VC Says Half of Google Staff Do 'No Real Work'

Scope and Framing of the Claim

• Several commenters note the article title omits the qualifier “probably,” turning an opinion into an implied fact.
• Many see the comment as intentionally provocative “ragebait” rather than serious analysis.
• Some point out the irony of someone in venture capital criticizing “BS jobs,” given perceptions that VC/PE themselves add limited tangible value.

What Counts as “No Real Work”?

• Distinction drawn between:
  • People literally doing nothing.
  • People working hard on projects that don’t ship or don’t move the needle.
• Some argue large orgs inevitably have redundancy and slack; that’s not always waste but a buffer for resilience, churn, and crises.
• Others reference research and anecdotes suggesting sizable numbers of workers self‑describe their jobs as useless, but note self‑assessment can be wrong.

R&D, Moonshots, and Waste

• Critics of the VC’s view say “billions on projects that go nowhere” is how high‑risk innovation works; failure is expected.
• Others argue Google’s issue isn’t doing speculative R&D, but poor execution, red tape, and mismanagement (e.g., moonshots killed, repeated fumbling of chat products).

Shareholders, Retirement Accounts, and Moral Duty

• The repeated focus on “retirement accounts” is mocked as framing investor gains as altruism.
• Some insist a company’s duty is to all shareholders equally, regardless of life stage; others feel retirees’ vulnerability makes losses hit harder.
• Several see the retirement framing as rhetorical cover for enriching already‑wealthy investors.

Layoffs, Slack, and Long‑Term Health

• Some say many big tech firms clearly over‑hired and later had more staff than work.
• Counterpoint: Twitter/X is a bad “proof” that 80% of staff were unnecessary; its resilience may reflect earlier engineering and hidden degradation (bugs, moderation, sales collapse).
• Multiple comments stress that cutting “fat” often increases manager/overhead ratios, reduces resilience, and harms innovation over time.

Management, Middle Layers, and Hidden Value

• View 1: If engineers are doing “fake work,” it’s because managers are doing “fake managing” and green‑lighting bad projects.
• View 2: Many seemingly idle roles (middle managers, SREs, PMs, risk functions) resemble firefighters or executive assistants: low visible utilization until crises or inflection points, when they’re crucial.