Monday, February 27, 2006

The Impact of Emerging Technologies: Google's Private Lives - Technology Review

This article proposes a scary situation. I love Google Desktop 2.0, but am now wary of the next version. Being (relatively) computer savvy, I would never disclose anything private. Still, it is starting to reek of the ever growing evil Microsoft empire. (OK, without MS, I would be out of computer programming skills.).

But as an aside on Google, I once got an email from them asking me for my resume. The guy said that they were always looking for bright people and saw that I was a SW engineer from my blog (woohoo, this is after many months of not having my email address public). I sent it along, but did not hear back from them. Then I saw this photoessay about them: http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/inside_google/. It looks like the employees probably live there 24/7.

4 comments :

Anonymous said...

I know this is going to sound nutty...even to me, but Google seems to have to culture and energy that I have experienced at a couple of my past companies.

My 4.5 years at Apollo Computer, and perhaps the first 8 years at Sun Microsystems were the most exciting times of my life.

Hell, we worked like nuts....we worked 24/7 many times. Honest....I was working on a project code-named Apache at Sun where three of us worked 3 days straight (no sleep, no showers) debugging a particular problem. (and boy did we need a shower too)

I called my wife several times a day, and she was quite conserned....but she was used to my workaholic ways. (I am a recovering work-addict now :-)

Well, it turned out she was right to be upset as I totaled my truck on the way home from work after the third day. (that was the 2nd telephone pole I ended up owning....the first way back when I was 18 years old)

My point is just that we used to live by "Work hard, play hard"....and that was the truth. Lots of fun and games....lots of beer blasts.....and people running around the building 24 hours a day! (honest....you would think we had a 2nd or 3rd shift....nope!)

Looking back on it, I must have been crazy....but it was FUN! It was a cult! We felt like we were doing something really special...and sure, some of was that we had been tasting the cool-aid a bit too heavily...but no, in fact, we WERE doing new and great stuff!

I was about to say that I'd like to be a few years younger and try my hand at Google...but heck, I'd like to be there right now!!!

Talk about an adreneline rush!

Anonymous said...

Ok...I initially missed the entire point of the posting. Google providing a back-door into everyone's computer.(I got so excited thinking about exciting days gone by :-)

Let me let my paranoid side peak for a second and suggest that what better company for the Feds to work with than the one getting all the press for resisting cooperating with the Feds. (it at least gives them plausable deniability if they get caught)

{paranoid rant off}

It would still be fun to work there...even if I ended up being a low-life spying weasle for big-brother. (just kidding :-)

Angela said...

At one point in my last job (and the job before that), I had pulled near all-nighters trying to get instruments out the door to make our numbers every quarter. It was great fun and especially the comraderie of all involved.

Now, with small children, I resent having to spend an extra minute at work away from my kids. It must be the mother guilt for being at work at all. In my last job (before the malaise set in), I would make up for it by working at home in the evenings. It was great because others were doing the same, chatting on IM about work as if the day never ended. We all loved our jobs.

It is doubtful that I will ever love my new job, so I simply clock one day's work at a time, collect my paycheck, and try to spend as much time as I can with the kids.

Anonymous said...

Hey....the work as a parent is far more important than work for a paycheck!

Our children need us a lot more than out company ever could. They literally "rely" on us to survive and grow. (nurishment and emotionally)

Jobs change.....hopefully your kids will be with you for the rest of your life...there is no retiring from them!

So never sell your responsibility as a mother short against anything in the world!

Most important in all this (IMHO) is to make sure we instill the same value in our kids. (and that they spread this and other values to others....even is only by example)