On Leaving Google
As some of you may know, I have decided to leave Google and go back into the startup world. Friday was my last day at Google, and even though I normally don’t blog much about my job, I figured I was due for an update.
First off, Google is an amazing company. Especially for a company of this size (and impact), it is highly impressive that they have managed to maintain this kind of work environment, company culture, and integrity. On the most basic level, there are all the perks, from great health benefits to free food (there are about 15 cafeterias on the Mountain View campus alone, many of which offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner), micro-kitchens with free snacks (including fresh fruit or fresh cut carrots and celery), on-campus gyms and a beach volleyball field, and more. Another great thing are the many tech talks (usually there are at least a couple every day), which feature both internal and external speakers. There are also many opportunities for training. In the one year that I have worked at Google, I had the opportunity to take a one-day class on Agile Estimating and Planning, as well as an excellent four-day workshop on Design Patterns and Refactoring, and numerous Google and product specific classes. Then there are the various off-sites and team building events, which probably take up another good week each year. Not many companies send their employees to Disneyland for three days… And of course there’s Google itself, with its various products that have become so ubiquitous and synonymous with the web that life would be difficult to imagine without them. Anybody remember the web before Google Search came along? Let me give you a hint: it sucked! But even newer products like Gmail, Google Reader, or Calendar have caught on quickly and become established as best-of-breed applications, and I definitely felt proud to work at the company that has built all of these applications. And speaking of work, the actual work environment is also nice in many ways: Every engineer gets either two 24″ or one 30″ monitor, as well as a company laptop (either MacBook Pro or Thinkpad). Depending on which project you work on, you might get to work with innovative internal tools and frameworks (such as BigTable), and I have definitely developed an entirely different perspective on scale, which humbles any project I’ve worked on before. Then there’s the community. In general, Googlers are a great bunch, and very smart. There are internal mailing lists on pretty much any subject, and you can pretty much guarantee that you will be able to get a solid answer to whatever question you might have (work or non-work related). In fact, this reminded me quite a bit of Usenet, back when it was still popular and usable, and not totally overrun with idiots. Of course, keeping up with all of this can become quite a time sink as well… Google is highly engineering-driven, and engineers enjoy a lot of trust and power, which is a very different and refreshing experience from working at a more product-driven company.
So if everything is so great at Google, why am I stupid enough to leave? And part of me does indeed feel a bit guilty about not being able to fully appreciate and enjoy working at Google — after all, there are many people out there in the world that have dreary and monotonous minimum-wage jobs, without any benefits or perks to speak of. But in the end, I have realized that I am just much more of a startup person than a big-company person. Perks and everything are great, but this is ultimately not what motivates me. At an early stage startup, every single individual has a tremendous impact on the company (good or bad…), along with a much broader set of responsibilities (everybody has to wear many hats). Then, there’s the pioneering spirit, which is extremely energizing and contagious. These days, it seems like a lot of the true innovations are made at small startups, which have the benefit of being orders of magnitude times more agile and efficient than a large company will ever be. Sure, many ideas don’t go anywhere, but every once in a while, something new comes along that leaves a big footprint (and let’s not forget that even Google started out like this). Last not least, there is of course a significantly bigger upside to working at a startup. Of course the harsh truth is that most startups fail, but at least there is that 1 in a 10 chance of being tremendously successful (and the sense of actually being able to contribute to this chance). As a recent Google employee, I would have never gotten rich there, even if the stock had doubled or tripled in price.
There are a few other Google-specific problems I should mention as well. For one thing, it is unlikely to initially be able to work in an area that one is passionate about. Many of the Google products are exciting, but unfortunately I was unable to be passionate about my particular product area. That is not to say that there weren’t any interesting aspects about it, and I do have a lot of respect for the team I worked with. Overall this is less of a problem later, as it is generally encouraged to switch projects every 1-2 years, but this first year makes a big difference, particularly for experienced engineers that have a good understanding of what kind of things they enjoy working on (or perhaps more importantly, don’t enjoy working on) or what kind of environments are a good match. I feel that the hiring process should be improved to better take this into consideration, although this is admittedly a difficult logistical problem at Google’s scale. Another scale-related problem: Due to the sheer size of the code base and the vast number of Google-specific tools and frameworks, it also takes a very long time to learn how to actually become productive at Google, which can be frustrating at times.
But overall, I feel privileged that I had the chance to work at Google. I’m sure they will still be around for a long time, and 20 years from now I will be able to tell my grandchildren “Oh, Google, yes, I worked there once…”. I will certainly miss the Google campus, which had the vibrant feel of a University campus. I will also miss many things about the Google culture, and hopefully be able to take many of these inspirations with me into my future career.
