Sunday, December 31

Google's Googlers

From Matt Cutts recent blog post:
Words can’t express how much I respect my colleagues at Google, but I’ll try. Googlers are smart, rational, and polite. They execute well on projects and listen to objections with an open mind. When they run up against an obstacle, they get creative and look for a new approach to solve the problem. Among the hundreds of Googlers I know, there’s also a strong streak of wanting to change the world for the better.
He's got a pretty good description started but I think theres more than that as well. From my experience theres no way to describe being Google-ly you just are or aren't, and you can read it in an instant, it's a feeling/vibe you get from the person I guess. I've never seen people love their work as much as they do at Google. Their faces light up as you talk about their project or the problem they are having with it. I know mostly Interns but I've seen these qualities across all Googlers. These people are smart. But more importantly they really care. Sometimes they come up with amazing product ideas that could change the world and personally I think they are blinded by the good they think it will do. They don't see the malicious ways their product could be used right away. As time goes on there may be a need for more critics inside Google that people will listen to. I think this will become a major responsibility of the User Experience Researchers at Google. Not only to figure out that the product is easy to use for every user but to make sure that its not ominous or scary to the user AND to ensure that the malicious uses of the product are at least known and discussed.

I think, like many, that Google has grown to a very interesting point, where it goes in the next few years will be fun to watch. I read about 2006 being a record year for them... they were in the news just about every day.

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