion chances for those who work on less "sexy" or well-known projects.