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Want a Job At Google? Better Know Microsoft Office!

Posted by timothy on from the isn't-more-knowledge-always-attractive-in-hiring? dept.

theodp writes "After recent Slashdot discussions on Google's quest to unseat Microsoft Office in business and whether Google Docs and MS-Word are an even matchup, let's complete the trilogy by bringing up the inconvenient truth that numerous Google job postings state that candidates with Microsoft Office expertise are 'preferred' to those lacking these skills. 'For example,' notes GeekWire, 'when hiring an executive compensation analyst to support Google's board, the company will give preference to candidates who are 'proficient with Microsoft Excel."' Parents and kids at schools that have gone or are going Google are reassured that, 'it is more important to teach technology skills than specific programs' and that 'Google itself uses Google Apps to run its multi-billion dollar company.' Which, for the most part, is true. Just don't count on getting certain Google jobs with that attitude, kids!"

5 of 243 comments (clear)

  1. can we mod summary as by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    trol?

    1. Re:can we mod summary as by j-pimp · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Troll summaries are the norm here. slashdot is the fox news of tech journalism. There should be an article moderation flag for "not a troll".

      --
      --- Justin Dearing http://www.justaprogrammer.net/ We're just programmers.
  2. Google Apps by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...is a corporate domain-based user management system that's web based, with particular attention made in integrating it with GMail. What I suspect is that the submitter confused it with Google Docs. Google Docs is integrated with Google Apps (as is YouTube) but it's not Docs, any more than Active Directory is Excel.

    Is this a serious Google branding issue? I can kinda understand the confusion, just as I can the whole "Google Voice is trying to compete with Vonage!" crap - that's a voicemail and forwarding service on steriods service people, not a VoIP service (Google Talk is the VoIP service.) Though that said, if you don't actually use a product enough to know what it is, why mention it?

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  3. Google Docs is no MS Office by garcia · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The company I work for uses Google Docs extensively; in fact, we use it so much I wrote SAS scripts to interface with the API so we can easily share datasets in and out of Google Docs. While it's powerful for collaborative work over the Internet, especially with remote resources housed all over the world, it's no replacement for Office.

    It doesn't have all the powerful tools Office does, it doesn't format documents the same as Office does (especially importing and exporting--and yes, I realize Office doesn't do all that well version to version), and it doesn't work all that well offline (if at all).

    So it's no wonder a corporation dealing with other corporations would require Office knowledge. This is a non-story.

  4. Re:this is stupid by hawguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ever heard of LibreOffice? If you claim you're unable to write "powerful macros" in any of these languages, then it is you who is the "idiot".

    I don't think the problem is so much writing new Macros, but in rewriting all of the tried-and-true macros and formulas that the Finance exec has been using for the past decade. Sure, it could be ported and rewritten, but why have a $100/hour finance professional spend time learning a new macro language and rewriting and validating his old functions/macros for a new spreadsheet platform? It only takes a few hours of wasted work to pay for MS Office.