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This right here is a lot more dodgy, in my opinion.

http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-google-offer-415-million-to-settle-poaching-lawsuit/

Let's peer rank @Evelynx! xD

I didn't mean to imply that Google or any company was great or perfect...different people are suited for different types of workplaces, but I think the ideals of the book are inspirational. I believe in giving the average person the opportunity to jump in and make an impact for themselves and the company, data-driven decision making, and making the company the sort of place that talented, highly motivated people would like to work for. I think in their core, most people want to make their mark on the world...to make a difference somewhere, and the biggest mistake that most companies make is not allowing their employees to do so due to corporate/administrative hubris.

To be fair I hear Valve is a nice play to work at. The employee handbook is online somewhere...

EDIT:found it!

Thanks for the link! I read through it last night and thoroughly enjoyed it...it gave me inspiration and ideas.

Google's (now former) head of HR wrote a book with a lot of detail about how HR at Google is run and some insights into how to run a company. I'd recommend it. I haven't read it myself, but I've read enough of Laszlo's other stuff that I think I have the basics: https://www.amazon.com/Work-Rules-Insights-Inside-Transform/dp/1455554790"

I actually have this book on my Amazon wishlist...it was the initial book I wanted to read, but it wasn't in the Scribd library and How Google Works was...I hope to be able to pick up that one in the near-future too.

This right here is a lot more dodgy, in my opinion.

http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-google-offer-415-million-to-settle-poaching-lawsuit/

I don't condone this behaviour, but I doubt its purpose was to keep wages low as the article says. There's a lot of competition between tech companies for the best talent, and the companies spend a lot of money to recruit and maintain them, which are investments that they lose if they go to another company. Also, when someone moves to a competitor, there's always the chance they'll bring what they know from their first company with them...non-disclosure agreements may prevent this from explicitly happening, but there's nothing that can stop it from implicitly happening. More than likely, this was done to protect the companies competitive advantages, I would think.

Setting up a soft non-compete policy is dodgy no matter which way you look at it. If a company wants to keep talent, then they should inspire their employees to stay through generating a good work environment, paying them what they're due and so forth.

The federal judge obviously had a reason for rejecting that first offer, and the US Department of justice were investigating them in 2009 already. And despite what the companies may say, I just don't trust them. At least 65 000 of their employees got screwed badly enough to launch a successful class action suit, and it's not often a judge steps in to reject a proposed settlement.

That being said, dig deep enough into any company's history, and you're bound to find some dirt.

EDIT: A complete recounting of events: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_Litigation

One of the best books I've read this year has been "How Google Works" by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg...it was so inspirational I actually purchased the hardback version when it was removed from Scribd. But what I liked so much about it was the section on workplace culture and some of the rules they followed at Google to create a workplace culture that attracted and empowered smart employees and promoted meritocracy. Why can't more business leaders do that? It seems so simple, yet so many places...so many businesses hire good people and then proceed to not give a shit about their input, instead following their own odd, clueless, and unproductive whims.

I just don't get it. >_>

Man, I've heard so many horror stories about working at Google. They do like.. peer ranking. That's where you take all your coworkers, rank them from 1 - x by order of competence, then submit it to your supervisors or you're fired. They are all innovative and stuff but I feel like that kind of thing is a little fucked.

Hi @Evelynx, I'm still around here.

I'm alive, and doing somewhat well, for those who care to find out how I'm doing.  I can be found in the #chronicles channel if people wish to talk to me and stay in touch.

Anyhow, a friend of mine, who is a Test Engineer at Google, had this to say:

"that's an interesting statement you heard

Microsoft used to have a stack rank but they got rid of it. Google explicitly does not have a stack rank and to my knowledge never has had one.

There is a peer review system. You are encouraged to seek peer feedback and also to give it. All feedback (giving and receiving) is optional, however.

Google's (now former) head of HR wrote a book with a lot of detail about how HR at Google is run and some insights into how to run a company. I'd recommend it. I haven't read it myself, but I've read enough of Laszlo's other stuff that I think I have the basics: https://www.amazon.com/Work-Rules-Insights-Inside-Transform/dp/1455554790"

TLDR Evelynx, the horror stories are just stories, not actual stuff, unless you actually know someone at Google who disagrees.

Yeah, my stories are from actual google employees as of 2 weeks ago. Google definitely does do stack ranking. It also depends heavily on where you work in Google.

http://www.25hoursaday.com/weblog/2013/11/11/StackRankingWhyAreAmazonFacebookAndYahooCopyingMicrosoftsPerformanceReviewSystem.aspx

I'm sure some people love it at Google, but some people really really don't.

Did you know them personally?  So far my friend works as a TE he hasn't seen stacked ranking where he works at. He would have known for sure.

Setting up a soft non-compete policy is dodgy no matter which way you look at it. If a company wants to keep talent, then they should inspire their employees to stay through generating a good work environment, paying them what they're due and so forth.

The federal judge obviously had a reason for rejecting that first offer, and the US Department of justice were investigating them in 2009 already. And despite what the companies may say, I just don't trust them. At least 65 000 of their employees got screwed badly enough to launch a successful class action suit, and it's not often a judge steps in to reject a proposed settlement.

That being said, dig deep enough into any company's history, and you're bound to find some dirt.

As I said, I don't condone it, I just thought the article's conclusion that they did it to keep wages low was probably a bit narrow. What you say is true, but I suppose that's true about any organization or group of people...I wonder what the dirt is on Wintreath? =o =P

The article didn't really draw that conclusion on its own, but it did sensationalise an allegation made by the plaintiffs, somewhat.

hey guys im back! my internet was down for a week...anyhoo back to business as usual 

Welcome back! We wondered in IRC where you'd gone off to.

I've decided to try out some podcasts, normally I find them boring but I figured I might want to try it out. I've started with a few programming oriented podcasts atm though.

So my friend zack and I are thinking about doing some YouTube let's play videos as our characters linda and jane. Two bored housewives that sound like the Jewish couple from princess bride. Good idea? Offensive? I'm not entirely sure.

I am thinking of you.....

A podcast  I found that I might have liked turns out to no longer have any episodes online, or at least not the episodes I want to see..

So my friend zack and I are thinking about doing some YouTube let's play videos as our characters linda and jane. Two bored housewives that sound like the Jewish couple from princess bride. Good idea? Offensive? I'm not entirely sure.

Your friend Zach? Your not Francis York Morgan by any chance, are you?

I found a podcast I like! Programmer Throwdown. I like that it avoids the seemingly common trend in podcasts/programming podcasts where there are mainly interviews and the like. There is decent humor that works with me too. The episodes tend to drag near the end though. HOWEVER I can deal with the last 10 or 15 minutes dragging.

First day of classes...always a busy day for IT. I believe that all the work I've put into writing scripts to identify and fix things like disabled/expired accounts and making sure students have online classes that they should has helped though. It hasn't been quite as hectic as in years past.