back to article Life at Googleplex REVEALED in hot pics

Ever wondered what it would be like to work in the bosom of a warm, cuddly company for which making money is incidental to saving/taking over the world? A place so magical and mysterious that it has been nicknamed The Chocolate Factory after Roald Dahl's immortal creation? Well, wonder no more, as Mountain View has chosen to …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What a waste

    That is all.

    1. Annihilator
      WTF?

      Re: What a waste

      Of?...

  2. Arnold Lieberman
    Facepalm

    Bleedin' elf'n'safety

    For once I think they should have a word... all that lounging around whilst tapping away on laptops must be chiropractor's wet dream. By the time these kids reach 30 Google will have either assimilated their brains directly, or disappeared.

  3. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

    The bastards stole the puddings

    I'm still sad, having read that Google's CEO hid the pudding in a different room to the rest of the dinner. I have this mental image of Page, sitting in a huge room, with a mountain of yummy puddings, all to himself...

    I don't get this open plan, 'relaxing', working environment though. Surely the most productive way to work, is to have a dedicated desk, with room for all the pens, phones, pads, files/manuals and other crap you want. Plus 2 or 3 screens and a proper keyboard and mouse. And no hot-desking, so you have to clean everything up every day.

    I'm not advocating drowning in reams of paper. But my technical file is 3" thick. Sure I've got all the various datasheets on the computer, but when it comes to selecting the right product, while on the phone with the customer, my fat file o' stuff comes out top every time. I still prefer a paper manual as well, but that may be different for coders.

    1. Yet Another Commentard

      Re: The bastards stole the puddings

      It would be, but you’d still have to clear a lot of it away to comply with the security clear desk policy. Back in the Dark Ages when my dad still worked his desk was like a bureau. At the end of each day he would pull the cover over his work, pens, (days long before computers) and whatever, locked it and left. Now I have to file everything (read – dump in a drawer), unplug all the electrics, clear the desk down, even if I am to return to the same spot the next day. So half an hour wasted every morning and evening. Ho-hum, you can’t stop progress.

      It’s a bit like open-plan and hot-desking. Seems it makes me more productive to be in a noisy area with a half chance of getting a desk (whether booked or not), but my superiors work better with a permanent desk. In an office.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The bastards stole the puddings

      My 'tidying down' policy consists of windows+L and leaving via the nearest exit.

    3. This post has been deleted by its author

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    To hell with the office.

    I'd like to see inside the homes of those Google employees.

    (And surely so would they, now and then.)

    1. Piro Silver badge
      Pint

      Re: To hell with the office.

      How about this one? A LAN-party optimised house: http://kentonsprojects.blogspot.com/2011/12/lan-party-optimized-house.html

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: To hell with the office.

      I'd like to see the women's showers with Marissa Meyer in there.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: To hell with the office.

      "depending on the team, the work, personal preference, etc"

      Personal preference i.e. think taht being seen with a MAC makes them cool!

      Oh how you are mistaken!

      1. Doogie1
        Facepalm

        Re: Re: To hell with the office.

        "Personal preference i.e. think taht being seen with a MAC makes them cool!"

        But an inability to correctly type 3 and 4 letters words does?

      2. TomS_

        Re: Re: To hell with the office.

        "Just to look cool"? Seriousley?

        I use a Mac at work, and at home, and the reasons for doing so couldnt be further from trying to look cool. Its purely functional. OS X is a very unixey OS under the hood (having its roots in BSD, afterall), but without needing to look after it like a regular *nix box. It also looks nicer than Windows IMO, its refeshing. :-)

        For me, that is what counts. I work in a technical environment (telecommunications, specifically networking and IP), and the in-the-box utilities that come with OS X and many other *nixes are simply better than those on Windows - but thats entirely from the point of view of my particular job. For others they may be perfectly fine.

        Sure I could just use Ubuntu or one of the many other more so user friendly *nix distros, but Ive also grown to like OS X and have a good selection of software that I am familiar with, and TBH Im just happy right where I am - thats the preference bit coming into play.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I wish I was...

    ...smart/committed enough to work at Google.

    But here I am, commenting on El Reg.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I wish I was...

      I hear they keep staff for that too, so you still have a chance.

      Email google HR with subject "astroturfing offer". Tell them Ken sent you.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Re: I wish I was...

        See? It's 25c per downvote too.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Seems a replica of a University campus from which - in their minds - they probably never left anyway.

    However without the jock types there's no one around to use the sports facilities.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    could be worse

    You could have to work in a Facebook factory: http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_19217500

    1. Suburban Inmate
      Meh

      Could be worse still.

      You could be _making_ their trendy apples and lappys!

  8. AndrueC Silver badge
    WTF?

    Putting green? With half a dozen holes?

    If I worked at Google I'd want a full-size 18 hole course thank-you-very-much.

    1. Marvin the Martian

      It looks like a rendering.

      I guess the employees cannot find the putting green (nor the basketball courts), because they're just architects' renderings...

      1. Evan Essence
        Thumb Up

        Re: It looks like a rendering.

        Yep, my thought too.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No wonder it's all empty

    Googlers have been deserting the company since 2009...

    http://techcrunch.com/2009/01/18/why-google-employees-quit/

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Shock horror expose!

      Lid blown off fatuous lifestyle of tedious Bay Area hipster pseudo-techies in an article by...

      ... Techcrunch.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Seems about right, spend all day updating your Twatter feed or your Facebook status, get sod all done! More so if you're lounging around on bean-bags with your Macbook like a bunch of bone-idle sixth formers!

  11. Jim 59

    Offices

    American companies often provide palatial office environments but what people really want is to enjoy their work and feel valued. A great job in a grotty office is much better than being a nobody in Herman Miller heaven.

  12. dotdavid
    Thumb Up

    Where are the employees?

    From the photos it looks like most of them sit in the canteen all day.

    That's the kind of work I could really put 110% into, I think.

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Happy

      Re: Where are the employees?

      When I was last job-hunting, I saw an advert for biscuit taster, for United Biscuits. Sadly it was only part time, so I didn't apply. But I suppose I should have. I'd have been 'poor but happy'...

      1. AdamWill

        Re: Re: Where are the employees?

        you think that now, but bear in mind that the double choc-chips of this world don't really need any more taste testing. everyone knows they're good. you'd probably have been working on the edgy, experimental zucchini-and-jalapeno side of the cookie development business.

        1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
          Happy

          Re: Re: Re: Where are the employees?

          Zucchini and jalapeno cookies...

          You have a sick mind! You must have, to even have though of that. You've trampled on my dreams.

          [runs off sobbing]

          You may have a good point though. I've seen some pretty icky snacks recently. I had some garlic flavoured lemonade when I was in Austria a couple of years ago. If you're interested it doesn't taste quite as bad as it sounds...

          However I saw an advert on TV for a biscuit where they've put the layer of chocolate on the inside, so you can dunk it without ruining your tea. Also you can avoid getting chocolatey fingers. Now that's innovation of the highest quality, and the sort of thing that's going to get our economy back on track. And I would have been honoured, no humbled, to help with the testing of such a groundbreaking invention.

  13. Evil Auditor Silver badge

    Re cafeteria pic

    What is the guy with glasses sniffin' in?!

  14. Kristian Walsh Silver badge

    Carefully constructed traps

    I distrust companies that put toys and games into their offices. It makes the place look employee-friendly when you're being interviewed, but I always suspected that the real reason they were there to provide easy grounds for dismissal ("... and here you are again on CCTV, playing pool while the project slips").

    Personally, I favour the Germanic model: A workplace is for work, not recreation. Social activities happen outside work.

    On open-plan offices, there's a lot of research to back up "I ain't Spartacus" above: it would appear that while creative people think they need to talk to each other and brainstorm, the creative *work* they do actually improves if they're given isolation, peace and quiet. Creativity requires concentration, and interruptions can destroy this so easily.

    (I read about one worker who had to resorted to using the broom cupboard when they had to produce anything important, because it was the only secluded space free in the company's brand-new open-plan "creative space").

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Carefully constructed traps

      "Creativity requires concentration, and interruptions can destroy this so easily."

      Would someone please tell my wife this so that she'll stop calling me at work five times a day? Apparently it's meaningless coming from me.

  15. Ian Ferguson

    My favourite comment

    https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/104898479113219628100/albums/5708663721118034737/5708663818866980802

    Second comment

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    So - what do the El Reg offices look like?

    Would be an interesting comparison....:)

    1. MrJP
      Thumb Up

      Re: So - what do the El Reg offices look like?

      Great call, come on Vultures, show us what's under your feathers!

    2. auburnman
      Go

      Re: So - what do the El Reg offices look like?

      Thirded! Vulture Central candids!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Please don't!

        Would spoil my post-apocalyptical mental image of it.

        If needs must then get Terry Gilliam to do it.

    3. Graham Dawson Silver badge
      Pint

      Re: So - what do the El Reg offices look like?

      A pub.

  17. TheOtherHobbes

    That looks

    really ordinary.

  18. bobdobbs
    Facepalm

    the chubby embearded fellow...

    ...is clearly not working on a macbook.

    el reg, el reg.... where are your journalistic standards headed?! No longer even looking at the photos you're writing about?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: the chubby embearded fellow...

      Actually the only other chubby bloke in that photo also has a red laptop of some non- description, maybe a Dell.

      Must be a trend amongst chubby folk then.

  19. All names Taken
    Happy

    It is official

    Dear google

    You may employ me if you wish.

    But! The risk are yours?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It is official

      Get in touch when your learn how to write

      Yours sincerely,

      Google

  20. Skydreamer
    Unhappy

    That's not a window

    At first glance I thought the cafeteria had a huge window looking out into the woodland but then saw the real (small) window to the left.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: That's not a window

      I didn't quite think that. I thought, why have they got a photo of trees on the wall, when it looks like there are trees outside anyway.

      Then I remembered, they can't control the weather and seasons. Yet.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Headmaster

    I blame the mothers!

    Oy! You!

    Get those dirty boots off the cushions!

  22. Morten Bjoernsvik
    Mushroom

    SGI buildings 40-43

    The cafeteria looked better when it was part of MIPS/SGI campus and was called Cafe Ozone.

    It cost almost nothing to eat and the quality of the food was exceptionally.

    SGI sold the buildings to a joint venture firm for around $800mill and leased it back. It financed the company deficit for years.

  23. John 62

    photo quality

    those photos are a bit poor.

  24. Fintan
    FAIL

    Could be any large IT Multinational.

    OOOH... AAAAH... Colors and games.

    Whats new here? Anyone seen inside Microsoft campus? Microsoft India has basketball courts, tennis courts, a GIANT pond, games rooms etc.

    I can only guess what is in Redmond HQ.

    Even the small Subs like in Ireland have nice gardens, games rooms good canteens, relaxation areas etc.

    All giant Multinational IT companies have the same set up.

    This does nothing but prove Google are another giant evil corporation pretending to be "cool" and "hip" and able to "dig it" with the youths. Yeah man (said the way your mum would say "yeah Man"!)

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