Which brings me to my new job, which I am enormously excited about starting this Monday. I can’t say too much, as the company is just getting founded and still in stealth mode, but I am going to be a co-founder of a brand-new startup in the Social Networking / Mobile space, two areas I am very interested in. I have worked at small startups, but so far I’ve never had the opportunity to come in on the ground floor like this, so this should be a great adventure. My role is going to be that of Director of Engineering, but I expect to be wearing a lot of hats, ranging from architecture and implementation to being involved in the product direction, taking care of hosting and other IT stuff, and ultimately building a great team and helping define the company culture (although we will initially be a small core team). We will be working with some exciting technologies, including Ruby and a sprinkling of Ruby on Rails, which I am strongly looking forward to as well. Besides using a bit of Ruby at my previous job, I have mostly played with Ruby in my spare time, and I am glad about being able to finally use it again at my day job as well (though we will be pragmatic and use whatever tool makes most sense for the job at hand). I think I am officially done with Java at this point (but never say never… I am pretty sure I will at least use it again as a platform at some point in the future).
Well, this blog post turned out a bit longer than expected. But don’t worry, I am sure I will be busy enough at my startup that I won’t have a chance to bug you with any additional long posts for a while. 
April 13th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Digital Hobbit:
Great post. Three questions: Who are you and what did you do at Google? What would you have preferred to work on? thanks!
April 13th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Hi Clint,
That was not really the point of my post, as the question of interest is of course highly subjective. I happened to be a software engineer in the AdWords Report Center. While there are many challenging projects within that area, I personally would have been more interested in working on Google Apps (perhaps Gmail or Reader), OpenSocial, or within Mobile.
April 13th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Fair enough, thanks. I realize your new company is in stealth, but do me a favor and point your PR team (or the CEO or marketing person responsible for the company’s public positioning) to me at eweek/googlewatch. I’ll be at Web 2.0 next week if these folks want to meet. good luck, and I look forward to see what you’re doing.
April 13th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Good luck at the new digs Mirko! You might take the man out of the startup, but you’ll never take the startup out of the man.
April 13th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
The start-up applications are going local.
April 14th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Best of luck Mirko !
April 14th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Best wishes Mirko and great writeup, and don’t worry, I’ll try to get you back for lunch or dinner occasionally.
- Dave
April 15th, 2008 at 12:35 am
Good post.
Not to be picky, just some gentle advise, it’s hard to keep one’s place while scrolling a monolithic slab of right flush text. Please, shorter paragraphs!
April 15th, 2008 at 1:47 am
Nice post. I can definitely sympathise with the many hats of a start up director. It feels so much better though that everything you do is adding value to your company that you’ll get a direct return on.
April 15th, 2008 at 3:26 am
Best of luck. To add to Owen’s advise… stop using fully justified text. It was cool with the first 9 pin dot matrix printers and Scripsit, but has since lost its lustre.
Not everyone needs to have Yegge length blogs… =)
April 15th, 2008 at 4:36 am
Nice post! I caught this via Twitter ‘Everyone’ page and i’m glad i got an insight into what it’s like to work at Google. Sounds like fun, but i think i also prefer working for smaller companies. Good luck with your new venture!
April 15th, 2008 at 4:37 am
[…] interviews, you’d stay for a while. Even if it was just for the perks. But some people just aren’t suited to big company life, even if that company is one of the most disruptive, if not the most, […]
April 15th, 2008 at 5:21 am
Errrr.. did you sign a NDA? Have you now violated it? Be afraid!
April 15th, 2008 at 5:22 am
Justified text is great *if* you have good algorithms for spacing and hyphenation. Unfortunately no browser has neither, so justified is anathema in the Web. As an exercise, try to format a long text (this post will do) in LaTeX and compare it with the rendering in your browser. Then stop using justified text
April 15th, 2008 at 5:44 am
I’ve always found it interesting to hear tales of working at Google; recently I enjoyed reading/ using/ reviewing an advance copy of Charlie Ayers’ ‘Food 2.0′ based on his work for Google. Thanks for the insights, and good luck with your startup!
April 15th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Man, good luck to you! We are also a new startup (currently funding seeking stage) and let me tell you, even though we’re poor as hell at this moment, it still is a very rewarding feeling to work on the technology you’re passion about believing that one day you can create a new mean and make a whole in the universe! Once again, all the best!
April 15th, 2008 at 6:19 am
Thanks for the inside look into Google. It’s definitely a great company to work for, in fact probably the best, but you can’t ignore that entrepreneurial calling. Good luck!
April 15th, 2008 at 6:20 am
We don’t know each other, but I just had to say good luck on moving forward with what you are so passionate about. I hope it’s fulfilling.
April 15th, 2008 at 6:21 am
GMail is still BETA.
April 15th, 2008 at 6:53 am
It is for the exact same reasons you left that I will never work for google (or any other company that size). While the job security is nice, nothing is more exciting to me than getting a small team together with a crazy idea and just making it happen from the ground up.
