Interview with Vladimir Dolgov (Google Russia)
At the end of September, we published an announcement of an interview with the head of the Russian division of Google, Vladimir Dolgov , where users were given the opportunity to ask their questions. Of course, the head of Google Russia could only respond to some of them, which, nevertheless, does not diminish the interestingness of the resulting interview. Enjoy reading :)
What does the branch of Google Russia, exactly what features and projects leads?
Google office in Russia consists of several functional units. In short, they can be divided into two main groups: business and development. Business units include sales departments, strategic partnerships, marketing, and finance. Another large division is R & D centers in Moscow and St. Petersburg, which are working on the localization of existing services for the Russian market, as well as developing new products for Russia and the whole world. For example, the St. Petersburg Center made a significant contribution to the development of the Google Toolbar for Firefox. The team of this R & D office is also working on Google Code Search. This service is designed to search for open source software available on the Internet. Google Calendar is another useful development that helps make our everyday life easier. The Moscow office, among other projects, is engaged in the improvement of Russian-language search, the morphology of complex languages, such as Russian or Arabic, and Google Maps. In addition, a Questions and Answers service was developed and implemented at the Moscow Development Center.
Do you read Habrahabr?
It happens…
Do you plan to do recognition of the Russian language, as is done in Google Audio Indexing?
One of the priorities of the Russian office is the localization of Google services available in other countries. If we compare which Google products were available to Russian users in 2006 with what we have today, it becomes clear that three years of presence in Russia were not in vain. At the moment, we have localized almost all the main services. We don’t like to talk about what is to be done; we prefer to show finished products to users, but one thing is for sure: in the future, Google will provide many more interesting and convenient services to Russian users.
')
How do you assess the release of Yandex competitor Google Talk - Ya.Online?
We welcome healthy competition. The emergence of new interesting products and services contributes to the development of the Internet as a whole, because the whole industry benefits from this, and ultimately the users, which is the most important thing for us.
How does Google ensure guaranteed confidentiality of collected user data, and do law enforcement agencies have access to it?
We take our privacy very seriously. In the documentation for all our services you can find a detailed description of what steps we have taken to ensure that the users' private information is as secure as possible. As for requests, I can only say one thing: there have been no such requests from the Russian law enforcement authorities.
What qualities and skills should a person have in order to get to work in Google’s Russian office without any problems?
First of all, a potential employee should be a talented specialist. In addition, a person must be able to think outside the box, be creative, purposeful and able to work in a team. Often, when considering candidates, we say: this person is really googly. This means that he organically fits into our team and shares our values. Googlers are famous workaholics, but among them you will not find boring people who are “serving” time in their workplace. The company deliberately attracts purposeful, talented, educated people who are able to think and act in an original way, going beyond the usual patterns. The founders of Google often state that the only thing the company takes seriously is a search. We are sure that work should be difficult, but fascinating. Therefore, Google’s corporate culture is unlike any other. And this is not at all because of the lava lamps and large rubber balls with the symbols of Google, and not because the leading restaurants are the envy of chefs who are preparing for employees in many of our offices. Ideas are discussed, tested and implemented with overwhelming enthusiasm and speed. Meetings, which in other enterprises can drag on for a few hours, are transformed here into a thematic discussion over lunch. And only a few walls separate those who create the source code from those who write checks. Such an open communication environment contributes to the growth of productivity and companionship. They often say: give the necessary tools to people who love to create, and you will see that they are capable of much.
What is the average salary of specialists in Google Russia?
This is a question from the series “How much does an average car cost?”. Of course, we do not disclose the salary level of our employees.
Belarusian developers are looking forward to Google Belarus. Does the company plan to settle in Belarus?
So far we have no announcements about this.
What are the prospects for the Google Talk project in Russia? Are there any developments in the development of the desktop client? The promised interaction with AOL has not been implemented in the desktop client, and the widget is not “friendly” with Cyrillic, and in principle it kills the whole ideology of GTalk itself. When can I wait for news from this front?
Nobody promised interaction with AOL. With regard to technical issues, it is better to contact our engineers.
What are the forecasts for the contextual advertising market in Russia for the period of the financial crisis?
