Gawker
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toogle many googlers
No Company Vacations for Googlers This Year
To feel like a big, happy family, Google used to take everyone on an annual ski trip. The company grew so big it switched last year to Disneyland. This year, though, the All-Google trip is dead. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by momof3wildkids: Vacations are supposed to be a time away from your workmates. Why, oh why, would you want to vacation... 6 Responses | Other threads
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cubicle culture
Jeering Googlers Bring Entitled Coworkers In Line
Google is reportedly flooded with Yahoo résumés. We'd recommend an overtly modest approach to anyone who scores an interview: Google has lately been brutal in handling presumptuous, entitled transplants. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by pepelicious: What the fuck? This sounds like the first half of Full Metal Jacket with it's balls cut off. more » | Other threads
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googleplex
Is Working at Google a Brain Malfunction?
Blogger Joe Clark, still fuming over the mathematical mistreatment of Google designer Doug Bowman, explains that Google is populated by people with cases of "extreme male brain."
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By Owen ThomasComment by cassiemajestic: I'd hate to characterize brains by gender. That said, all my friends who work at Google are extremely arrogant and entitled.... 5 Responses | Other threads
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memos
Googler Rant to New Ad Boss: 'Please Fix This Mess Sire'
Google's top European salesman, Dennis Woodside, stepped in for New York-based sales chief Tim Armstrong after Armstrong left to become AOL's CEO. An anonymous Googler sent him this memo detailing the New York office's many problems: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by MisterHippity: I guess he isn't feeling lucky. 1 Responses | Other threads
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jackpot
Rich Ex-Google Employee Still Has Money to Spend
Dorothy McGivney joined Google in 2003, before the company went public, when employees could make fortunes, quite possibly in the millions, for tweaking the text of search ads. And now she's writing a travel newsletter. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by flossy: Recommended travel destination: San Fransisco. Wow. Keep those blinding insights coming, lady, and you might just set the... 2 Responses | Other threads
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rumormonger
Google Engineers Fear 1,000 or More Layoffs
A tipster is hearing from inside the Googleplex that the company, which is set to report earnings today, could lay off 5 percent of its engineering staff. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Psychicsword: Although layoffs are never a good thing, I am just glad Google is a company that knows how to avoid... more » | Other threads
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layoffs
Google's Loss of Innocence: 100 Jobs Cut
The Magical Kingdom of Larry and Sergey has laid off 100 full-time recruiters, a tipster tells us. Inevitable, given the economy. But a crushing blow to Google's self-image as a kinder-than-thou employer. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Hydroceph: But they've got money to grope titties in ice bars? how does that work? 5 Responses | Other threads
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layoffs
Google's Unkindest Cut: Tech Support
In October, before Google's cost-cutting campaign began in earnest, the company had more than 10,000 contractors, founder Sergey Brin said. In a mid-December SEC filing, it reported only 4,300 temporary workers. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by LemuelaBachoo: Hey Googlers, FYI, Toyota has a no-layoffs policy, at least for workers in Japan. They also have a law... more » | Other threads
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google
Marissa Mayer's 2009 Resolution: Leave Google
What will Google be like without Marissa Mayer, the glamour nerd whose goofy laugh so neatly captures the search engine's adolescent awkwardness? We'll know soon. We hear the company's 19th employee is planning her goodbye.
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By Owen ThomasComment by nirreskeya: OK, I've only ever read about this laugh, so I played the clip. Please tell me these are faked... 5 Responses | Other threads
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perks
Filet mignon on menu at Google's NYC holiday party
Google is throwing not one, not two, but three holiday parties for its New York employees this year. Such is the cash-flush search engine's definition of austerity.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Beausoleil: Lemme guess...the Yahoo holiday party will serve Salisbury steak? 1 Responses | Other threads
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rumormonger
Google to lay off 10,000?
"Up to 10,000 jobs could be on the chopping block according to sources," writes Daya Baran. Can I just say it? No. Google will not dump 10,000 of its roughly 30,000 workforce. "Sources" are wrong, although Baran's tales of Google shuffling its so-called temporary employees around to game SEC rules are true. Google's most likely action will be a stealthy attrition of maybe around 2,000 underperformers. That'll be bad enough.
