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Google Tops 100 Best Places To Work
inetsee writes "Fortune Magazine's annual '100 Best Companies to Work For' list is out, and Google topped the list in their debut appearance. Some highlights of the benefits of working for Google that caught my eye were the free gourmet meals and the massages. The chance to spend 20% of your time working on your own personal projects also sounds very appealing. Of course, with resumes rolling in at the rate of thousands a day, the competition is fierce."
Fortune has a tendancy to concentrate on public companies, since that's their industry, pimping public companies. The vast majority of companies in the US are privately held, and under 1000 employees. I notice that none on this list are less than 1000 employees. They even have the gall to call those "small" companies.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Who cares! Apparently Microsoft gives out "Free grocery delivery, valet parking, and a dollar-for-dollar match of employee charitable contributions up to $12,000" (as well as paying for Health insurance, which apparently Google doesn't).
i es/2007/benefits/unusual.html
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompan
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
"Fine, but if you're working in a smaller, less demanding company, you might have that time free, so you can work on the projects without the company knowing about it. Far better to market an idea independently than under the auspices of a large employer. At least you have the opportunity for profits far beyond a salary that way."
Check the terms of your employment again. Most likely your employer owns rights to anything you produce while they are paying your salary, unless it absolutely has nothing to do with their line of work (and even then, you are going to want to get a lawyer to make sure everything is by the book). Generally speaking hiding another job on the side from your employer is a good way to get your ass sued.
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
A Stanford business Professor remarked to me that Google offers a day off a week to work on your own projects, but that that day is normally Sunday.
(Many many people at Google, at least in the Bay Area, work incredibly long hours)
--Q
You mean like here in New Zealand, where a component of our Income Tax actually goes to a State Owned health insurance provider? We get injured at all, and the government's public health insurance steps in and pays all the bills. Unless you work for a healthcare provider, then your employer forks out for it.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
If anything, MORE perks have been added, such as upgraded coffee (Starbucks, instead of Farmer's Brothers).
No, nothing like Google and smaller tech companies. It's much more expensive to add perks, obviously, when you're dealing with 40k+ or so employees.
-- jchenx
Every large tech company in the valley (including Google) matches charitable contributions. Every large tech company in the valley (including Google) pays for health insurance. Google has valet parking, but why would you want to valet park your car unless the parking lot is full? Why would you want free grocery delivery when you can get free groceries prepared in the form of gourmet food?
These benefits are certainly unusual for many companies on the list, but in Silicon Valley they're pretty mundane.
Don't forget that all of these benefits that are often touted as a result of working for Google are only (generally) available to the upper brass and engineers. Google has plenty of lower-level employees doing the tech equivalent of grunt work and they're treated about the same as in any other company.
Or even somewhat worse...
I interviewed with them for such a job and was startled to learn that although Google does all the interviewing and hiring, they always hire their entry-level employees through a temp agency for the first year. So while many companies have a one- to three-month probation period, Google has a full year before they trust you enough to bring you on as a real employee.
Right. And this matters how exactly to how good of an employer they are?
From the linked page:
"Worst Companies in America to Deal With or Work For"
(Emphasis mine.)
If youd bother to actually read that nice into paragraph at the top (yes, the one that looks like spam because its surronded by all sorts of changing fonts, bad colors, and is squashed), youll have noticed that the list they provide also covers how they treat customers, not only how they treat employies.
That's not a proper list of bad employers. It's a random list of every company someone has a grievance with. From what I can tell, few of the posts were by current or former employers of the named company. Examples, Walmart, most people who work for them like their job. Their posting was just a typical example of "hate the big guy". Another example, Harley-Davidson, not liking their product has nothing to do with whether they are a good employer or not. In fact, HD is employee owned and, unlike in the 70's, make awesome motorcycles. However, just because I ride a Harely does not mean I am qualified to rate them as an employer.
-- Will program for bandwidth
Also worth considering is that smaller companies will usually compensate you a lot better because they have fewer qualified applicants than the Googles and Microsofts of the world.
Really? I've worked at and gotten offers from both large and small companies, and the large companies always had much better compensation than the small ones. The small ones were always super-cheap, not just about compensation, but about everything else too, like travel costs, equipment purchases, etc.
Maybe Apple didn't apply. This isn't the best 100 companies. It's the best ranked 100 out of 446 choices. See http://money.cnn.com/.element/ssi/sections/mag/for tune/bestcompanies/2007/box_how.popup.html
n om-100best.php
Instructions for applying for next year at http://www.greatplacetowork.com/best/nominations/
(I work at Google. I'm not speaking for them in any official capacity, just talking about my experiences here.)
We try pretty hard to make that be not the case. Most development teams are three to six people, specifically to result in projects that are long on individual excellence and short on bureaucracy.
I've never known Google to do any of these things. If someone did decide to do handwriting tests, faux-snake tests, or whathaveyou, I doubt they'd be asked to do any more interviews. I'm not sure I know what you mean by "Google's puzzles and goofy computer personality tests", but it doesn't sound like anything I've ever seen done here.
I (and to my knowledge, all other interviewers here) tend to ask questions that focus on and understanding of fundamental technical concepts, and the ability to reason effectively with that understanding. We try to stay away from technical trivia questions ("Oh yeah, well what's the -m option to mkdir do!?") and rely on questions about the underlying ideas.
Fortunately, not all of Google is in Silicon Valley; we have offices around the world. I'm not in Mountain View myself.
Dillards is at the top of their list...this hits home for me. My wife just quit her job there. I have to say, that in the month she worked there I know enough to say that Dillards is the worst place to work for. Hear this:
1) if you don't meet sales targets, at your semi-annual review you get a pay cut. No, you don't get commission. You don't get a huge raise if you exceed your sales targets. You just get a pay cut if you miss.
2) Servant mentality. Employees are forbidden from using the store's elevators, escalators, etc. They must exit in the back of the mall, and even when it's dark out there is no security to ensure than employees get to their cars, and they must park in Antartica.
3) Judging from the previous item, you'd think there is no security. No, there is security -- to watch the employees. My wife had to ge a clear purse (really a bag) because she cannot carry in opaque bags. There is security watching them at their counters. They are watched in the stores. They are watched as they exit and enter. And the mall that she works in is in a good part of town.
4) Poor morale. In addition to mistreating employees, Dillards fosters a very competitive spirit among employees. So nobody likes one another.
5) Bad scheduling. My wife took this job because she has limited availability, since I work and we have two children. This leaves just a few evenings that she can work, and as such she was unable to get a job more like she is accustomed to. Well, of course, they scheduled her overnight to do inventory, which was flat out unnacceptable.
6) After about a month, my wife (being the honest, professional person she is) wrote a resignation letter. When she tried to hand it to the manager, he told her he could not accept it and instead she needed to fill out a form. Management proceeded to avoid her for the rest of the day. Needless to say, she never got a form. She made them take her letter. This is how they treat people who try to do the right thing and give notice. She should have just did a no show on a Saturday or something. That would have served them right.
So, while this site is obviously a not-so-reputable one, they are dead right. Dillards is a horrid place to work, and they deserve to go out of business. Hope you enjoyed reading this. It should make you feel *really* good about your job as you sit at your desk sipping a coffee. I know I do.
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