I think that the contextual advertising market will grow. When a situation requires cost optimization and cost reduction, contextual advertising - the cost of which is an order of magnitude lower - becomes an effective and controlled alternative to traditional advertising media for large customers, and for small businesses it often turns into the only way to advertise their products and services. A relatively small percentage of companies operating in Russia today use contextual advertising, and although it’s premature to predict growth in its volumes or, on the contrary, to reduce them, the number of potential advertisers in the country is very large. At the same time, I think it is impossible and wrong to make any accurate predictions at the moment.
In general, what are the views of Russia from Google? Maybe expand or just support localization?
For Google, Russia is one of its top priorities. Russian teams of engineers, as I have already said, are engaged not only in localizing existing products, but also developing new products independently, and working on some in collaboration with teams from Zurich and Mountain View. At the moment, the expansion - if you mean the opening of new offices - is out of the question, but I do not rule out that this will be necessary in the future, because the number of employees and projects we are engaged in in Russia is constantly growing.
Is there a so-called “social responsibility” in the future - grants for students, maybe Wi-Fi is free or something more interesting?
Google holds several major international contests and competitions, thanks to which programmers, including students, from all over the world can prove themselves and be recognized by their fellow developers, win grants, cash prizes, or simply make people learn about their work. the world. This and Android Developer Challenge and Google Code Jam, and GHOP (Google Highly Open Participation Contest). In addition, Google is the organizer of the competition for obtaining scholarships of the Anita Borg Foundation, in which only girls can participate. We are always at Google to help talented people, but here it is important not only to allocate grants, but to give people the opportunity to show their talents and earn by their work and knowledge. It is like in the old parable: you can give a man a fish and satisfy his hunger once, but you can teach him how to fish himself, and in this way, provide for yourself all your life.
What is the current situation with the new favicon site Google? The company held a competition of alternative icons and promised to take some results. But so far nothing has been heard. Do you have any information?
Nope ...
What are the prospects for Google Book Search with respect to Russian-language literature? Particularly interested in textbooks.
Google Book Search has been launched relatively recently. Google plans to collaborate with as many libraries and publishing houses as possible. And although I cannot tell you about specific deadlines, I really hope that the project will develop in Russia. Russian-language literature is a huge layer of world culture, which we, of course, would like to make available online in Book Search. The main problem in this work is, of course, reaching agreements with the copyright holders of the books placed in the program.
How fast is the branch developing in Russia, how many (in general) do you have from the countries of the former union?
We usually do not give such information. However, I can say that in Russia today there are about 60 engineers working in offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Does Google plan to launch a service similar to the People.Disk from Yandex?
Now there is no news on this topic. But, generally speaking, there are programs not created by our company that allow you to convert part of your Gmail account into a virtual disk. There is even an article in the English-language Wikipedia about it!
Many people complain about poor technical support Google Adwords, when it will work better?
We are constantly trying to improve support. You see, there is even a mystery for me here: I hear reproaches that letters, for example, do not respond for a long time. But when I log in and look at the average waiting time for responses, a period of over 48 hours only happens on weekends. If someone sends me such a chain (the question is the answer) - I will be grateful, there will be a reason for the proceedings. Recently here opened a special blog dedicated to AdWords. I do not know, maybe I should open my personal blog - to collect questions and answer them ...
Is Google Russia an area of ​​increased attention for the entire corporation?
Of course, at the moment Russia is one of the fastest growing Internet markets in the world. In fact, the markets of Europe and the USA have already stabilized, while the Russian Internet economy is experiencing rapid growth. For Google, Russia is one of the key countries.
How strong are the headquarters directives? Will Google Russia develop the domestic Internet in the spirit of the whole company or in a special way?
We are trying (and, it seems to me - not without success) to organize and organize information on the Internet. And in this sense, our activity in Russia is no different from what the company does in other countries. The approach is the same.
What will you do in retirement?
To think about what I didn’t have time to do before I retired!
How many people work in Google Russia?
More than a hundred.
How often do you communicate with Sergey Brin? Do you communicate in Russian?
I can not say that I do it regularly. But when we speak, we speak Russian.
If Yandex offers a salary three times the current, will you agree?
