Play hockey at Google

I don’t do Googler-only posts that often, but this is one. Everyone who is not a Googler, please stop reading–thanks!

Okay, now it’s just me and 9,378 Googlers, according to the latest public numbers. Hola, recent Googlers! As Google gets bigger, it’s important to maintain our Googliness for as long as possible. But what can you do to help preserve Google’s culture? Well, there are lots of ways, but I’ll just suggest one for now.

I submit that if you work in Mountain View, you should try playing roller hockey. We play Tuesdays and Thursdays around 4pm or so. If you’d like more information, go to Google’s intranet search and search for [roller hockey]. Look for the page with “RollerHockey” in the title. It’s a little-known fact that once you play hockey 7-8 times (enough to show that you play regularly), Google will reimburse much of the cost of protective gear.

If you don’t work at Google (hey, why are you reading this post?!), first get a job at Google, then come join us for roller hockey. ๐Ÿ™‚

66 Responses to Play hockey at Google (Leave a comment)

  1. Matt

    Whats “roller hockey”?

    Thanks

  2. It would be fun to watch a match “Spammers” vs “Googlers” ๐Ÿ™‚

  3. at least show us (non googler) your roller hockey photos…

  4. Thanks much, Mark

    Now I see whats โ€œroller hockeyโ€ all about ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. Erm… Not sure id get through the interview….

    So past experience….. erm… well i used to… oh right better not mention that

  6. Is Google too cool for Internal memos?

    How about a bit of honesty:

    “Join Google and they’ll use any old trick to get you to spend your every waking minute inside the Googleplex?”

    Seriously though, I thought this tactic died at the end of the last dot.com boom. The general consensus seemed to be that encouraging workers to spend longer hours in the office works only in the short term.

    In the long term, productivity suffers as deprivation of external stimuli eventually stifles innovation.

  7. First hire us, THEN invite us to play Hockey ๐Ÿ™‚ Sounds fun though.

  8. >If you donโ€™t work at Google
    I guess we can play as opponents and if that is not possible, we can simply watch the game ;~) what do you say ?

  9. Paul, they’d never employ someone as bald as you ๐Ÿ™

  10. What, Google’s internal search doesn’t have intitle: support? ๐Ÿ˜‰

  11. I will not relocate my daughter to another city and take a new job just to play roller hockey.
    I will not relocate my daughter to another city and take a new job just to play roller hockey.
    I will not relocate my daughter to another city and take a new job just to play roller hockey.
    I will not relocate my daughter to another city and take a new job just to play roller hockey.
    I will not relocate my daughter to another city and take a new job just to play roller hockey.
    I will not relocate my daughter to another city and take a new job just to play roller hockey.

    I’m running out of chalk here.

  12. Hi Matt, I’d like to apply for a position with the hockey team….uh….I mean Google.

  13. Matt.. I’m an avid ice and roller hockey player, and I already have the gear.

    now… how about that job?

  14. Sorry, not a Googler, but I couldn’t resist reading.
    Ice hockey is better!

  15. Yes, I will like to be a part of Google just to play the hockey :). I could easily cross the spam protection maths, will that help me get into Google :). Sorry I had to read the whole post as I expected a post on Japanese high-tech commode with a heated seat :).

  16. Ha ha ha ha…. Lol@SEOidiot….

    C’mon dude, give it a shot anyways.. just don’t wear a hat :0)

  17. I wonder how the Googlers would do in a game against one of the gangs of RollerHockey players who crash the handball courts in NYC parks on weekends and take over the place?

    They always get thier way, who is going to mess with a bunch of guys in protective gear with sticks and all you have is a small blue ball…..

  18. I thought you meant real hockey with real ice….just saying.

  19. I would love to work for Google! When will you folks be opening an office in Honolulu?

  20. Have you ever seen the requirements to get a job at Google? Not for people who haven’t been to college.

  21. Actually, at this year’s SES SJ, a few of us Canadians were looking for a game. Perhaps something to organize for next year?

  22. Chris, it’s not even for people who have been to college. It’s for the cream of the crop.

    I’ve been through the phone interview process, I’ve talked to recruiters. If you want to be looked down upon, that’s the place to do it.

    The job I applied for made no mention of python in it’s description, but then I was told since I only took a beginner course in python, and am not an expert that I’d stand no chance of passing the next level interview, but if I want to try here’s a worksheet. I sent back the worksheet the next day to no response. Got no response on the 2 followup emails either.

  23. Ryan

    Lets have some fun while Matt is suffering now for sure of “off caffeine” symptoms ๐Ÿ™‚

    Tell us Rayan. Why do you want to work for Google?