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By Paul BoutinComment by SudhamayiMarten: Goog is not laying off anyone. It's inaccurate of VW to sell the story this way. How can contractors who... 1 Responses | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
Google now lets TechCrunch pretend we don't exist
With a name like SearchWiki, you know it's going to be clever, yet stupid. Google has spent ten years and I don't know how many hundred million dollars refining a rocket-science algorithm for ranking Internet search results. Now, a few Google coders have whipped up a feature that lets you boost or cut the scores of individual websites from your own future searches. For example, grudge-o-matic TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington can click his own posts to the top of any Google search he performs. With one more click, he can remove Valleywag entirely from his life. That frees us to post as many photos of Big Mike's girlfriends as we want. Everybody wins! Personal note to Google engineer Amay: Next time you make a video, try to go longer than seven seconds without saying "cool."
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By Paul BoutinComment by sample032: Finally I'll be able to ignore search results from the tech support website (its name escapes me) that requires registration... 2 Responses | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
Google Docs rockets to 1 percent market share in only three years
It's been more than three years since the debut of Writely, the free, browser-based alternative to Microsoft Word quickly snapped up by Google. Nearly two years since the formal release of Google Docs & Spreadsheets, now known as just Google Docs. Let's admit it: Google Docs is no YouTube, Gmail or Google Maps. A survey of 2,400 American Internet users by Clickstream found that half of them use Microsoft Word, but only one in a hundred uses the free, instant-access Google Docs. Obama's going to change all this, right?
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By Paul BoutinComment by macbeach: The only thing that makes sense about using Word, or look-alikes like Open Office is that fact that so many... 2 Responses | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
Gmail video chat is disappointerrific
Remember when Gmail first came out? Virtually unlimited email storage, free! A few people bitched about the ads, but even those were an improvement over Hotmail and Yahoo, which shoved ads into the middle of personal messages rather than alongside them. Nearly five years later, Gmail's new video chat feature is resoundingly meh by comparison. CNET old-timer Rafe Needleman, who got advance review access, listed shortcomings rather than breakthroughs in his writeup. Needleman had embedded in his article a self-produced video demo by one of the Google engineers who built the thing. The doofy-but-sincere video has been removed from YouTube. Dear Google PR: That's everything wrong with your company right there.
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By Paul BoutinComment by Josh Lowensohn: I hope you mean "old-timer" in terms of tenure. Aren't you like 50? 1 Responses | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
One-third of Googlers have underwater options
Mountain View's biggest advertising company went on a hiring binge, backed by what seemed like an unlimited money supply. Now, thousands of shoulda-been millionaires have only their salaries as compensation. A surprising majority of GOOG employees I know don't really like their jobs. Will they stick around for the free snacks? My guess is there's already a collaborative Google Doc on this problem floating around the HR department. You know where to send it.
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By Paul BoutinComment by fugazi: RSUs guys. Restricted stock units do not go under water. That's why nobody is complaining - apart from KirkHb, who... 1 Responses | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
Google business listings slightly too easy to edit
Search engine marketing guru Danny Sullivan says small-time businesses are stealing other's listings in Google Maps. "Florists, locksmiths, payday loan companies and others have found their listings hijacked in this manner." It's a hack so obvious I'm surprised no one at Google thought of it: You can edit the listing for your competitors to include your business name, URL and phone instead of theirs. Wikipedia meets the Yellow Pages! Vint Cerf totally saw this coming. Too bad no one listens to him.
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By Paul BoutinComment by jeffjenn: "This feature sent me to a gay bar " Suuure it did. And after a few hours in the bar... more » | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
Twitter guy proves Vint Cerf really needs a job
Alex Payne, who manages Twitter's API, posted a thumbsucking essay on Tuesday titled The Internet's on Shaky Ground. Payne seems to have reverse-engineered blowhard New York Times columnist Tom Friedman's formula for a big-picture think piece: Take a self-contradictory slogan like "Worse Is Better." Lay out your case: The glorious past, the beautiful future, the crummy now. Don't advocate a specific solution, though. Say that a question remains. Ask that question. (Payne: "The question remains: What will it take to push us forward?") Then kick back and wait for Vint Cerf to show up and supply the actual details from memory. Did someone say the Internet was built on shaky ground? Cerf rolls his eyes in exasperation, but only two or three times max: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by ciscokidinsf: As it was said before said, Vint Cerf is just VP in charge of having invented the internet He did... 1 Responses | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
Google waffling ahead on monster office building
"A space-age structure that could be the greenest office building of all time." "A living building that has no carbon footprint." That's the spin. So is this: Google spokespeople are telling reporters that plans are on hold. Charleston East, site of Google's planned superplex, used to be a parking lot for Mountain View's Shoreline Amphitheater, just up the road from Google's main campus Now the lot is idle, pending a bunch of paperwork by the city. But here's the truth: The building was planned when Google was growing by more than 100 employees per week worldwide. Last quarter, it added 500 Googlers to its ranks — about 40 a week. That's why Google has shuttered a café. There's green, and then there's green. Eric Schmidt, America's CTO, is not thinking about the tree-hugging kind right now.
