Thanks for writing this and good for you to finally leave that wasteland. I learned an important lesson on my first job "Don't be suckered into being loyal to your company because, no matter what they say, they are loyal to share holders, not to you".
On a side note, I don't understand the fetish with Google; where does this reality distortion come from that they have the best engineers? At _every_ company I have worked for I have been told "we have the best engineers" :) (I've been in Silicon Valley for 17+ years and Google is not that exceptional).
It's part of a subtle marketing machine. It starts with the interview process
Did you realize that Google is the single company in which people are actually bragging about interviewing there? (even if the outcome was negative)
They also select a specific type of engineers that are influenceable enough to be convinced that everyone at Google are the absolute best. Those same engineers are then writing those type of Blog posts in which they pound the message over and over about being the best. It's a win-win. Good for their own ego, and good for the company as side marketing.
Now, I'm not saying that they are below average, but in the valley, I don't think Google has any more talents than other companies that don't make such a big deal about being the best
Thats coz, You sign a waiver as part of your "1 week intensive keeping secrets bootcamp + orientation" that Thou shalt not blog about anything while you are employed at Apple. That means anything. Infact there is a very stringent policy on what is acceptable and not kosher when it comes to posting on social media. Thats why you dont see anything from Apple employees. Not that they didnt buy in to the Steve Jobs Think Different, Your work is so much more important than yourself Koolaid. Its just that posting anything without approvals can be a career limiting move. Source- Have a couple of friends working on Hardware side and one working Frameworks test group.
On a side note, I don't understand the fetish with Google; where does this reality distortion come from that they have the best engineers? At _every_ company I have worked for I have been told "we have the best engineers" :) (I've been in Silicon Valley for 17+ years and Google is not that exceptional).