  24. Matt, when was the last time you went home and spent more than 20 hours at home?

  25. Noted evangelist Guy Kawasaki is a big ice hockey dude – you guys should get him out there … or better yet, have him put together an Apple Team and challenge the Googler’s … on pavement and on ice … ๐Ÿ˜‰

  26. Harith, i hate those questions.

    let’s see.. my answer to “why do you want to go to Michigan” was “i like the football helmets” so can I get away with “i like the search engine” or how about “i wanna wear jeans to work?” “i like good food and bean bag chairs?” Hmm doubt those will work…

    How about “I want to get the heck out of Detroit and work somewhere where the biggest challenge I face isn’t ‘find a way to do more in less time..then next week, find a way to do even more in even less time…'”

    To tell the truth, I’d rather be asked to estimate how many gas stations are in America than to answer teh ‘why do you want to work here / where do you see yourself in 5 years’ type questions.

    (side note: I once didn’t get a job for answering the “where do you see yourself in 5 years” question with “on the other side of this desk”)

  27. Maintaining Google’s culture and principles should be the #1 priority if it is not already.

  28. A couple guys I work with have played ice hockey against Guy Kawasaki and have said he’s very aggressive. Some of the corporate teams around here have been playing for longer than Google has been in existence and they’re very serious about it. Maybe Google should start off with someone easier, say, the folks at Clusty.

  29. Now you’re just teasing us.
    Google doesn’t want to hire me, and I don’t want to move to the States or Switzerland or Ireland this year. Not even Sydney (nasty busy place…).
    So, I’ll just stay Down here and not play roller hockey, eh?

  30. Roller Hockey? Is that like the same game in the movie Rollerball? Sure! I’d love to play that game! ๐Ÿ™‚

  31. I thought the RH looked fun when I saw Netscape’s pics of RH way back in the day.

    The comment on the size was fuuny though ive worked in places (BT) were the main development group have multiple sub groups bigger than that.

    And thats not counting Cellnet, Syncordia, ect and thats ingnoring Comedy Net (well we tried hard to any how)

    Rob there leaving early to play sport how is that getting them to spend time inside the googleplex?

  32. So, besides roller hockey, what is required to get a job at Google? I wonder if they hire diverse people from all walks of life to create innovate ideas and solutions… oh that was the FBI ๐Ÿ™‚

  33. OK, I don’t have a degree that Google would want me to have to work there. I don’t live near the Bay area nor do I know how to skate or technically know how to play Hockey correctly, (what the heck is offsides??? I could never quite figure that one out all the way)… Think Google could hire me to teach me the ins and outs of hockey? ๐Ÿ˜›

  34. Ah so this is why Google Ireland turned my job application down, I mentioned that I dont like RollerHockey.

  35. I’m from Texas. There is no ice. I’m sure roller hockey is fun, but down here we play flag football. Football Rules!

    Now a job at Google, I think that would be awesome. Alas, like most people writing here, that would be impossible. The HR department would look at my resume and die laughing. I mean many of us would make great contributions I’m sure. But man, you Googlers are some really freaking smart people.

    I will go back to reading daily and dreaming of a workplace like that at Google.

  36. Can you hire me *only* to play roller hockey? ๐Ÿ˜‰

  37. Kate, there’s tons of hockey in Texas. I visit Dallas a lot…

    There’s a lot of ice rinks! But I never see roller hockey there, it’s too darn hott to play outside. At least in Cali you got that nice breeze from the Ocean.

    you got the tornados (i think that’s what they’re called) up in Frisco… if you ever wanna enjoy minor league hockey that’s the place to do it.

    I thought about moving to Frisco.. it’s unbelievably cheap to get property there (compared to here in Michigan), and that town is growing like a weed. Too bad I couldn’t find a high paying job there.

  38. wow cool jobs, great food and now you play my fav sport twice a week!

    I wanna join the google squad!

    Once you win that fancy smancy google league, bring your skillz to Missouri and face off against our team!.. We may not be good, but we sure are slow! =)

  39. Wow, I guess you can do anything online now! ๐Ÿ™‚

  40. I guess work and play can sometimes mix – but only in an industry of trendy dotcoms – if top banks and stock marketers started it we’d have uproar!

  41. randomly found this post on roller hockey… can google neighbors play?

  42. yes thats true we need to preserve the google culture but the info was really new and strange, i havent search for that keyword i will do it now.

  43. Matt

    Thank the people at google for doing the poppy logo for today on the uk site – maybe they should have linked to this poem (on the RBL site) rfather than to the search results.

    http://www.thepressdesk.com/britishlegion/pressrelease.php?releaseid=3799

  44. Add the ice and I’d watch a roller hockey game.

  45. I used to work at myCFO (another hot startup funded by Kleiner Perkins and Jim Clark). We were across the street from Google. The guys from Google used to play street hockey in the parking lot. We’d always find these broken glasses left over from their games. Folks started collecting them and throwing them in a big jar on my desk — my "art" collection. Now it’s time to return these glasses to their original owners.

