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Living the Good Life, Leaving Google Behind
inetsee writes with an article in the San Francisco Chronicle profiling seven early Googlers who have left the company, part of a cohort the article claims amounts to 100 out of the first 300 workers hired by Google. For these former employees, all the acclaimed perks of life at the Googleplex can't compete with calling the shots in their own lives. Google's chef is opening his own restaurant, Olana Khan has started a non-profit that makes micro-loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries, and Aydin Senkut has become an angel investor. Others are simply enjoying retirement, making things in the garage shop or skydiving in South Africa.
How is this news? They have been at the company 6 years, saw it grow and have ambitions of their own. I am not shocked in the least bit.
If you are young, healthy, single, and debt-free, you dont need to be a millionaire to pursue your dream. Ramen noodles, a backpack, and a good attitude is all you need. I don't understand why people think they need to "pay their dues" before doing what they really want to do in life.
You live only once. You are young only once. So, you should do whatever it is you really want to do.
This, of course, is why it is so important to live frugaly and avoid debt -- it can rob you of your freedom. There's nothing worse than some student debt with a side dish of some credit cards, a long-term cell phone contract, and a car lease.
Just because you leave a job doesn't doom you to a future of unemployment. I'm no HR guy, but being one of the early guys at Google probably doesn't look too bad on someone's resume. But besides that, these are likely talented and highly motivated people, and now that they've got some money in the bank, they can do their own thing and put their time and energy exactly where they want to. For some of those people, Google was still doing what they wanted to do, so they still work there. Others are using their money to try to start up their own businesses. Still others might be perfectly content to sit on a couch and play PS3 on a 80" TV all day.
I can promise you that a lot more than 100 people have made millions off of Google. Their stock has gone nuts, there's many billions of dollars to go around. Just one billion dollars divided by 100 people is 10 million each. A million dollars is a lot of money to an individual person, but for these big corporations, that is not an unsual amount of money at all.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
Actually, they probably ARE all millionaires, or darn close. Microsoft minted millionaires out of thousands of early employees. Google stock has gone up by over 500%, it's pretty reasonable to assume the first 100 employees were given at least 2,000 shares over time in the $1-5 range ... which would make each of them millionaires.
Crack - Free with every butt and set of boobs
I've seen the bumperstickers saying "The Worst Day Fishing is Better than the Best Day Working". That kind of sums it up. Even if it's the best place in the world to work, if you don't have to work and can be doing something else, there's a lot of fun things out there.
There are lots of people out there who "love their jobs", but in reality it's only relative. They love their jobs, when compared to other jobs. If you don't have to work, there are lots of other things to do out there.
if you are single with no family and want to work all your life and spend most of what you earn on outrageous housing costs, higher taxes, and urban sprawl then google is the place for you. Just like most of northern cali/simi valley/san fran the culture is also secluded and anti-social. how many couples walking on the sidewalks do you see? or people walking their dogs? heaven forbid i get a flat tire or run out of gas. i'll be walking to the gas station on my own.
if you have a family and they are first in your life above anything else(including work), want to save and not throw money away on outrageous housing costs and want privacy without having to drive one hour one way to work then google is not the place for you even if you could get a job there.
more people are figuring out that they dont want to work 50 or 60 hours a week because they want to do other things, stay healthy and just have a life outside of work. most people dont want to work where they feel like they live in China and Japan, where workers typically work 70 hour weeks, but of course their country works and thats all it does, yet where is the reward? It's hard to enjoy rewards in life that you earn if you are too busy working. Our culture has turned into the mindset slowly and on a different scale of china. that to be successful we have to work all the time and nothing else comes before it, including family. I am not sure where or when this trend started.
there is a reason why we have weekends and a reason why most people dont work more than 40 hours a week. its to take a breather from work so we can refresh. its also a reason that people have burnout and productivity decreases. In google's case there are enough people that want to work for them that have the mindset that google is their life and that is why google provides things like laundromats, bringing your pets to work, 3 gourmet meals and swimming pools. if people just wanted to go home for lunch and promptly go home after 5 or 6 pm then what would the need be to offer all these ameneties? think about that one for a moment.
