Angus Kidman16 January 2009, 9:00 AM
Google is sacking engineers and other staff across the globe, but that rationalisation is not set to impact its Sydney engineering and development centre.
Google's mixture of setting your own hours, free food and massage in its offices, and allowing developers 20% of their time to pursue individual projects have made it look like the dream job for many a geek and non-geek alike. However, right now a lot of Googlers are learning that when it comes to listed companies, there's really no such thing as a job for life.
The official Google blog today revealed that Google was planning to shut down three of its engineering offices in Texas, Norway and Sweden. "Our strong desire is to keep as many of these 70 engineering employees at Google as possible," SVP of engineering and research Alan Eustace wrote — but of course many people don't fancy uprooting their entire family no matter how appealing the job.
Google made a similar closure of an Arizona facility last year. For a company that has previously said that engineers are one of its most critical resources, that's a major shift. As well, Google announced that it was planning to lay off around 100 of its recruitment staff — so the chances of getting a job with the big G in any capacity are likely to drop significantly no matter what your area of expertise.
Centralisation to its head Mountain View location and other key offices could potentially represent a threat to Google's Sydney office, which acts not just as a sales hub for Google's insanely popular online advertising programs, but also hosts one of Google's larger offshore development programs. Many of the core functions in Google Maps, including Street View, were first developed in Sydney, and the local engineers also work on Google Apps and other projects.
However, according to Google Australia head of corporate affairs Rob Shilkin, there are "no current plans" to change anything in the Sydney operation. "Globally, we've been working to reduce fragmentation within engineering for over a year and have no plans to announce anything further," Shilkin told APC. For now, it seems, the Sydney Google geeks are safe.