Najzabavnija poslovna zgrada na svetu

POSETA GOOGLE-u

Danas vodeća svetska informatička kompanija koju su osnovali studenti Stanford univerziteta, Google postoji tek desetak godina, ali je za to vreme uspeo da se nametne kao nezaobilazni alat za surfovanje po internetu. Uz pomoć Google-a lako se pronalazi informacija koja se traži, ma gde se ona na web-u nalazila. Sve to je potpuno besplatno jer umesto vas, Google-u plaćaju oglašivači koji koriste priliku da tokom pretraživanja web-a, reklamiraju svoje proizvode i usluge.

    Sedište Google-a je u Kaliforniji, ali se njegove filijale nalaze svuda po svetu. Jedan od većih i važnijih razvojnih centara je onaj u Njujorku, na uglu 8. avenije i 15. ulice. Filijalu Google-a u Njujorku posetio sam zahvaljujuću ljubaznosti Vladislava Adžića, mladog istraživača koji se u ovoj firmi zaposlio pošto je diplomirao na Kolumbija univerzitetu pre četiri godine. Prve godine je intezivno programirao, a sada se kao "tim lider" bavi organizacionim problemima u realizaciji projekata. Sačekao me je ispred zgrade Google-a koja se nalazi u srcu Njujorka i u čijoj su okolini medija centri i Forbsove kompanije, Google-ovi partneri i klijenti.

Na portirnici dajem ličnu kartu na uvid. Portir ne razume srpsku ćirilicu, ali ne pravi problem. Kompanija Google zauzima nekoliko spratova zgrade a njen glavni deo nalazi se na četvrtom spratu i zahvata površinu od oko 30 hiljada kvadratnih metara. U njoj radi oko 700 inženjera softvera, među kojima je, pored Vladislava, još nekoliko njih iz naše zemlje. Pozdravljam se i upoznajem s Ivanom, rodom iz Kovina, koji je posle prve godine na FON-u otišao u Sijetl, sedište Majkrosofta, a zatim završio studije na Vašington univerzitetu. Posle završenih studija nekoliko godina je radio u Majkrosoftu, a sada je zaposlen u njujorškom Google-u.

Atmosfera je kao u dečjem vrtiću – svuda se mogu videti lego kocke, kolačići, bombone i grickalice. Ogroman prostor, 200 metara dužine i 100 metara širine, gotovo da je potpuno otvoren. Pojedine tačke označene su kao poznata mesta na Menhetnu i, radi lakše orijentacije, poređane na način identičan onom u gradu. Ukoliko neko želi brzo da stigne s kraja na kraj ove ogromne "kancelarije", na raspolaganju su mu parkinzi za trotinete. U zgradi je otvoreno nekoliko restorana različite namene - neki od njih služe za ručavanje, u nekima se samo večera, a tu su i mali snek-barovi namenjeni tome da se u njima nešto "na brzaka" prezalogaji, da se skuva kafa ili da se radnici zaslade kolačima.

Ne treba zaboraviti ni radna mesta, konferencijske sale, učionice i veliku dvoranu za prezentacije. Radno mesto podrazumeva kompjuter s ogromnim ekranom na ergonomski oblikovanom stolu i skoro ništa više. Sve što je radnicima potrebno – literatura, uputstva, projektni zadaci – nalazi se na serverima u elektronskoj formi, pa u kancelarijama gotovo da i nema papira. Posebno je interesantna "soba za igru" u kojoj su smešteni rekviziti za rekreaciju kao što su stolovi za stoni tenis, muzički instrumenti i kompjuterske igre koje, pretpostavljam, ne treba ni pominjati. Pogled s terase na centar Menhetna oduzima dah. Dok ručaju na terasi, radnici posmatraju poznate zgrade – Empajer Stejt Bilding, Krajsler Bilding, Rokfeler Centar i druge.