I know that they have offices in NYC and Seattle as well as sporatic jobs here and there but NYC and Seattle is the same as Simi Valley/Mountain View -- that is heavy traffic, no privacy(unless you want to drive 1 hour one way to work), up to the sky housing costs and taxes and living in a culture where everyone wants to work their whole life and thus they think their employees should have the same attitude. Trying to not to sound too stereotypical i am sure there are other smaller places in these areas that at least offer stable working conditions.
In Seattle's case i dont know how in the world all these tech companies keep people in that area. Traffic is still heavy but most of all for me i just cant bear the thought of at most 3 months of sunshine and cold rainy winters. I was there in november 2 years ago and the sun did come out 2 days out of the week(the rest of the week it was raining) but you still couldnt see the sun because it was so overcast. Maybe theres a reason why it's the #1 suicidal city in the country.
personally i would do nothing. i would sit on my ass all day and do nothing.
While your attitude is quite common in the tech circles, I have yet to observe it in people who have managed to make repeated high achievements. Nearly all consistent high achievers do not red-shift the moment they can, they move away quietly after a time to do different things and usually succeed again in the new thing they do. So based on your attitude you are least likely to manage this even once. In fact I doubt the "even once". All I can say - good luck and all the best as you are least likely to say "thank you for the fish" right on time.
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
Aw, shucks, you can get that for $500.
Isn't that the point of getting a job in the first place?
Yes, but don't let the HR department know that when you're trying to get the job in the first place. Despite the fact that they have no loyalty to you, they expect a certain level of loyalty from you and knowing that you'll bolt the moment you're able, you're going to have a tough time convincing them that you're not going to bolt mid-project or otherwise leave them in a tough spot.
Likewise, all the people who are rushing out to spend their millions and live a life of leisure are shooting themselves in the foot. Having a decade or so gap in employment isn't going to look good to a large number of employers should those millions run out.
The real story isn't that 1/3 of the first 300 employees left Google... Its the fact that 2/3 of them STAYED even after having the wealth to do whatever they want. That is a pretty strong endorsement for Google that they can keep people working and happy, even when the people don't NEED the job!
Just make sure one (or both) of them are not your wife and/or girlfriend. Trust me.
If you must, then just make sure you've got the rules all worked out ahead of time. You don't want the best 45 minutes of your life to be followed by the worst month of your life.
Sheesh. If they're poor, what am I? I make just under 28,000/yr (USD). My TV is a 25" and over about 6-8 years old. Oh, and my wife and I have 2 kids.
:)
Money doesn't make you rich, perceived lack thereof makes you poor. I know many people with far more money than I that complain about money far more than I. If you can afford to put food on the table, a roof over your head and not live in fear for your life, health or well-being, it is hard to justify a claim of 'poor'.
No, I'm not the guy who sold his house and cars to live poor on purpose, we're just a young family starting out. A big problem, especially here in the States, seems to be that if you are not able to consume everything your heart desires that you are poor and living without. If that describes you, I strongly suggest you spend some time determining what really makes you happy and focus on that.
Sorry for the rant, but those of us that live a bit below the 'living wage' (here in Utah I'd have to make a few thousand more a year to be at it) are tired of hearing about how people that make a multiple of what we do are 'poor.'
"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
Well, duh. People who cash out at the first opportunity don't try again, so of course they don't replicate their success. You have to play again to win again!
Don't forget the other 600,000 starving programmers working in startups exactly like Google but who are never going to get the financial jackpot. It's so rare to hit the jackpot, you can't take it seriously.
Thus, a person living in the jungle alone is free and not dependent on society but is not rich because they still cannot buy anything that society produces.
A person is rich, however, if is able to escape a country in war although the currency has been devalued and become worthless, or is able to live quite well during a financial crisis when other people are starving on the street.
Sometimes society may ask you to do things you don't want, and can force you to do it because you aren't rich. But if you are wealthy, you can ignore society's demands without giving up the ability to buy its products and services. This is the essence of wealth.