How Google Works

What Hacker News says

1. ignoramousApr 2023
   I taught Celullar Networks and Android Internals at my alma mater just this past semester and can relate with TFA.

   It took 4 to 6 hours of prep to deliver a one hour class. Preparing from existing course materials available online or from YouTube and Wikipedia was the fastest as opposed to going through the text books.

   I found it very hard to know when to go fast and when to go slow, what to skip and what to include. The feedback coming through wasn't real-time. I kept surprise open-notes tests to gauge where the class was lacking.

   Students have a very short attention span. It is hard to keep them engaged throughout the period. I always start by summarising topics from the previous class. I also spoke to them multiple times and at length about concentration, but I guess the length was also a problem.

   I believe some students are vehemently visual learners and prefer PPTs and videos. I shared links I thought were high quality with them via a Google doc and updated them every week.

   Everyone used ChatGPT for assignments and some used it for preparing for exams.

   It was jarring to see some students be in a perennial state of distraction (and be slave to their smartphones).

   After the semester ended, with the money I earned taking the class (it wasn't much at all), I bought every student one among Pragmatic Programmer, Algorithms to Live By, Deep Work, Outliers, How Google Works, Why We Sleep. In the hope that it inculcates in them the habit reading books to progress in their careers.

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2. dekhnJan 2023
   better to join google and go through all the internal history docs, memes (from the beginning) and ask the old timers.

   The best books I've read (in terms of truthfully representing what it's like On the Inside) are In The Plex (hilarious because Hackers is what got me to Google), How Google Works (a bit silly, but does have some business knowledge from eric), Voices From The Valley.

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3. bwh2Jun 2021
   I enjoyed these books:

   * Strategy Rules

   * How Google Works

   * Founders at Work

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4. throwaway29303May 2021
   No, however, please note the following:

   Companies, like customers, have requirements for their needs. If a company needs a potential employee to know how to invert a binary tree then it's in their right to find one.

   In Google's case, as you're probably alluding to[0], although I might be mistaken, they've always had the reputation for seeking the best qualified people[1] for their work. I mean look at who's working for them - there's a lot of well-known people in their respective fields that are working for them.

   Moreover, I think that the point of these tests is to help assess a potential employee's abstract thinking. And, probably, to understand one's thought process behind the solution - if there's one - to the given problem. (Which, by the way, might be helpful if you're trying to solve AI - something that's right up in Google's alley ;).

   Despite the backlash over this, I believe companies will keep doing these types of tests for a long, long time. I don't think this is going away that easily. And I also think that, in the future, these tests might be done in a way you won't even know you're being tested for.

   [0] - https://twitter.com/mxcl/status/608682016205344768

   [1] - I understand that "best qualified" here might mean different things for different people, but you should take it literally, that is, people who are above the average in terms of abstract thinking. I suggest you read How Google Works[2], they've coined the term Smart Creative which is kind of(?) related to this.

   [2] - https://www.howgoogleworks.net/

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5. bwh2Apr 2021
   Specifically to your question of defining the best features, goals, and products, I recommend these books:

   * 20 YC Lessons

   * Outcomes Over Output (a lightweight version of The Lean Startup)

   * Strategy Rules

   * How Google Works

   Here's the rest of my Product Manager book reviews: https://www.briansnotes.io/audience/product-manager/

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6. nkkavNov 2020
   On the cheap side, books, but not all of them. My buys are "hit or miss", lately mostly hits.

   I would recommend:

   - The Elements of Style, aka, "the Little book". Made me a credible editor (and documentation writer at the time) almost at zero time.

   - Zero to One: in-depth, honest, and non-conformist view of the tech startup landscape. "How Google Works" is a close second.

   - The Embedded Systems Dictionary. Not in print but the second-hand paperback is worth it. Great refresher, written with a wit.

   Another book I use is "The Developer's Guide to Debugging".

   In general I like zero-bullshit or more politely, zero fat books. "The Elements of Style" is one. "The Developer's Guide to Debugging" is also very low in fat, war stories and other nonsense.

   There are other books that I like that are less influential.

   Aphorism: I don't believe in software books. Exceptions are well-researched reference volumes, e.g., "C: A Reference Manual, 5th edition". I believe in undisputed truths, not in one person's preference or experience over another's.

   These days I mostly consult manuals and standard documents. Technical books will only give you that much; see them as a vehicle to learn how to learn. Exceptions are again reference handbooks, that will have to be exhaustive.

   I don't believe in trainings, fast, slow or anything. Self-learner here, learned reading by myself around the age of 3 (shocking revelation: have you realized that you can only recall detailed memories only after you have learnt how to read?) Actually it was exactly the winter of 1980 (born 1977). I was a serviceable reader by the coming of sprint 1980 and could read subtitles as fast as the adult is assumed to by early 1981. Educated physicist but self-educated programmer.

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