    Here’s a pic of all the glasses. Matt, maybe you can send out to a devel random e-mail alias. Imagine the joy of reuniting someone with their old broken glasses ๐Ÿ˜‰

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/joff/294600052/

  46. I think you Googlers should organize a Google vs. Yahoo roller hockey game ๐Ÿ˜‰

  47. Hey Matt,

    I play roller hockey AND foosball ! I’m OK at roller hockey, but I’d be glad to come on as the official foosball coach (I even have a couple of Googlers who can vouch for me since I play them in local tournaments every week), so be sure to let me know when that job opens up!

    greyhound

  48. I want to come play!

    I’ll be submitting my resume to Google in the spring, but it will be for NY Google, not Mountain View Google. We’ll see how things go.

  49. Hey Matt,

    I’m the smart-azz that questioned your ‘dual belt’ addition to your halloween outfit a year or so ago, and the guy you referenced in your Danny Sullivan in terview about what I call ‘kicker’ listings. Anotherwords, I search a term and a relevantpage comes up but it also show another page (usually the homepage) just under it.

    You mentioned Google was to eliminate this from happenening in its results.

    Any progress on this? As I am still seeing this happening.

    On a side note, I’ve relocated to England from Atlanta last month. It would great to see you in London in Feb. Are you up for it?

    GaryTheScubaDiver

  50. Here’s what we do for fun at A&F

    http://www.mustachecontest.com/

  51. What is up with all of the invisible text and keyword stuffing that is coming up in the top 10 results. Look at this sites source code and enjoy the 10,000 words in invisble hidden text.

    http://www.litewave.co.uk/

  52. > But what can you do to help preserve Googleโ€™s culture?

    According to the Broken Window theory (well, my take at least), company culture can only be preserved by never committing small evils: every application’s bug that remains unfixed is “inspiration” for more bugs, simply because you created an environment in which — as everyone can see by looking at the single unfixed bug — bugs are seemingly acceptable. This leads to more issues, which lead to even more issues, until — Broken Window theory — the whole neighborhood is deteriorated.

    I also consider the China censorship move to be such a “bug” in Google’s reasoning, and I think that considering it a “small” compromise is a harmful illusion because compromising on *any* scale creates an environment in which compromises become acceptable.

    As an example, removing company property from the Googleplex becomes acceptable as soon as you believe in the “little evil for a greater good” theorem formulated by Google management — e.g. you can sell the Google property you stole, and donate 50% to welfare to make it be for a greater good. Now the stealing is sanctioned because the person who you donated this to needs the money more than Google Inc. You will find this problem in a corrupt gov’t, too (talk about China!) — “everyone’s doing it. You won’t get punished for it, because our leaders would first need to punish themselves.” And I’m sure Yahoo’s and Microsoft’s existing censorship activities in China also created the “Broken Window” environment in which *Google* followed — they wouldn’t have done it first.

    This, IMO, is the reason why sometimes “naive” principles (like a strict “do no evil” from 2005) aren’t that naive at all — they may actually be quite pragmatic in the long run. When someone would’ve asked in 2005 “Why don’t you enter China?”, every Googler could’ve proudly proclaimed (right or wrong!), “We won’t blame those who do, but well, we’re different, and we like to preserve this. Everyday, in whatever we do, this difference is what inspires us.”

  53. Airplane Games. Today these airplane games have advanced into another level of fun. You can still compete against other people while you are flying remote control airplanes. You can also find lots of interesting airplane games on the internet and also as video games. With all of these airplane games the main item that you need to remember is to have fun. The first category of game flying will need you to have a remote control airplane that is capable of performing some aerial acrobatics and flying at a fairly high speed. You will in these airplane games be competing against other seasoned veterans of these gamesโ€ฆ please continue here: http://www.airplane.cheap-international-airline-tickets-flights.com/Airplane-Games.php

  54. Matt,

    I am not a hockey fan but if google have ping pong tournaments, I will apply for a job at google. Do I have to have PHD? I only have MSC. ๐Ÿ™

    Thank you,
    Soe

  55. I will apply if they have football

  56. Is Google too cool for Internal memos?

    How about a bit of honesty:

    โ€œJoin Google and theyโ€™ll use any old trick to get you to spend your every waking minute inside the Googleplex?โ€

    Seriously though, I thought this tactic died at the end of the last dot.com boom. The general consensus seemed to be that encouraging workers to spend longer hours in the office works only in the short term.

  57. I think you Googlers should organize a Google vs. Yahoo roller hockey game..

  58. wow cool jobs, great food and now you play my fav sport twice a week!

    I wanna join the google squad!

    Once you win that fancy smancy google league, bring your skillz to Missouri and face off against our team!.. We may not be good, but we sure are slow! =)

  59. I will apply if they have football

  60. I think you Googlers should organize a Google vs. Yahoo roller hockey game..

  61. I want to come play!

    Iโ€™ll be submitting my resume to Google in the spring, but it will be for NY Google, not Mountain View Google. Weโ€™ll see how things go.

  62. I will not relocate my daughter to another city and take a new job just to play roller hockey.

  63. Does Google have an ice hockey team for its employees?
    Matt

  64. I think you Googlers should organize a Google vs. Yahoo hockey game..

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