As a long time Googler (more than 10 years), it pains me to write this, but it has gotten so bad that I feel compelled. Google used to be a place driven by a culture of collaboration, innovation, and, well, Googleyness. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. The culture has descended into one where employees are pitted against each other by a rating system that forces managers to choose their best team members, no matter what. Got a team of all-stars? Too bad, some of them are still going to get bad reviews. Want everyone on your team to work together for a common goal? Sorry, everyone feels like they need to keep their best ideas protected because it’s survival of the fittest. As a result, I have seen great employees forced out, moral destroyed, and careers ruined as the system chews employees up and spits them out. It has taken me a long time to get to this place, as I forced myself for years to see the Google I once loved and not the Google that now exists. It is all very sad.
I know many ex-Googlers from the early days who despise what Google has become. It pains me to say that the company I once loved and admired has become what it says it never would be, evil.