What kind of question is this !?
When do you plan to overtake Yandex in the proportion of search transitions to Russian sites? What do you think when this moment comes?
When it comes, I'll start thinking about retirement!
What does the branch of Google Russia, exactly what features and projects leads?
Google office in Russia consists of several functional units. In short, they can be divided into two main groups: business and development. Business units include sales departments, strategic partnerships, marketing, and finance. Another large division is R & D centers in Moscow and St. Petersburg, which are working on the localization of existing services for the Russian market, as well as developing new products for Russia and the whole world. For example, the St. Petersburg Center made a significant contribution to the development of the Google Toolbar for Firefox. The team of this R & D office is also working on Google Code Search. This service is designed to search for open source software available on the Internet. Google Calendar is another useful development that helps make our everyday life easier. The Moscow office, among other projects, is engaged in the improvement of Russian-language search, the morphology of complex languages, such as Russian or Arabic, and Google Maps. In addition, a Questions and Answers service was developed and implemented at the Moscow Development Center.
Do you read Habrahabr?
It happens…
Do you plan to do recognition of the Russian language, as is done in Google Audio Indexing?
One of the priorities of the Russian office is the localization of Google services available in other countries. If we compare which Google products were available to Russian users in 2006 with what we have today, it becomes clear that three years of presence in Russia were not in vain. At the moment, we have localized almost all the main services. We don’t like to talk about what is to be done; we prefer to show finished products to users, but one thing is for sure: in the future, Google will provide many more interesting and convenient services to Russian users.
')
How do you assess the release of Yandex competitor Google Talk - Ya.Online?
We welcome healthy competition. The emergence of new interesting products and services contributes to the development of the Internet as a whole, because the whole industry benefits from this, and ultimately the users, which is the most important thing for us.
How does Google ensure guaranteed confidentiality of collected user data, and do law enforcement agencies have access to it?
We take our privacy very seriously. In the documentation for all our services you can find a detailed description of what steps we have taken to ensure that the users' private information is as secure as possible. As for requests, I can only say one thing: there have been no such requests from the Russian law enforcement authorities.
What qualities and skills should a person have in order to get to work in Google’s Russian office without any problems?
First of all, a potential employee should be a talented specialist. In addition, a person must be able to think outside the box, be creative, purposeful and able to work in a team. Often, when considering candidates, we say: this person is really googly. This means that he organically fits into our team and shares our values. Googlers are famous workaholics, but among them you will not find boring people who are “serving” time in their workplace. The company deliberately attracts purposeful, talented, educated people who are able to think and act in an original way, going beyond the usual patterns. The founders of Google often state that the only thing the company takes seriously is a search. We are sure that work should be difficult, but fascinating. Therefore, Google’s corporate culture is unlike any other. And this is not at all because of the lava lamps and large rubber balls with the symbols of Google, and not because the leading restaurants are the envy of chefs who are preparing for employees in many of our offices. Ideas are discussed, tested and implemented with overwhelming enthusiasm and speed. Meetings, which in other enterprises can drag on for a few hours, are transformed here into a thematic discussion over lunch. And only a few walls separate those who create the source code from those who write checks. Such an open communication environment contributes to the growth of productivity and companionship. They often say: give the necessary tools to people who love to create, and you will see that they are capable of much.
What is the average salary of specialists in Google Russia?
This is a question from the series “How much does an average car cost?”. Of course, we do not disclose the salary level of our employees.
Belarusian developers are looking forward to Google Belarus. Does the company plan to settle in Belarus?
So far we have no announcements about this.
What are the prospects for the Google Talk project in Russia? Are there any developments in the development of the desktop client? The promised interaction with AOL has not been implemented in the desktop client, and the widget is not “friendly” with Cyrillic, and in principle it kills the whole ideology of GTalk itself. When can I wait for news from this front?
Nobody promised interaction with AOL. With regard to technical issues, it is better to contact our engineers.
What are the forecasts for the contextual advertising market in Russia for the period of the financial crisis?
