Marked for Dearth

Friday was my last day at Google - bittersweet and slightly surreal. I remember flying in to interview at the old Bayshore campus during my senior year of college, sleep-deprived and over-caffeinated, hands shaking at the whiteboard. Google’s reputation preceded it, and I fully expected to be taken down a peg or two. But instead, what really stood out from that day was how welcoming and genuinely pleased everyone seemed to be there. Work was fun, and they didn’t have to try very hard to show it. A friendly guy named Jeff had me scrawl my answer on a napkin while the two of us sipped drinks at a picnic table. I was sold. Four years on, and I can’t think of a better way to have spent the time. I’ve worked on some great teams with some inspiring people and accumulated a dresser drawer’s worth of multicolored swag.

Despite my earnest attempt to escape the garden variety departure post, you won’t find any parting shots here. Google has taken a scrappy startup culture known for transparency, dedication to end users, and - most famously - free lunches, and made it work at the scale of a multinational Fortune 500, just four years after going public. There are cracks in the pavement, to be sure, but how could there not be? Even a small amount of backseat driving here would unfairly detract from this achievement.

Thanks for a great run, Google!