This just in: 4 of 10 participants in you con-call today were totally zoned out, dreaming of working for Google

There's such a buzz about working for Larry and Sergey that (as of 11/05) they get 1,000 resumes a week. They only hire about 25 lucky souls (a rejection rate higher than Harvard Business School) which leaves a lot suitors on the doorstep. Hell, there are people creating web sites just to get noticed.

I'm not immune. Any engineer worth his salt wants to work in a place that gets things done. One commentator recently said, "If I were 35, I'd be begging Google to hire me. They are the Bell Labs of this generation." I salivate. I want that esprit de corps, that sense of belonging, and changing the world.

So Google is turning into a utopian dream for engineers, a city shining on a hill. But maybe this is a bad way to think about a company and a bad way to manage one's career. It is, after all, a publicly held company, committed to making money with significant opposition. They will make mistakes, suck the life out of some, and fire others. As they get big, they might lose their edge, become more bureaucratic.

Maybe I'm just making myself feel better.

Yep.

Oh well, time to read the Xooglers blog and maybe buy some shares of GOOG.