I've only been here a day and a half, but I'm already starting to get a feel for how the company operates. My first day was spent entirely in new-hire orientation, which was not as boring as you'd think. Most of the presenters were amusing and quirky, and I think this is the first orientation that hasn't tempted me to sleep.
Everyone here seems like they are a very good fit for the job. We were told during orientation that we weren't just hired because we knew what we were doing, but personality played a big part as well. I have to wonder what they were thinking if they decided to hire me because of my personality. :) I am not exactly the easiest person to get along with at times.
I spent part of today in training, and the rest of the day going through all of Yahoo!'s policies and guidelines. They actually have guidelines on blogging, a subject you don't often see in most employee handbooks (other than a simple "don't blog."). Naturally, this was one of the first documents I read.
It's very laid back here, from the game rooms to the free iced chai (my favorite!) to the work-from-home days that employees are encouraged to take. You can't walk around a corner without someone trying to feed you. Yes, I can tell that working here is going to be horrible for my diet. Everyone seems geniunely happy about being here.
The campus is beautiful. It doesn't make me think of a typical work environment at all. You rarely see a solitary person walking by. It's usually a small group of people, laughing and talking among themselves. You can see the SF Bay in the distance from the sports courts. Everything you could ever possibly want is on campus. If you don't want to go home, you don't have to. Y! has dry cleaning, haircuts, oil changes, a state of the art gym, several places to grab food, and even Y! Mart, which is similar to a 711 convenience store. The only thing they are missing is beds to nap on. I wonder if they actually have those, and I just haven't seen them yet.
The culture here reminds me a lot of Google. Now, I never worked at Google, but I did get to hang around some Google people quite a bit, so I did gather some impressions of what life as a Google employee was like. The main difference that I've found is that Y! doesn't have a "drink the koolaid" mentality. Google reminded me (and many others) of a cult. Google employees rarely left their work at the office. No, they had to take it home with them - and they never shut up about working for Google and how great it was, ever.
After dating Greg for a while, I finally broke and had to talk to him about it because it grated on my nerves so much. We were out grocery shopping, and I wanted to buy some Red Bull. He threw a fit because of how much the store charged for it, stating "well at GOOGLE, we get it for free". Screw you, buddy. Put the goddamn Red Bull in the cart.
During our first day of orientation, we were asked why we wanted to come work for Yahoo!. My answer was simple. Spite.