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By Paul BoutinComment by nirreskeya: Not to gang up on you Paul, but 500 / 12 = 41.6 employees added per week... 3 Responses | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
Gmail now idiot-accessible
The rocket scientists at Google have a solution for our death-spiraling economy: emoticons in Gmail. The animated steaming pile of poo is especially classy. More »
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Comment by miscelaineous: The gchat emoticons are clever, but this is too much. Google, where did simplicity go? Jumping the gmail shark, much? more » | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
America's CTO gets a fighter jet
There's a new party plane at Moffett Field. Not another boring Boeing — this one's a Dornier Alpha Jet, a German/French built fighter plane that seats two. The New York Times is updating its report faster than I can retype, so I'll skip NASA's phony backstory and cut to the facts: "It is not clear who exactly owns or flies the fighter jet. Mr. Schmidt is an avid pilot." I'd love to replace this Wikipedia stock photo with shots of the real thing. Pics or it didn't happen, right?
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By Paul BoutinComment by colonelpanic: AlphaJet?! Pussy. That's an easy shoot-down for my surplus SA-8 Gecko: [upload.wikimedia.org] (if only the instructions weren't all written in Russian) more » | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
Google's birthday talent show in Greece won by Amsterdam office
So it turns out that Google's festivities on the Greek island of Rhodes were officially part of its European Sales Conference — but was it also the official company party? One commenter says no. One Google employee says yes: More »
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By Jackson WestComment by dingdongditch: aarggh...make it stop...reminds me of music videos from the 80's more » | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
Googlers celebrate company's 10th birthday in Greece
This Sunday, Google turns 10. Grigoris, a tipster in Greece, estimates that between 3,000 and 4,000 Googlers have descended on the island of Rhodes for some kind of gathering. Among the activities: an attempt to set a Guinness world record in syrtaki, a traditional Greek dance also known as the "Zorba." Hard to begrudge the Googlers an anniversary party. But we do wonder: Between setting up a fleet of hospitality RVs at Burning Man, catering to bloggers at the Democratic and Republican conventions, and now flying a quarter of the company to Greece, how is anyone at Google getting any work done? Another photo of the event: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Blogation: I'll just come right out and say it: I'm jealous! Sure beats the "casino night" at one of my prior companies... 1 Responses | Other threads
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geek love
Grabbing some love upstairs at Google
"You asked if I was headed upstairs for a meeting and I said, "not exactly. I am here for GoogleApps." Oh, Pink Scarf Girl. We want to find your Missed Connections "Moment" Man, too. White, male, 20s, dressed casual? Who could that be? Just be sure to use protection with what you're grabbing "downstairs," too. The best in daycare is so pricey these days.
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Comment by colonelpanic: They're screwed if the engineering team ever discovers girls. more » | Other threads
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great moments in hr
Is Google's "work hard, play hard" recruiting code for age discrimination?
