Dan Griffin's Blog
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Private tour of Google’s Seattle office
January 16, 2008
I was very fortunate, while attending a Google open house in their Fremont (Seattle) office last night, to get a private tour of the facility (the tour group consisted of me and two friends, guided by a former colleague).
Let me summarize - Google looks like a great place to work! The in-office benefits include messages, free breakfast/lunch/dinner, and a big game room (Xbox, pool, air hockey, arcade machine). Plus you’ll get a great salary and the opportunity to work with smart people.
So much for the perks. What’s it like to actually get meaningful work done there? Well, I don’t think you can learn that during just a quick visit. That said, based on the layout of the office, and from talking to employees, Google understands how to create a collaborative work environment.
It appears to be a very engineering-driven company. I got the impression that, especially in a satellite office, there could be disappointment if you want to collaborate with other disciplines (marketing, sales) in order to see your ideas bear fruit. But if you have more of a software-researcher mentality, it would probably be quite satisfying.
If you’re passionate about the web, about attracting new users, and about expanding and tuning the online advertising business, I can think of no better place to do it than Google.
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