10^100! This was the inspiration behind the identity of one of the most successful IT companies in recent history. Yes I am talking about the infamous Google Inc. Founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google, today, is a phenomenon deeply-rooted in pop-culture.Google’s origins are akin to the start-up stories of many of its brethren. Both the founders were college students who set off to revolutionize the Tech world with their innovation, a search engine that analyzed the relationships between websites and which ranked results according to the number of times the search term appeared on a page. Their product (aptly called Google Search) soon became a preferred search engine among users across the Tech spectrum. Finding out details about anybody is as simple as Googling (A term used in most tech and social circles indicating searching for details using the Google Search Engine) that person. A simple search throws back at you more information than you bargained for!
Through a series of new product developments, acquisitions and partnerships, the company has expanded its initial search and advertising business into other areas, including web-based email, online mapping, office productivity, and video sharing, among others.
One reason that Google has been able to carve a home for itself among the techies across the world is its anti-corporate image. Google Inc. is synonymous with a laid-back casual work-environment where employees are encouraged to work on non-project ideas as often as possible. This hippyisque attitude of the company, in the age of suits, has largely appealed to the techie populous, which has grown up on the philosophy, ‘Live and Let Live!’. It seems ironical that a corporate entity actually generates huge sums of revenue when it in fact promotes such a non-capitalistic ideal!
Google Inc.’s work culture, albeit criticized, is perhaps the most envied by every newbie techie. Casual dress code, flexible hours, fully stocked restaurant-style cafeterias, a pet welcome policy, video games, the list just goes on! No wonder, they have one of the most stringent placement programs known!
Google has succeeded in burrowing a hole in all our web-based requirements. Right from the Search engine, to Office software (Google Docs), to planners (Google Calender), to Maps (Google Earth), to imaging tools (Picasa), to Email (Gmail!), Google has left no stone in the cyber-world unturned.
With a mission statement that reads “To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful”, Google, with its wide array of products and services, is certainly going to continue breaking new ground in the IT Universe.
This post was originally an editorial for the weekly office newsletter and was written almost a year and a half ago, so if the context seems out-of-date, then don't go all gung-ho on your comments!
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definitely makes one wish workplaces were like google's but all good things come to an end, I guess google's will also come..... This view is rooted in the belief that there is no Utopia.
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