"We have a preference for those who like to work and play hard," the search giant candidly informs potential candidates for openings for a compliance manager, senior internal auditor, financial project analyst, senior internal controls auditor, management accountant, internal audit treasury manager, accounting manager, internal audit manager, and technology risk analyst. Doesn't exactly conjure up the image of a white-haired 58-year-old Type II diabetic, does it? More »
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By theodpComment by grgle2: Discrimination may not be the right word, but the google culture is a difficult one to survive in let alone... more » | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
Google cutting costs? Hiring slowdown "noticeable," says employee
Pointing out that in the last quarter Google walked away from a multibillion-dollar hotel project, closed two offices, and laid off 300 DoubleClick employees, Wired's Betsy Schiffman wonders if Google isn't cutting costs as result of a downturn in advertising revenue. Of course, the downturn has so far been limited to online brand advertising, not Google's lucrative paid search business. Schiffman also linked to our post on a tipster who tried to convince us Google is in a hiring freeze, though we thought he was possibly just a bitter non-hire. One Google employee does tell us, however, that there's been a "noticeable" slowdown in new hires setting up cubicles in Mountain View. Then there's the usual doomsayers, such as commenter Isawthat who reports the "Bay Area is jacked!" More »
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Comment by dodgit: Good thing for us. 50% of the recruiters at G are completely useless. more » | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
Employees now getting dirty asses washed by downmarket bidets at the Googleplex
Back in 2005, when I first made inquiries into the high-tech Japanese bidets now well-known to be installed around the Googleplex, the company was using the Toto Washlet S300. Now? The E200. What's the difference? $230 less in luxury, with the S300 selling for $749.99 at Faucet Depot and the E200 selling for a mere $519.99. [San Francisco Citizen] (Photo by Jim Herd) -
toogle many googlers
Google's either in a hiring freeze or this guy didn't get a phone interview
A tipster tries to convince us Google's cutting cost and clamping down on hiring: More »
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Comment by QADude: @glycerin: You really mean this: if (school != ivy_league && degree != PhD && age >= 30) show fat_boot 1 Responses | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
Google executives complain about 90 denied H-1B visas
Never mind that it rejected over a million other hopefuls last year: Google is really steamed that only 210 of its 300 work-visa hopefuls won the H-1B lottery. And Google lobbyist Pablo Chavez has also had it up to here with critics who say Google isn't doing enough for Americans and underprivileged U.S. students, insisting that Google has a diverse workforce and may even have some non-offshored money for black and Hispanic students — once they've proven their worth by completing two years of a computer-science or computer-engineering major on their own with a 3.5+ GPA — this at a time when budgets are down across the board for academic computer-science programs. More »
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By theodpComment by jerryY: Black Jack, I agree with you. H1-B is just a loophole for Corporations to find cheap labor. It used to... more » | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
Google's suburban sprawl
Google's announcement today of a massive campus expansion was inevitable. Having taken over every last scrap of office park around it not occupied by neighbor Intuit, Google is expanding the Mountain View Googleplex to the west — and, more controversially, to the east, on land owned but poorly used by Nasa. Ignore the happy talk about Google and Nasa's scientific partnerships; those are an obvious fig leaf to cover the use of public land by a private entity. (Let's not even get started on Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt's sweetheart deal to park their party plane on Nasa grounds.) Google has grown to be a powerful employer in the Bay Area, and its wealthy executives donate freely to local politicians, so we should hardly expect the powers that be to stop it. What's good for Google is good for America, or so we'll be told. More » -
toogle many googlers
Details on Google's new campus at Nasa's Ames base
Google finally announced details of its plans to build a new campus on property owned by Nasa at the space agency's Ames Research Center. The ongoing partnership with Nasa was first announced three years ago. The initial terms of the forty-year lease peg rent at $3.66 million a year, with adjustments to the rate based on property-value assessments and up to five 10-year extensions to the contract. Construction isn't due to begin until 2013, with Nasa approving any designs. Proposed amenities beyond office space on the 44-acre plot will include dining, day care and recreation facilities. Not to mention that the Googlejet, the party plane jointly owned by cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and CEO Eric Schmidt, will be that much more conveniently parked at the Moffett Field spot that the troika already rents for $1.3 million. Their rental isn't part of the deal, but isn't it convenient that they can negotiate with the same helpful government officials to fill their needs for both work and play?
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By Jackson WestComment by Apel Mjausson: dalejo: Google will be the internet in 2013. Oh wait, that's already happened. more » | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
Report: At Google, "resource allocation is a laissez-faire mess"
Lots of Googlers are leaving Google. To find out why, Fortune magazine profiled Sean Knapp, who along with friends left Google to cofound Web video startup Ooyala, "leaving behind the perks, the 20 percent time, and a combined seven-figure pile of unvested options." But as Blogoscoped notes, the most revealing part of Fortune's article is the bit where it describes Google Apps VP Dave Girouard's struggle to get anything done: More »
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Comment by ScalaWag: @samcal: That is where Google is starting to trend in (slowly), which is exactly why engineers are starting to get... more » | Other threads
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hires
Toogle many Googlers — at Facebook
Despite her protestations of innocence, it's pretty obvious that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg had a hand in getting top Google flack Elliot Schrage to follow her to her new employer. She's not alone. One Facebook insider recently observed that for every Googler hired at Facebook, they pull another four former colleagues with them. The place is getting "overrun," says one close observer of the company.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Fidel on the Roof: Please please please don't mention $15b. $15b = wet dream of Zux Zux made it up and the rest is history. Don't forget! more » | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
Why Google's drowning in talent
Looking at the departure of top Google flack Elliot Schrage for Facebook and concluding that the search engine is suffering a "brain drain" is the laziest journalism on the subject I could imagine. The BBC's take on the subject is predictable, citing the same names — Ben Ling, Ethan Beard, even chef Josef Desimone — everyone else does. The most telling thing is actually a Google spokesbot's programmed response: "We have a deep management pool at Google." The problem at Google is not that its brains are going out the drain. It's that the drain is plugged up, and not nearly enough are leaving. More » -
toogle many googlers
FuckedGoogle is back, and better than ever
The chronicle of everything wrong with Google promises more sources and more dirt on the company. Probably best not to send tips via Gmail. [FuckedGoogle]
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By Jackson WestComment by Duncan: in defense of Valleygirl: this photo comes from Fucked Google and has been used by it (and in reference to... more » | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
Google's executive rolls outpacing stock growth
When Google debuted on the stock market in August 2004, it had a lean 10 executives at the top. Over the last four years, the number of senior managers kept pace with the growth of the stock. Until recently, when for the first time in the company's history, the ratio of executives to stock price became less than 10:1. The opposite of lean? Bloat.
