楽園の裏側 / The Other Side of Paradise
(English follows.)
昨年の１月末にインターン採用の連絡を貰ってからというもの、僕は事あるごとにグーグル本社の様子について検索をかけ、色とりどりのパラソルの下食事をする自分の姿や、シリコンバレーの中枢をgBike*で颯爽と駆け抜ける自分の姿を想像し、心踊らせていた。何より、自分が大学に入って以来真面目に取り組み続けてきた結果として、業界の最先端で仕事が出来るのが嬉しくて仕方なく、有意義で実り多いものとなるであろう来る夏の３ヶ月に日々想いを馳せていた。
素晴らしい労働環境や好条件が提供される一方、一部の金融企業などと異なりワークライフバランスが保たれている事などが魅力なのか、グーグルは働きたい企業ランキング１位に毎年選出されている。出勤初日はインターンが全員集められてオリエンテーションがあったのだが、皆この世の楽園にたどり着いたかのような喜びに溢れていた。当時僕はリターンオファーが喉から手が出るほど欲しかったので、死ぬ気で働こうと決意を新たにし、浮ついた連中とは距離を置こうなどと生意気に考えていた一方で、やはり僕もかなり浮ついていたのだと思う。
業務が始まって１週間程たった頃だろうか。食堂で朝食をとっていると、隣に座っていたエンジニアと思しき二人の会話が聞こえてきた。検索の最大手に訴えられるのはできるだけ避けたいので詳細は伏せるが、
A: 今度うちのチームでやるプロジェクトのリーダーを任される事になったよ。
B: おめでとう！どんなプロジェクトなの？
A: グーグルが新しくXXXを作る事になったんだ。それのYYYの部分を担当する。
B: へえ、すごいじゃないか。昇進だ！
A: うん…だた、正直あまり手放しで喜んでいる訳でもないんだ。なんだか何度も何度も同じ事をしている気がしてね。グーグルに来る前にいた会社でもXXXを作って、実はその前の会社でもXXXをやってたんだ。まあその技能を買われてグーグルに来たからそれを任されるのは至極当然なんだけど、代わり映えがしなくって。このプロジェクトが終わっても、俺はXXXを任され続けるんだろうなあ。
グーグルほど巨大なコードベースであっても、その開発と保守を世界全体に散らばっている優秀なエンジニア50000人で割ると、末端のエンジニアに回されるタスクは極限まで細分化されたものである場合が多い。これはマイクロソフトで働いていた人の言葉だが、大企業の技術職につくと一つの狭い分野に特化しがちなのだそうだ。自分で率先して勉強しない限り、その分野の知識が深まっていくばかりで広がりがないのだろう。
もちろん自分の専門分野に誇りを持って仕事をするエンジニアもいるのだろうが、上述の悩めるスペシャリストのように、仕事の範囲の狭さや単調さに息苦しさを感じる人間もいる。僕は恐らく後者で、Google+のAndroid版のとある画面を一夏かけて作り続けたのだが、脳の一部分しか使っていないような気だるさを感じた。HTMLを書かされているコンピューターサイエンスのPhDがごろごろいる職場と言えば、エンジニアたちの余りあるポテンシャルのほんの一部分だけがグーグルに買われている事がお分かり頂けるだろうか。
12週間のインターンシップの中で、僕はグーグルの名と好条件とに恥じない、素晴らしいの一言に尽きるエンジニアと数多く接する貴重な体験ができた。一方で、若くして高給と安定とを手にする引き換えに、大企業の一歯車となることに甘んじてしまった人間たちも見受けられ、自分も一歩間違えばああなりうる環境なのかと思うと、キラキラのキャンパスが少しくすんで見えるような気がした 。向上心や独創性を削がれ、自分の本当にやりたい事を忘れ、上から与えられた仕事をただこなすだけの姿は見ていて物悲しく、業界の最先端を行くグーグル内に、高給と美味しい食堂の料理に身を委ねるばかりの人間たちがいたのはとても残念に思う。
技術は加速度的に進歩しており、それにより２０年後にはエンジニアがいらなくなるなどという大胆な予測まで出てきている。その予言の真偽はさておき、IT産業で必要とされるスキルが今後も大きく・速く変わっていく事は間違い無くて、高給と引き換えにぼやっと与えられた事だけをこなし続けて例えば30歳になったときに、優秀な新入社員と大きく差別化がはかれるスキルが身についている保証はどこにもない。
僕と同じような考え方をする人たちは、仮にグーグルなどの大企業に就職しても２〜３年で辞め、大学院・ PhDに進んだり、起業をしたり、もう少し小さいところに転職することで、スキルアップを図るパターンが多いようだ。僕はまだ会ったことはないが、ビジネススクールに進むのなんかも面白いんじゃないかと最近では思っている。
学びの多い夏であったし、インターン先に大企業を選択した事に後悔は無い。しかしあれだけ欲しかったリターンオファーは、今となっては当初の輝きを失っている。僕が思うようにグーグルは本当に大企業病を患っているのかもしれないし、そもそも僕の理想が高すぎただけの事で、現実にはグーグル以上なんてないのかもしれない。それはこれから色々な物を見て、経験して判断して行くつもりだ。いずれにせよ、仮に大企業に就職することになったなら、魅力的な待遇の裏側を意識し、危機感を持ち続けられるよう、今のうちから自分を戒めておこうと思う。
Since I received my offer letter last January, I would often pull up images of Googleplex and be lost in thought about my life there, where I would eat under the colorful parasols, and zip thorough the heart of Silicon Valley on gBikes*. Most of all, I was carried away by the sense of reward and accomplishment that the time and effort I had put into studying Computer Science have paid off, and I was about to take part in one of the leading and most exciting companies in the industry.