Raspitujem se o načinu rada. Vladislav mi otkriva da se veliki projekti obično dele na manje na kojima radi dvoje do desetoro ljudi. Projekti su obično vezani za osnovne Google-ove poslove – internet pretraživače i mejl-servere. Uglavnom se radi o onima vezanim za održavanje i unapređivanje postojećih softverskih sistema. Pitam ga na koji način bi moji studenti mogli da se uključe u razvoj softvera. Vladislav odgovara da je nekvalitetan i nepouzdan softver lako napraviti, ali da je složen, pouzdan i bezbedan softver veoma teško kreirati. Akcenat se stavlja na sigurnost i bezbednost podataka, pa tu oblast predlaže kao perspektivnu.

Dok me ispraća iz zgrade, Vladislav mi otkriva da je kompanija Google otvorena 24 sata, iako oko 4 ujutru vrlo malo ljudi radi. Napuštam Google-ovo zdanje oko 9 uveče, a Vladislav se vraća da nastavi tamo gde sam ga prekinuo pre tri sata.

The most fun office building in the world

VISITING GOOGLE

The leading informatics company founded by students of Stanford University, Google, is only ten years old, but has managed in that brief time to position itself as an unavoidable tool for surfing the Internet. With Google, information sought is easily found, where ever it may be located on the web. All this is completely free of charge because instead of you, Google is paid by advertisers who use the opportunity of web surfing to promote their products and services.

     Google headquarters are in California, but its branches are located all over the world. One of the largest and most significant development centers is located in New York, on the corner of 8th Avenue and 15th Street. I visited the New York Google branch thanks to the kindness of Vladislav Adžić, a young researcher employed in this company since he graduated Columbia University four years ago. During his first years he was intensively involved in programming, and now as a team leader is engaged in organizational problems of project realizations. He greeted me in front of the Google building located in the heart of New York, surrounded by media centers and the Forbes Company, Google’s partners and clients.

At the door I show my personal ID card. The guard does not understand Serbian Cyrillic, but does not make a problem. The Google Company takes up several floors of the building, and its main section is located on the fourth floor and takes up an area of 30 thousand square meters. Approximately 700 software engineers are employed among which, along with Vladislav are a few others from our country. I am introduced to Ivan, born in Kovin, who after his first year at FON left for Seattle, the location of the Microsoft headquarters, and then finished his studies at Washington University. After graduating he worked for Microsoft for several years, and is now employed at the New York Google office.

The atmosphere is like that in a kindergarten –Legos, cookies, candy and snacks are all over the place. The enormous space, 200 meters long and 100 meters wide is almost completely open. Certain areas are marked as famous Manhattan locations, and for the purpose of easier navigation, are placed in the identical manner as in the city. Should someone quickly wish to get from one end to the other of this enormous “office”, scooter parking is available. Several restaurants with different purposes are open in the building – some only serve lunch, others only dinner, and some are small snack bars intended for a quick bite, coffee, or cookies.

Not to go unmentioned are the work desks, conference room, classrooms and large presentation room. The work desk consists of a computer with a large screen and ergonomically shaped desk, and practically nothing else. Everything the workers need – literature, instructions, project assignments – is located on servers in electronic form, so there is practically no paper in the office. Of particular interest is the game room where recreational objects can be found such as ping-pong tables, musical instruments, and computer games, which I suppose goes without saying. The view from the balcony of the heart of Manhattan is breathtaking. While lunching on the balcony, workers enjoy the view of the famous buildings – The Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center, among others.

I inquire about the work process. Vladislav reveals that large projects are usually divided into smaller segments that are then worked on by two to ten people. Projects are usually involved with basic Google services – internet search and mail servers. They mainly comprise of maintaining and upgrading existing software systems. Vladislav replies that unreliable, poor-quality software is easy to make, while a complex, reliable and safe software is quite difficult to create. Information security is a priority, so he suggests this area provides the most opportunities.

As he walks me out, Vladislav reveals that the Google Company is open 24 hours, although very few people are on the clock at 4 a.m. I leave the Google premises around 9 p.m., and Vladislav will continue where he left off when I interrupted him three hours before.

Autor:  Prof. Dr Milan Popović

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