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By Jackson WestComment by Davion: Who was the departure that caused the slight dip shortly after the IPO? more » | Other threads
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googleplex
Toogle many Googlers? Not if you scream for ice cream
Think Google's mostly mythological 20 percent rule is an over-indulgence? Try mint vanilla and cayenne chocolate ice cream. Because Charles Siegel's unlimited chocolates in the cafeteria aren't enough, the above-pictured Google engineer used her extra time to create the new ice cream flavors for her co-workers. Sounds tasty, but will such confections survive the advent of the piggish DoubleClickers? -
toogle many googlers
Beautiful, oversexed Google headcount grew 57 percent last year
During Google's fiscal 2007, employee headcount grew from 10,674 to 16,805, according to the company's annual 10-K. That's a 57 percent increase. And all during a year in which CEO Eric Schmidt said the company had begun to watch the headcount for fear of overhiring. Still, I'm not complaining. Just so long as this pace leads to more commencement speech-giving, fiddle-playing, beauty pageant-winning Googlers on campus. And more sex parties off campus. (Photo by Otherdave)
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Comment by QADude: Dead on, Bartkela. Most of the women aren't even remotely attractive. Another interesting note - I had to travel to a... more » | Other threads
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rumormonger
Bradley Horowitz from Yahoo to Google?
Microsoft's bid for Yahoo has many eyeing the exits. But we hear that Bradley Horowitz, the VP in charge of Yahoo's advanced products group, has been plotting his escape long before Steve Ballmer's bear hug made it trendy. Since late last year, he's been interviewing at Google. It's not clear if he'll actually get the job, though. Google's hiring process is legendarily slow, but Larry and Sergey can get things moving on candidates they're keen on. If Horowitz was really wanted at the Googleplex, wouldn't he be working there by now? Or was Google just waiting to oust Chris Sacca, making room for another voluble professional conference attendee? Update: Bradley, we misunderestimated you. TechCrunch reports Horowitz is working on one of Google's most vaporous projects: its OpenSocial widget platform, alongside Excite founder Joe Kraus.
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By Owen ThomasComment by xhooter: I thought he did a good job at Yahoo. He was the sponsor of the Hack culture at Yahoo,... more » | Other threads
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schadenfreude
Googlers stranded at the airport during company trip to Disneyland
A tipster writes from the San Jose airport:Google has taken over san jose airport as they all go to disneyland for their company trip. Everyone is in love with them. Best moment...all flights are currently delayed so naturally the quick thinking googlera are buzzing gate agents trying to jump on other flights. Thankfully the airlines are not allowing googlera to change their group assigned tickets. I LOVE watching googlers argue in earnest only to be denied by the polite agent who lets escape a wry smile after each denial, much to the pleasure of nearby nongooglers. What ... Sergey's plane is too busy running NASA experiments to help out?
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Comment by dalejo: @cowsandmilk: It took me a lot less time to mark up my ballot, stuff it in envelope, put a couple... more » | Other threads
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toogle many googlers
Still toogle many Googlers
Google added 889 people this quarter, bringing the total to 16,805. The company notes that the pace of hiring has slowed. Are we supposed to applaud Google for expanding headcount at the rate of 24 percent a year? And what, pray tell, are all those 889 new people doing?
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By Owen ThomasComment by FakeZuck: better question is what are the thousands of pre-IPO googlers doing... sources say nothing whatsoever and collecting handsome paychecks. more » | Other threads
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Sun Jul 5
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