A Google insider is trapped as a cog in the machine — maybe a million-dollar cog, but still... Is this an astute in-house observer or just a bitter guy who Just Doesn't Get It? Your call.

By official corporate policy, you can't get a raise at Google without getting promoted. The raises are pretty paltry, too. 5-8% for moving up one level is about the norm.

Combine that with the fact that people are told not to expect promotions more than once every 18 months (and what's normal is more like once every 24 or 30 months), and you find that most people around here think their salaries are awful.

Even worse is that at least in engineering no one can tell you what it takes to get promoted. The conventional wisdom is "launch lots of cool products," but no one can tell you what it takes to get a product launch OK'd by all the requisite gatekeepers.

Weep for the penniless Google employee! After buying his estate in the country, he needs three promotions before he can build servants' quarters.

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