Google Reviews

I have been working at Google

Pros – Coming out of college, I think Google provides a huge opportunity to advance quickly, but to a point. You'll be given considerable responsibility, and paid accordingly with some pretty terrific perks.

Cons – Google is fighting the 'law of large companies', and is doing pretty well but there's a certain inevitability afoot too: Over the four years I've been there, I've noticed scaling back of perks (and also at times a sickening culture of employee entitlement), a steady rise of red tape to run a scalable service in the production environment, a certain amount of stiff corporate speak and a uptightness over branding, image, and in some cases (though definitely not all) an aversion to risk taking has to some extent dampened my enthusiasm a little bit. Still an amazing place to be though.

Advice to Senior Management – Consider more career paths or guidance for senior engineers... I get the impression that this is where careers go to plateau. I'm 27 years old, and at this level I find myself compensated very well, and with more responsibility than I know what to do with, but I get the impression my choices are being an individual contributor for the next decade, or vying for a management spot. Even so, this is I think a problem for software engineering in general, and I think Google does a much better job at making it a liveable and enjoyable situation than any other large company I can imagine. Even so though, I'd think that a bit more effort in this area could have a noticeable impact on improving retention of experienced engineers (which is already at a pretty solid level relative to just about any other silicon valley firm).

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Google

Pros – Great perks, people, great products and lots of flexibility

Cons – Goolge has to win over it's competitors: Apple and Facebook if it is going to continue to grow and still have a stock that keeps going up!

Advice to Senior Management – Keep up the great work! Dont acquire Twitter

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Google

Pros – (1) Culture - very open, lots of respect for people, not hierarchical
(2) People - highly driven, intelligent and very friendly
(3) Opportunities - high growth, still at the beginning of the advertising shift online
(4) Nature of the work - fast paced, highly innovative

Cons – (1) Worklife/balance - very hard working environment. Can be a con for some. Overall the company tries to manage this as best as possible, but the reality of being in a fast-growing highly innovative company is more work than in a slower paced environment
(2) Getting large/bureaucratic - for a fast moving company, it has grown up since the mid-2000s and so is more bureaucratic than say a startup but MUCH LESS than other corporates

Advice to Senior Management – (1) Keep thinking big but acting small - entrepreneurial/innovative in a much bigger field / company
(2) Continue to hire the best - this drives all the pros of working at Google

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Google

Pros – Google is a good place to work.

Cons – Google has become a big company.

Advice to Senior Management – They should allow incoming people to chose teams.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Google

Pros – Excellent compensation and benefits, including very generous match for charitable donations.

Cons – Needs to be run more tightly and with more focus.

Advice to Senior Management – Spend more time and resources getting new employees oriented and productive.

I have been working at Google

Pros – Google is a wonderful place to work. New York office is fantastic and I love my team. I encourage everyone to apply.

Cons – The cons of working at Google are that if you are not an engineer, there is not as much flexibility and creativity allowed.

Advice to Senior Management – My advice to senior management at Google is to expand their teams beyond looking at what school someone attended or what their GPA is.

I worked at Google

Pros – - Relaxed yet professional working set up
- Opportunity for learning and professional growth
- Excellent food
- Good salary and healthy competition
- Very helpful colleagues

Cons – - Its is a big organization,thus takes time to understand various departments and areas
- Hate to sit in cubical

Advice to Senior Management – They are doing great, so far this is the best company I have worked with. I feel lucky about it. I think Google is one of the most professional, honest and clear company who treats their employee fair. I know the Management knows their vision and will maintain their focus. Good luck!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Google

Pros – Innovative, unique culture - highly collaborative and relatively transparent community.

Cons – The bigger the company gets, the more difficult it is to get things done.

Advice to Senior Management – Difficult to navigate career paths across different functions.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Google

Pros – - Peers are sheer geniuses in their realm, very low amount of low performers
- Fun
- Great Start for college grads - pace is fast, learning is fast
- AWESOME annual bonus

Cons – - Middle management is very detached from work
- Everything is looked from a efficiency standpoint, and sometimes that cannot be done
- Indication (in ops groups) that decision is coming from the top down rather than bottom up as was tradition

Advice to Senior Management – Re-review all of middle management in Corp Eng. and clean house! We're Google's IT and first line dog-fooders, at the very least empower us to do the right thing

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Google

Pros – Easy work, lots of random cool projects to work on. Get to multitask on tons of projects at the same time. Good location.

Cons – Too few opportunities. Engineers can be extremely weird here. I would recommend against this job for another tech company. Direction is vague and erratic.

Advice to Senior Management – Learn to do your jobs better Management is poor and almost powerless. No direction at the company. Most gains seem to be from 'luck'

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend