Googleversary

As of today, I’ve been employed by Google for fifteen years.

As I’ve written on past anniversaries, I had never previously stayed at any one company for more than five years. And when I started at Google, it wasn’t a very good fit. (For example, at the time, I liked to refer to the company as “the largest collection of extrovert geeks in the known universe.” I, an introvert, sometimes had a hard time dealing with that.) I almost quit at least twice in the first few months; in particular, the time that they told us we would have to share beds with co-workers on the mandatory companywide ski trip was very offputting. (I eventually got out of it by visiting my grandmother Helen for her birthday instead.)

But over time, the company and I grew more compatible. It has made some deeply unfortunate missteps in recent years, and it still has a lot of work to do on (among other things) the employee-diversity front. But there’s still a lot to like about it—great people, amazing perks. Unless certain things get significantly worse, I expect to stick around for a while longer.

See also the blog entry that I posted on my first day.

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