←back to thread

Google’s “20% time,” which brought you Gmail and AdSense, is now as good as dead

(qz.com)
581 points antr | 1 comments | 16 Aug 13 12:09 UTC | HN request time: 0.201s | source
Show context
throwawaykf02 ◴[16 Aug 13 12:52 UTC] No.6223644[source]▶
A Google recruiter, while doing his spiel, told me in a light-hearted, offhand manner that some engineers call it "120% time". Having lurked here long enough and read similar sentiments from ex- and current google employees, it wasn't really news to me, but I was pleasantly surprised at his candor.

But do any of the other companies listed do 20% time? AFAIK, they only have infrequent "hack days".

replies(2): >>6223777 #>>6226432 #
1. roguecoder ◴[16 Aug 13 20:00 UTC] No.6226432[source]▶
Ours instead does one week a year. They get scheduled like any other project. It means they can't be as ambitious or unbounded, but it also provides uninterrupted time to work on whatever-it-is you are interested in.