It's
been almost a year since Google restructured itself, creating Alphabet and
handing the CEO reigns of Google proper to Sundar Pichai.
By
nearly all accounts Pichai is a wildly popular CEO. Still, while its boss is
highly respected, working for Google these days isn't exactly perfect, some
Googlers complain. Here's
a rundown on what it's like to work with Pichai directly, and what some Googlers
are saying about their company these days.
Before being named CEO of
Google in August, 2015, Pichai was already a powerful leader at Google, as its
product chief. Pichai's first big success came
after Google hit an infamous "Doomsday" situation: Microsoft changed
the default search engine on Internet Explorer to Bing. In those days, 2006,
almost everyone used IE. Pichai was responsible for coming up with a response.
His solution? A "Google Toolbar" that PC makers installed directly
onto their PC and browser.
Pichai then led the development
of Chrome. All of these early successes helped him with two qualities: he
became a master politician within Google and the industry at large, and he
became known for getting things done through partnerships, without making
enemies.
Pichai also became known for a
close relationship with Larry Page. Some people began to see him as Page's
"interpreter," able to take Page's vision and execute it,
coordinating the work between groups at Google.
He also has the reputation of
being a visionary himself with clear ideas on how Google should evolve its
services, from imbuing them with artificial intelligence/machine learning to
how to make the mobile web faster.
Pichai's style is to sit
quietly in a meeting and listen to everyone, then deliver an idea that could
work for everyone.
Pichai
is also famous for a nearly photographic memory, especially of numbers. He's
been known to sometimes show off his memory at meetings.
Pichai
is soft spoken, but he thinks and talks quickly. Pichai has always been
well-liked as a leader at Google more focused on results than on ego/getting
credit. As a CEO his popularity has soared. One Googler on Quora wrote,
"He is literally worshipped inside Google. Engineers love him. Product
Managers love him. Business people love him."
Another
Googler wrote, "He can express very complex ideas in simple terms, often
tailored well to the target audience. Even when someone asks him what might be
a seemingly fickle question, he takes the time to answer well."
Those
qualities have given him a 98% approval rating on Glassdoor. He has been named
one of the highest rated CEOs on Glassdoor for 2016.
All
that said, Pichai has taken over an absolutely enormous company. Google's
parent, Alphabet, employs near 62,000 people, most of whom work for Google.
And
that means that there are some less-than-wonderful things about working at
Google, even under someone as popular as Pichai. For instance,
some employees complain there's a lot of politics at the company and the
quality of your work life depends very much on the group you are in. One
employee on Glassdoor writes that there's a "huge discrepancy in how
different departments are treated. Work/life balance is poor to medium
(depending on department)."
An often repeated complaint on
Glassdoor is that, because Google is so big these days, it suffers from
"too much bureaucracy."
That said, many employees who
joined after Pichai took over are overwhelmingly positive about their job and
the company's culture. "The perks and benefits are everything you've heard
before, and more. I'm surprised daily. I've been in and around the Valley for
20+ years at some of the biggest companies in tech. Nothing comes close to my
experience here at Google. Every new person I meet is the smartest person I've
ever met. The work is compelling, the environment is a conduit for
creativity."
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