It’s more of creating a positive “culture”. It’s not the lunch itself - it’s the environment that is created by lunch, zip lines, massages, and other stuff like that. A good environment is more valuable to young employees than an incremental increase in compensation.
These are just jargons and buzzwords- culture, positive environment etc. I dont think creativity comes from abundance, rather from scarcity. Not sure if they have done anything superior to the original search engine code, written what a decade earlier- adjusted for time, resources, capital and all those luxuries you think its necessary. Just make- believe to keep the show running.
Wow! I made it. But I thought JDV had 10k or something… maybe the count is off.
Anyway, the guantlet is thrown, JDV!
It does seem that artistic creativity comes out of frustration and challenge, but if the problems are so challenging, maybe that’s enough (or you can get a manager to scream at you, but that doesn’t fit with the culture - even though it probably happens).
I think it’s more that insights come at strange times, and so techniques to ensure that employees are able to convert their insights into useful stuff at the company are helpful. Thus, relaxed meditative states can be helpful (very California-y), and just ensuring that employees are on “campus” as much as possible is useful.
I believe when we migrated to the new site, there were posts that were not counted. I also remember seeing JDV in the 5 figures.
Ping Pong sounds great to me 
I actually play ping pong in college…and pretty good at it…rated on national ranking…maybe i should highlight my ping pong skills and google would notice me :\
Put it in the hobbies section on your CV !
One of the questions I got asked during dinner before interviews for a regional firm was “I work with people who are successful. They just don’t get good grades in school, they were also Olympic athletes. Tell me why you are exception and it can’t be school related.”
I went first and answered the best I could. I’m not going to have a book written about me, but I did a lot of outside stuff in college that at least shows I’m not lazy. I was the only one who could answer the question and not look dumbfounded. Next day when that guy interviewed me, he said he was very impressed with my answer. Too bad I wasn’t a ping pong champion, that would’ve been amazing to reply. Well, sir I’m a nationally ranked ping pong champion ha ha
At my first graduate job I just told them I thought I showed my capability by coming over to an entire new country all by myself and succeeded in supporting myself by working part time while studying and adapting to a new language / being independent etc… And they were impressed enough
^ out of school, you’re not expected to know a whole lot. That’s why they get a higher share of brain teasers. Once you have experience, no one really cares about that stuff anymore
I think the point in them giving free lunch/ping pong/etc. is that it creates an environment that young, talented, 20-something engineers want to be around - i.e. they don’t leave the goodleplex as quickly as they would a cubicle.
Google is banking on the idea that if they can keep their employees hanging around the office playing ping pong, they’ll be much less likely to flee the campus at 5pm - on top of that, freeing their minds of travel/eating arrangements probably leaves them to focus even more on the task at hand.
This…essentially making it into a college library/dorm setting.