Google is well known for offering its employees highly favorable perks and salary that are comparable to those of top-notch finance firms, while guaranteeing a decent work-life balance at the same time, and perhaps because of this, they have ranked first multiple times in best-companies-to-work-at rankings. Vast majority of the interns I encountered during orientation week were, understandably, filled with joy as if they had reached Paradise. After observing these people, I made a brash determination that I would keep distance from the bunch that were overexcited, and focus on working my ass off, since I desperately wanted a return offer. Taking advantage of hindsight however, I was also just another clueless, overexcited intern.
Around a week in my internship, I was eating breakfast at one of the cafeterias on Google campus, and I overheard the conversation between two engineers sitting next to me. I’ll remove details since I prefer not to be sued by one of the largest tech company out there, but it went something like this:
A: I’m going to be the tech lead for this new project our team is doing.
B: Wow, congrats! What’s the project?
A: Google is making a new XXX, and I’ll be in charge of the YYY component of it.
B: Man that’s amazing. Promotion right there!
A: Yeah… To be really honest with you, I’m not all that hyped about this. It just seems like I’m doing the same thing over and over again. I was actually making XXX at another company before coming to Google, and I was also making XXX at the company I was at before that. It totally makes sense since Google hired me for my knowledge in XXX, but everything is just so predictable. I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing XXX even after this project, and I just don’t know how I feel about that.
Despite the numerous products that Google produces and the enormous codebase that lie underneath them, when its development and maintenance are split among 50,000 brilliant engineers distributed around the world, the tasks of engineers tend to be silo-ed in. According to my acquaintance that used to work at Microsoft, engineers at big tech companies tend to have to focus and specialize on a very narrow field. He argues that unless one takes the initiative to expand his or her skill sets, it will only develop in depth.
I’m sure there are plenty of engineers that are proud of their focused skills and job, but like the agonized specialist I overheard at breakfast, there are also those that are disappointed by restrictive and monotonic tasks. I belong to the latter, and I experienced a heavy fatigue of utilizing only limited parts of my brain, while I was working on one single screen of the Google+ Android app throughout the entire summer. The fact that there are PhDs that write HTML may convey how brilliant talent at Google are at times underutilized.
During my 12-week long internship, I was able to meet engineers who were absolutely brilliant, inspiring, and by all means deserved the extravagant treatment by Google. However, I also met those who became but a cog in a great machine in exchange of achieving high salary and job stability at an early stage of their career. Knowing that Google is a company that harbors some employees with such base morale, and I have the chance of becoming like them were I to enter Google full time, what at first seemed like beautiful campus full of vibrant colors is not as appealing anymore. It was saddening to see those who had lost creativity and desire to improve oneself, and had forgotten his or her own goals and motivation. It is truly unfortunate that these employees sell off their youth in return of high salary and great cafeteria food and that this happens at Google, one of the leading tech companies in the world.
Technology is moving forward at an increasing rate, and some even claim that this will make software engineering an obsolete profession in 20 years. While this prophecy may be a little daring, the skills required by the industry will change largely and rapidly, and if one thoughtlessly spends time at large tech companies selling off their youth, there is no guarantee that, say at the age of 30, one has built up the skill-sets that would set her or him apart from incoming brilliant engineers.
I’ve encountered a handful of people that share similar viewpoints as me. As for these people, even if they do start out their career at a large tech company like Google, they have moved on or intend to move on after a couple of years to graduate schools, PhD programs, startups, or other smaller companies. Business school may also be an interesting next step although I haven’t had the chance to meet anyone like that yet.
My internship at Google was a truly educational experience, and I have absolutely no regret that I chose to work there. However, the return offer that I had craved for so much has lost its luster. As I suspect and have pointed out, Google may actually be suffering from inefficiencies inherent in large firms, or this may be completely false, and I just have unrealistically high expectations for workplaces. I plan to read, see, and experience more in order to see which is the case. Either way, if I do decide to work at a big tech company, I must stay alarmed and continue to be aware of the other side of the beautiful campus, the great food, and the appealing salary.