I think that the contextual advertising market will grow. When a situation requires cost optimization and cost reduction, contextual advertising - the cost of which is an order of magnitude lower - becomes an effective and controlled alternative to traditional advertising media for large customers, and for small businesses it often turns into the only way to advertise their products and services. A relatively small percentage of companies operating in Russia today use contextual advertising, and although it’s premature to predict growth in its volumes or, on the contrary, to reduce them, the number of potential advertisers in the country is very large. At the same time, I think it is impossible and wrong to make any accurate predictions at the moment.
In general, what are the views of Russia from Google? Maybe expand or just support localization?
For Google, Russia is one of its top priorities. Russian teams of engineers, as I have already said, are engaged not only in localizing existing products, but also developing new products independently, and working on some in collaboration with teams from Zurich and Mountain View. At the moment, the expansion - if you mean the opening of new offices - is out of the question, but I do not rule out that this will be necessary in the future, because the number of employees and projects we are engaged in in Russia is constantly growing.
Is there a so-called “social responsibility” in the future - grants for students, maybe Wi-Fi is free or something more interesting?
Google holds several major international contests and competitions, thanks to which programmers, including students, from all over the world can prove themselves and be recognized by their fellow developers, win grants, cash prizes, or simply make people learn about their work. the world. This and Android Developer Challenge and Google Code Jam, and GHOP (Google Highly Open Participation Contest). In addition, Google is the organizer of the competition for obtaining scholarships of the Anita Borg Foundation, in which only girls can participate. We are always at Google to help talented people, but here it is important not only to allocate grants, but to give people the opportunity to show their talents and earn by their work and knowledge. It is like in the old parable: you can give a man a fish and satisfy his hunger once, but you can teach him how to fish himself, and in this way, provide for yourself all your life.
What is the current situation with the new favicon site Google? The company held a competition of alternative icons and promised to take some results. But so far nothing has been heard. Do you have any information?
Nope ...
What are the prospects for Google Book Search with respect to Russian-language literature? Particularly interested in textbooks.
Google Book Search has been launched relatively recently. Google plans to collaborate with as many libraries and publishing houses as possible. And although I cannot tell you about specific deadlines, I really hope that the project will develop in Russia. Russian-language literature is a huge layer of world culture, which we, of course, would like to make available online in Book Search. The main problem in this work is, of course, reaching agreements with the copyright holders of the books placed in the program.
How fast is the branch developing in Russia, how many (in general) do you have from the countries of the former union?
We usually do not give such information. However, I can say that in Russia today there are about 60 engineers working in offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Does Google plan to launch a service similar to the People.Disk from Yandex?
Now there is no news on this topic. But, generally speaking, there are programs not created by our company that allow you to convert part of your Gmail account into a virtual disk. There is even an article in the English-language Wikipedia about it!
Many people complain about poor technical support Google Adwords, when it will work better?
We are constantly trying to improve support. You see, there is even a mystery for me here: I hear reproaches that letters, for example, do not respond for a long time. But when I log in and look at the average waiting time for responses, a period of over 48 hours only happens on weekends. If someone sends me such a chain (the question is the answer) - I will be grateful, there will be a reason for the proceedings. Recently here opened a special blog dedicated to AdWords. I do not know, maybe I should open my personal blog - to collect questions and answer them ...
Is Google Russia an area of ​​increased attention for the entire corporation?
Of course, at the moment Russia is one of the fastest growing Internet markets in the world. In fact, the markets of Europe and the USA have already stabilized, while the Russian Internet economy is experiencing rapid growth. For Google, Russia is one of the key countries.
How strong are the headquarters directives? Will Google Russia develop the domestic Internet in the spirit of the whole company or in a special way?
We are trying (and, it seems to me - not without success) to organize and organize information on the Internet. And in this sense, our activity in Russia is no different from what the company does in other countries. The approach is the same.
What will you do in retirement?
To think about what I didn’t have time to do before I retired!
How many people work in Google Russia?
More than a hundred.
How often do you communicate with Sergey Brin? Do you communicate in Russian?
I can not say that I do it regularly. But when we speak, we speak Russian.
If Yandex offers a salary three times the current, will you agree?
What kind of question is this !?
When do you plan to overtake Yandex in the proportion of search transitions to Russian sites? What do you think when this moment comes?
When it comes, I'll start thinking about retirement!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/43995/
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