girl geek in training

Game on

Glassdoor.com came out with a list of the 50 best places to work according to the employees of said places. I was surprised, but not, that Facebook was #1. I was quite surprised that Google came in 29 places behind Facebook at #30. Given that there are many, may companies to work for in the world, in the grand scheme of things these are both awesome places to work at.

Yet, by reading some of the ratings for each company, you can also see why many former Googlers are heading to Facebook. Facebook’s employees talk about an open, non-hierarchical environment where they can experiment and try out news thing. Google’s employees do talk about the great perks of working there (top notch pay), but it seems that as the company matures, only engineers get to do any of the on-the-job experimenting.

I think the transition from scrappy innovator to established business is likely difficult for any new company that was initially built in a very non-corporate, creative way. In fact, I just read an article yesterday about how creative types don’t get promoted. Is it inevitable that a company that grows must become more constrained? I wonder if there might be any benefit to staying small.

The mighty Google.

Tonight in Chicago there was a Google Technology User Group (GTUG) event to which I had received many e-mail invites and had no intention of going to because I have working and preparing for moving to day. Of course, I don’t go and everyone gets Google Chrome OS laptops!

Instead of just sulking, I decided to throw my hat in for their pilot program. It’s a long shot, but it’s better than doing nothing.

Make phone calls through a hot dress? Bananas!

Holy crap, this dress is awesome! You can insert your SIM card into it and answer phone calls by putting your hand up to your ear. This dress + my superheroine boots >> win!

Bravo Cute Circuit! (h/t Girly Geekdom)

I <3 Google

The big geeky news for the week was probably that Apple, for the first time ever, surpassed Microsoft in stock-market capitalization. Not that I even truly know what the means. I know little about how the stock market really works. It all just seems like the big privileged kid’s Monopoly game. That being said, it was a big f’ing deal for a lot of people who are into that sort of thing. However, this article from Barron’s explains why it doesn’t really mean a whole lot.

Personally, I consider myself a PC if it comes down to choosing. I grew up using PCs and I can afford to buy PCs. In addition, I think Windows 7 is about the niftiest OS to come out of the Microsoft shop, but I have also seen the havoc that Vista (the Windows ME of the new millennium) has wreaked on my mother’s computer(s). Yes, plural. I also really, really love Office 2007.

However, if it came down to whose post-apocalyptic baby I would carry, that goes to Google. If/when the Google OS comes out, well, I might have to switch. My loyalty to Google is irrational. Not that it has no basis, but I fail to question anything Google does because, obviously, Google wants me to be happy. I remember when I was first introduced to the Google search engine near the beginning of the 2000′s. It was the first time I felt like I could actually find things on the web. Certainly, there was much more of an adventure vibe to the web pre-Google as in you-never-know-what-you-might-get, but, yeah, I’d rather find things I’m actually looking for. I recall being aghast when a kid I was working with on a project was vehemently against using Google Analytics for a web project we were working on. He thought it was a breach of user’s privacy. Could he be right? Eh, maybe. I still use Google Analytics for my own websites though. (The issue of web privacy is something I’d like to tackle in a separate post.)

All of the above being said, I think there is room for everyone and I like having the choice. Smooches to Google.