Ask HN: Is Google's 20% time a myth?

[notagoogler]

Suppose a person were considering joining Google and saw as one of the primary appeals the possibility of spending a decent amount of time on a blue sky project that he/she has already been working on, but which almost certainly has no short-term economic payoff. Are the social incentives set up at Google to make this possible?

I've gotten many conflicting reports about this from people at Google and in the industry generally. What seems to be the case is that the 20% time is really "120% time" -- i.e. you're welcome to spend your time working on your own projects but the expectation as far as output of an individual employee on their primary responsibilities isn't any less.

Does anyone have knowledge or personal experience on this topic?

[btilly]

20% time is not a myth. It varies through the company, but in general it really is 20% time, not 120% time. However as one person put it to me, "Nobody will give it to you, but you're free to take it." And certainly not everyone does take it.

That said, most of the 20% projects that I see are internal to Google. Also it is a work project done on work time with work resources, which means that your 20% project is automatically owned by Google. (That said, Google does encourage open source activity. So it isn't hard to work on 20% projects that are open source projects.)

[neilk]

The "120%" joke is very common within Google. Interpret that as you will.

I don't know what you mean by social incentives. Don't expect anyone else to care about your 20% project. It is quite feasible to bank up your 20% time and then ask for a few months of relatively uninterrupted work. If you're doing a blue sky project from scratch, that's the only way I think it can work.

But seriously though, how long do you think it will take to make a prototype? If it's longer than three months of solo work I doubt you will ever get it off the ground, in Google or out.

So if you have something you know you want to do, and can afford three months of unemployment, maybe you should do that instead. The experience will be worth it and it can only help your chances if you apply to Google later.

[jolan]

I've seen a lot of open source people get hired by Google and disappear from the open source community entirely.

Google probably has a lot more interesting problems than the rest of the world, so it's possible the 20% gets dedicated to improving Google internally.

[rhettinger]

I've seen open source people disappear for all kinds of reasons. It is a natural ebb and flow. People tend to fall off when they are busy and they tend to come back when they've got an itch.

[babycakes]

No, it is not a myth, but you have to take the initiative.