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Google-land, Dublin

I got up at half past noon today and have therefore rectified my lack of sleep problem. I quickly showered and met Marco for lunch at his office. He works for Google. Let me tell you that if you are looking for an exciting job, this could be it. Fun looking and more relaxed than any workplace I have ever been to. The employees were all given the afternoon off today in respect to the upcoming new year - but they didn't announce it until after lunch. I think this is pretty cool considering, because it benefited the people who had sucked it up and come to work anyway instead of taking a half day. He gave me a tour of the building including a conference room and his floor.

There are little kitchens and game tables (ping pong, foosball, pool tables) on basically every floor. The walls are decorated with pictures of places all around the world and cut out designs of beaches, lady bugs, suns, and plants. There are bean bags on the floor every two rows of desks or so, and there are giant exercise balls to play with just rolling about in corners and next to the multi-colored couches on every floor as well. In the reception area, there was a massage chair in one corner and the front desk was lit by lava lamps in addition to the ceiling lights. On the sole wall in the lobby that didn't have a Google promotional poster, there was a rolling feed of the searches being typed into Google right now (including misspelling in some cases). The atmosphere is incredible.

Also, there are snack counters and open drink stations posted on either side of each floor, which are free to employees and guests. Lunch was served buffet style with someone to help you toast your bagels and a variety of spreads to put on it. Lunch is always on the company if you eat in the office. In the near future they hope to expand to 600 more employees and have already taken the empty office building next door to accomodate them. They will be building an employee gym there as well.

**This company has gone to incredible lengths to make their employees happy. I think this is important considering the monotony of monitoring computer screens all day, but there are also interesting business practices at work here. Serving lunch guarantees the employees can get back to their desks on time. Good atmosphere breeds friendship and better team dynamics - which is important when you are adding as many new employees a year as Google does. When the employees found out they had a half day, many of them were still there, talking with co-workers and planning their weekends together. Put their friends at work and they are less likely to leave early to see them. Good ideas if you decide to start your own business one day.**

Check out Marco's blog about working there if you are truly interested in the subject. If you are just starting out on your career path, working for one of the fastest growing companies in the world might make a good resume builder; not to mention giving you valuable workplace experience in a job that you are bound to enjoy. More about the rest of the day in a seperate blog, I think I'm getting a little too long here. Loveya, ~ Heather

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