April 15th, 2008 at 7:26 am
[…] z in?ynierów pracuj?cych w dziale AdWords Report Center, opisuje motywy swojego odej?cia z Google. Warto przeczyta?, bo wbrew pozorom nie jest to krytyka firmy lecz raczej bardzo pozytywny i moim […]
April 15th, 2008 at 7:47 am
So how’d you get out of that anti-competition contract they have you sign?
April 15th, 2008 at 8:03 am
What “anti-competition contract”, SilentOne? California is a pretty smart State, and therefore doesn’t consider “non-compete” agreements enforceable (”non-solicit” ones are a different issue: you can’t poach customers or employees for a year) — how do you think Silicon Valley ever flourished in the first place? You may be confusing CA with backwards States such as WA or NY…
April 15th, 2008 at 8:08 am
[…] okazji warto przeczyta? przemy?lenia in?yniera, który Google opu?ci?. (No Ratings Yet) Loading … // wykopywarka wersja standardowa […]
April 15th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Thanks for the good wishes, everyone!
Regarding anti-compete contracts: Like Feruccio said, these are not legally enforceable in California. But aside from this, my new startup does not directly compete with Google anyway.
As for an NDA: In my blog post I am not giving away any confidential information. You can read all of this on various other sources, it’s just my own perspective on things.
Last not least, Google is definitely a very good place to work. If you like the big company environment, I feel that it probably doesn’t get any better than that. It just isn’t for me…
April 15th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Frengo?
April 15th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Good luck on your new endeavor, I have aspirations just like you.
April 15th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
It may be possible that when you mention “Google” to your grandchildren in 20 years, they may not have ever heard of it. I’ve worked for companies far larger than Google who have vanished off the face of the earth. The fact is that Google is a one trick pony and could easily disappear. As an engineer and a webmaster who has had the displeasure of using some of Google’s tools, I can easily see the cracks in the facade. Enjoy the new start-up!
April 15th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Great post. Thanks for sharing and best of luck in your new endeavor!
April 15th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Apparently your tenure at Google did not include a tutorial on the use of the “Return” key. — Thanks, Valleywag
April 15th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Great article. You didn’t mention your working hours at Google. I’ve been curious about this, as I’ve mentioned to my boss “well, Google does this and it works so well, what do you think about…” and it is always interrupted with “well, they don’t have lives outside of work”. I find that very hard to believe.
April 15th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Jessiah, the working hours probably vary greatly with each team. In general, the dynamics tend to be quite different between different teams, as teams are pretty much self-organizing and not much is dictated in a top-down fashion. For example, some teams practice agile development, others do not. Projects that have an important milestone coming up will likely work harder than average, but in general I have found the work hours to be very reasonable. Each team figures this out for themselves, but on our team we did not have any predefined work hours. Some of us liked to start early and leave at a reasonable time, and others rarely made it into the office before noon and liked to work late instead.
April 15th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Zzzzz.
Everyone and their mom wants to start a business. But only a very small handful, nay fingernailful will succeed. And with the economy the way it is right now, you picked a hell of a time to do it.
You should’ve stayed at Google.
April 16th, 2008 at 12:25 am
Nice art. Lately I also realised, that if Google wants you - it’s high time to start your own business. Surely you must be excited right now and I envy you
I wish you well
April 16th, 2008 at 6:58 am
Good luck on moving forward. Can a freshmen like me working in Google ??
April 16th, 2008 at 7:48 am
[…] claims to have worked as a software engineer for the Google AdWords Report Center wrote a blog post detailing why he quit Google. The post mentions a great many benefits and joys of working at Google, but then also goes into […]
April 16th, 2008 at 9:00 am
I feel the same way 100% and progressing on my startup as well!
It does not matter solely on money, perks, etc. but more so with purpose and meaning. Without those two things, life without them is not living.
This is a well written piece. I did not care how long it was, but the expression of your ideals is told honesty and with passion.
Not too many people can recognize or achieve this level of understanding.
April 16th, 2008 at 9:38 am
[…] DigitalHobbit » Blog Archive » On Leaving Google (tags: Google leave job toread) […]
April 16th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Argyre: Thanks for the comment, and good luck with your own startup!
April 16th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
[…] postów temu da?em link do filmu z biura google, a teraz dam do bloga, na którym o tym, dlaczego warto rzuci? t? […]
April 16th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
[…] says he used to work on AdWords, Google’s lucrative if straightforward ad-selling system, has written a blog post explaining why he’s leaving the search giant. Unfortunately, his tenure at Google did not include a tutorial on the use of the […]
April 17th, 2008 at 6:49 am
What about all I’ve heard about 20% time and founders grants? Is that more myth than fact?
April 19th, 2008 at 2:31 am
[…] April 19, 2008 at 11:30 · Filed under Syndicated In light of recent events: On Leaving Google. […]
April 20th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Good Luck!
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I would take a risk and start working at google if they would send me a mail
“Hi Kuba, we want you in Google”
May 7th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
hi