In the end, it was inevitable. It was part of my reason to turn down their full-time offer and accept another company's. Last summer when I was an intern at Google, free cookies at 3pm were discontinued. By the time I got back in June 2009, we didn't even have a Tech Stop in my building anymore. No dance party, etc. Still, to me at least, this is not yet the time when Google became just another company. The stuff you learn there, the technology at your fingertips, and the capable co-workers are still amazing.
But it's headed that way. In the next 5-10 years, I predict the following will happen to Google. Most of it is quite obvious:
a. a major PR disaster, such as significant cloud data loss, or poor availability numbers for a day or week, something like that
b. stock will not have the same phenomenal growth
c. loss of search market share (of which a big deal will be made, but really, soon it will have nowhere to go, but down)
For me the deciding factors in choosing another offer were:
a. bigger company size => little chance to "change the world" like Eric Schmidt still likes to say
b. much better stock packages from my other options (Facebook's was essentially 4 times Google's at the latest valuation, and I do understand that's because of the higher risk, but for a college grad, that should be a no-brainer).
c. bonus perk I believe Google never had: 21 business days of vacation.
But it's headed that way. In the next 5-10 years, I predict the following will happen to Google. Most of it is quite obvious: a. a major PR disaster, such as significant cloud data loss, or poor availability numbers for a day or week, something like that b. stock will not have the same phenomenal growth c. loss of search market share (of which a big deal will be made, but really, soon it will have nowhere to go, but down)
For me the deciding factors in choosing another offer were: a. bigger company size => little chance to "change the world" like Eric Schmidt still likes to say b. much better stock packages from my other options (Facebook's was essentially 4 times Google's at the latest valuation, and I do understand that's because of the higher risk, but for a college grad, that should be a no-brainer). c. bonus perk I believe Google never had: 21 business days of vacation.