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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.
Maybe the advertising collapse happened because one company owns the entire market? And they own the entire market by giving away so much stuff for free? I'm just pondering here notseriously implying anything, but that sounds similiar to something MS did with OS's and media players/browsers etc. I'm sure someone will come along and tell me why I'm wrong which is fine.
In addition to adverstising, they make their money selling their services to other providers and businesses. Google is not merely a link aggregator but more a service provider. Think Apple. Yes, they sell an operating system but they really make their money on the hardware.
Google is actually a very good business and your surprise at them still being in business, well, let's just say I wouldn't give you my money to invest.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
In the Web 1.0 dotcom world, this was called the Ferrari Effect - you know you're about to get this when your car park is full of Italian sports cars.
When in school, I attended an Accenture (Andersen Consulting at that time) hiring event in which I was told that I could be VP in 5 years just because almost everyone just quit within the first 3 years (with some money and a breakdown). The funny thing is that they managed to tell this almost as something positive.
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.
My wife's cousin and her husband from California came to our wedding in September of 2005. In November of 2005 they moved here to get away from California's housing market, traffic, and to give themselves a better chance of having some savings for the rest of their life.
It was a major culture shock for them to move away from the West Coast to the Midwest. They spent the entire first year complaining and working on how to move back. They made it the year and went back to visit at Christmas of 2006 for three weeks. My wife and I were convinced that they would return with a U-Haul.
What surprised us was that they were reminded of why they left CA and moved here. They hated the fact that it took three hours to drive between their parents' houses (a distance of only 75 miles), the fact that houses that go for $210k here are going for $1 million+ there, and the fact that it's just so much faster.
So while there are other options out there, the time it takes to move away from your home where you are comfy does take a while. If you give a shot make sure you allow the time to adjust to your new surroundings. You might actually end up happier in the long run.