I dreamt that I was interviewed for a job by Google a few nights ago. I had this impression that Google was the sort of intelligent, caring, but serious tech company that I could be comfortable contributing to the world through and with. I think this was a way my mind was responding to the fact that there are increasingly fewer and fewer companies who are really looking out for consumers.
Social Media reveals that the world is more ugly place than you thought it was
Maybe this is the curse of social media – a few million voices speaking at the same time, against a few seemingly large companies, who are seen as singular entities that can move in any direction at the blink of an eye. All this talk about how Apple is screwing up the App Store, how new Palm Pre ads are really creepy, and how Flickr is really starting to lose it makes me think no company is ever safe anymore, but senior executives continue to push the ball.
But my dream turned a bit odd as I was given a tour of the offices, and they seemed overly convoluted and the people a bit off. It was reminiscent of a time when I was working in an old-fashioned Malaysian company a few years ago who refused to do things better just because the old ways seemed to be more convenient. The scene played out like a battle between two worlds I’ve been trying to reconcile for the last 10 years.
The solution is to get better at solving things the way we’ve always been: with politics
Maybe I’m being an ideallist, but I’m afraid of working with people who aren’t open to new ideas, and solving problems. Actually, worse – I’m afraid of people who won’t change, for whatever reason. But then, I’m quite like that as well. So it seems like it’s all going to pot.
And I’m guessing politics must’ve been the oldest profession in the book. Which means to say that I’m going to have to learn the art of negotiation, persuasion or whatever else it is people use to get stuff done.
And I don’t think getting hired by Google is going to make it any better.
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