tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post3123179799589050699..comments2024-03-28T00:36:13.790-07:00Comments on Volatile and Decentralized: Day in the Life of a Google ManagerMatt Welshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255792550910131960noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-72653724434814992092015-01-30T18:49:31.846-08:002015-01-30T18:49:31.846-08:00When you do get to do some coding, is it all in Go...When you do get to do some coding, is it all in Go? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-25742347354948602392015-01-28T12:00:36.788-08:002015-01-28T12:00:36.788-08:00Every tenured professor (at Harvard and elsewhere)...Every tenured professor (at Harvard and elsewhere) smiled when you revealed you have to do pager duty in your 40s. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-59451813504026817122015-01-25T08:15:25.252-08:002015-01-25T08:15:25.252-08:00In a past life, i ran a simular life as a search e...In a past life, i ran a simular life as a search engineering manager at yahoo in london, except the 10 min commute for me was a 90 minute commute. One thing i notice about organisations is that the bigger they get the more people are involved in doing simple things. More fiefdoms with moats and walls around them. We once worked out that to change the copyright notice on the bottom of every page in the y! Network, would cost millions of dollars, take 4 years and would involve over a 1000 people, and over a year of continious meeting time. Operating in that kind of swampland requires a certain patience. <br />Tim Hawkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04013723343348879839noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-86365738933647601382015-01-24T06:03:22.505-08:002015-01-24T06:03:22.505-08:00I don't understand what you're getting at....I don't understand what you're getting at. I'm describing a fairly typical 40-hour work week. Obviously I'm not working on the weekend and this post doesn't say anything about the rest of my personal life. Matt Welshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07077674014671176946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-87996309596463097562015-01-24T04:32:41.420-08:002015-01-24T04:32:41.420-08:00> From the website domain, he seems to be writi...> From the website domain, he seems to be writing from Austria?<br /><br />They try to serve everything from a local top level domain. I get my country top-level domain here as well.<br /><br /> Don't know why they do it, I guess it has been a contributing factor to why I don't use blogger much anymore, but I guess since blogger is part of google they have done it for a reason. I mean google wouldn't break something that worked perfectly well for no reason?Erik Ihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01074575686725401302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-60850675254646593282015-01-24T03:19:23.951-08:002015-01-24T03:19:23.951-08:00I oppose, I liked reading it.I oppose, I liked reading it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-2543525912574197602015-01-24T03:17:09.661-08:002015-01-24T03:17:09.661-08:00From the website domain, he seems to be writing fr...From the website domain, he seems to be writing from Austria?<br /><br />Here it seems quite normal, that you can leave earlier. I work at a company with so called "core time" from 9am to 3pm, so I can leave at 3pm if I like, as long as I do my scheduled work hours (38.5 per week) over the whole year. Normally, meetings are also scheduled in this window. Only one time I had one (with external company) which lasted until 5pm on Friday - which sucks, because normally on Friday, everyone leaves at 3pm.<br /><br />Another job offer in Austria also had this core time system. And I think in Germany it's normal, too. At least for software developers it seems so.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-40290673104058194952015-01-24T02:00:05.217-08:002015-01-24T02:00:05.217-08:00Wow! that sounds like a dream. My day as a manager...Wow! that sounds like a dream. My day as a manager consists of endless meetings with clueless other managers, and then being endlessly chased by my micro... nah, make that nanomanager about random bugs that no one care about and then trying to make some sense of our roadmap, with architects too busy working on their pet project.<br />My employees are feral and react very badly to me trying to get some coding done, their image of the manager is defo the man with the stickAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-52412228555716835552015-01-24T01:52:02.807-08:002015-01-24T01:52:02.807-08:00And how is he going to use that money when he'...And how is he going to use that money when he's always at work?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-52774339995276840192015-01-23T22:40:24.425-08:002015-01-23T22:40:24.425-08:00It was a fun post and agrees with my experiences. ...It was a fun post and agrees with my experiences. But 1Q84 - it's not worth it. It really isn't.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-86300135628588931872015-01-23T22:19:46.820-08:002015-01-23T22:19:46.820-08:00I think Google pays him.I think Google pays him.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-20667162638735386822015-01-23T21:11:03.179-08:002015-01-23T21:11:03.179-08:00This is interesting to read, but it sounds like hi...This is interesting to read, but it sounds like his time is really completely dominated by the company. His personal time is so valuable, and yet he is giving it away. The one thing you can never get back is time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-38728197931294436542015-01-23T18:47:57.680-08:002015-01-23T18:47:57.680-08:00Matt, I don't know if this is only for you/tea...Matt, I don't know if this is only for you/team or pretty similar across Google. In Microsoft where I am currently working, I do see different situations from team to team. In some team it is pretty hectics, in some other teams it can be quite flexible like this. Also, I have been in both situations and overall it is not that much different from Microsoft or a startup that I was in few years ago. If you enjoy it there why don't you also consider Microsoft? You can work on HoloLens :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-21605636369299427592015-01-23T18:02:06.337-08:002015-01-23T18:02:06.337-08:00How hard of a struggle is it for you to give up pr...How hard of a struggle is it for you to give up precious coding time? It seems like you miss it. How do you put aside time for continuous learning? Do you rely on the engineers on your team to help educate you on new techniques? Great post.Kenny Bastanihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09075390099600561724noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-36715056473998776042015-01-23T10:25:40.628-08:002015-01-23T10:25:40.628-08:00Sounds pretty sweet. Similar to management roles a...Sounds pretty sweet. Similar to management roles at other large tech companies, I think, but still interesting. One big difference might be that the culture is so accepting of leaving at 4pm and then filling in with a little more work in the evening. That's a rarity in my experience; time in building can be the primary signal of working hard in large companies despite the obvious low quality of that signal. Thanks for posting the details.Greg Lindenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09216403000599463072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-90068975893233780052015-01-23T07:08:11.943-08:002015-01-23T07:08:11.943-08:00I've posted about this before, but I do miss w...I've posted about this before, but I do miss working with students and teaching. Matt Welshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07077674014671176946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-2598443342390029662015-01-23T07:08:05.935-08:002015-01-23T07:08:05.935-08:00I've posted about this before, but I do miss w...I've posted about this before, but I do miss working with students and teaching. Matt Welshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07077674014671176946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-86197673630980788512015-01-23T01:00:59.161-08:002015-01-23T01:00:59.161-08:00"my work-life balance still feels much better..."my work-life balance still feels much better than as an academic" - just to tell us, to convince yourself, both? <br />The whole set of posts seems to be very pro-Google, there should be something you are missing, no?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com