3rd Innings starts…

My blog is titled ‘Singularity’ and it means (in physics) ‘a point where all known laws break down’. When I think about it I always feel I can relate it to my life easily. I often run into problems for which even the concerned authorities have no solution! Singularity also means (in mathematics) a point where a curve shoots upto infinity. A point which troubles mathematicians when they are doing some calculations. Probably that fits me too. Visa officers and even my employers faced difficulties in dealing with my case. Even now I have no clue what will happen in my life after couple of years!

People who know me well know that this was my 3rd innings in India. My first innings started on 1996 and lasted for 9 years upto 2005. That was my ‘learning’ phase. That was followed by a enjoyable first job phase from 2005 to 2008. Now in 2008 I am back here to work for the Big G!

This blog is to register some of my first impressions about the Big G! First impressions are always worth recording. So let me start,

• First thing first – Food! It looks like Google has chosen food to impress employees. Starting from snacks to lunch they are really good (Someone please ask me about food after 2 months )
• Informal work environment – This is something I like a lot. No dress code! The cubicle arrangements, toys kept in cubicles, etc also emphasizes this informal appearance.
• Bigger monitors – I am fan of bigger monitors. I personally own a 22″ monitor. But 30″ monitors I am seeing only here for the first time! Many people use dual monitors too.
• We know it first feeling – I think this is the most important part of working in any (globally used) product  based company. You see the products first! Then only customers (who are none other than your relatives and friends) see it.
• Elite group – Being a TopCoder member and regular contestant over there, seeing 3 names out of TopCoder’s top 4 contestants (global ranking) in Google gives a great feeling.
• Friendly atmosphere – All the managers and employees I have met so far are very friendly. I know, nowadays being friendly is part of all IT companies’ culture. But judging from the way, Google approached my visa issue, I would say, Google stands a bit ahead of others in being employee friendly.
• Flexible timings – Google seems to be following flexible work timings. As long as the work is done and you attend your scheduled meetings, there seems to be no problems. Probably every team has its own timings.

These are the initial impressions I got today. Let me see how things are going to turn out in future and how my 3rd innings is going to be shaped…