Back To Career News

5 Bad Things About Working at Google (According to Google Employees)

Topics:

Google is the dream employer for many software engineers and developers. Who wouldn’t want to work among some of the most creative minds in the industry, while scarfing down free cereal and taking up to five months of maternity leave?

google hq 

(Photo Credit: affiliate/Flickr)

But a recent Business Insider piece reminds us that there’s no such thing as a perfect job. Inspired by this Quora thread, Jim Edwards compiles some of current and former Google employees’ complaints.

Do You Know What You're Worth?

1. When everyone is awesome, no one is awesome.

Google has some of the smartest people in the world working for them, which means that even boring jobs are staffed by genius-level IQs.

“The worst part of working at Google, for many people, is that they’re overqualified for their job,” writes one Quora user. “Google has a very high hiring bar due to the strength of the brand name, the pay & perks, and the very positive work culture. As a result, they have their pick of bright candidates, even for the most low-level roles.”

2. Google is not a start-up anymore.

If you want to work in a cutting-edge environment with a lot of room for growth and no office politics, Google might not be for you. It’s a big company now, and knowing how to play the game is essential.

3. Middle management is … well, middle management.

Middle managers at many companies are forced to focus on metrics to the exclusion of other factors, and Google is no different. In fact, one Google employee says, it might be easier for mid-level people at Google to get away with failing to inspire their reports, because they have the Google name to lean on.

4. Office space is cramped.

“…if you have to work in one of the four main campus buildings, you will most likely be extremely cramped,” writes one Google employee. “It’s not uncommon to see 3-4 employees in a single cube, or several managers sharing an office. With all the open areas for food, games, TV, tech talks, etc, it can be surprisingly hard to find a quiet, private place to think.”

5. You can’t work from home.

In an industry where flexible schedules and remote working agreements are almost expected perks, Google stands out as a rare example of a company that won’t let its employees work from home. Bad news if you’re someone who thinks better in his jammies.

Tell Us What You Think

What’s the worst thing about your job? We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or join the discussion on Twitter.

Jen Hubley Luckwaldt
Read more from Jen

1
Leave a Reply

avatar
1 Comment threads
0 Thread replies
0 Followers
 
Most reacted comment
Hottest comment thread
0 Comment authors
Willem Kramer Recent comment authors
  Subscribe  
newest oldest most voted
Notify of
Willem Kramer
Guest
Willem Kramer

At 1.Even if boring jobs are staffed by brilliant iqs that means they should not ruin all the stuff , like youtube and translation could use some improvement, and its good you opened map maker since some adresses were streets away where they shouldve been. At 2.But I guess it’s so bad since no one is learning anything to improve their stuff. 3 You will find greedy lazy people in every job, but some wont notice, 4 get rid of… Read more »

What Am I Worth?

What your skills are worth in the job market is constantly changing.