Hong Zhou: I want to transplant Google culture to China.

Kai-fu Lee's job-hopping from Microsoft to Google not only caused the two companies to go to court for this, but also caused people's surprise at Google. What made Kai-fu Lee give up his position as vice president of Microsoft and choose Google?

Hong Zhou, who joined Google in 2000, 14-year-old attended the junior class of the Chinese University of Science and Technology, and then studied at Stanford University in the United States. Her first job was Google, and she was also Google's first China engineer.

For Hong Zhou, in the past five years or so, what she felt most about Google was that "Google is a passionate place" and "because what everyone does in Google is their favorite thing". Kai-fu Lee, who just arrived at Google, praised what shocked him was Google's "passion magic". "Many friends I know have gone. Some of them are senior researchers and scientists. I found that their previous haggard disappeared and they were full of vitality. Some of them are my students, and I find that they seem to have found their dream home, and they seem to enjoy going to work. "

A few days ago, as the "cultural ambassador" of Google, Hong Zhou accompanied Kai-fu Lee to China, and she will help Kai-fu Lee explore the China market and recruit employees.

"Returning to China is also a brand-new challenge, and it will also experience the process of Google in China from scratch. Although there are many uncertainties, it is challenging, so I think this is a good opportunity. " Although he has lived in China for more than 20 years, when he returned to China this time, Hong Zhou felt that his mood was different from that when he returned to China for a holiday last year.

At that time, Google was still a small startup company, and the companies that agreed to hire her were well-known companies such as Oracle Bone Inscriptions, SUN and Cisco. But Hong Zhou finally chose Google, which gave her the most difficult interview question.

1999, Hong Zhou graduated from Stanford University in the United States, and she obtained a doctorate in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in computer science almost at the same time.

Hong Zhou recalled entering Google at that time and said, "After graduation, I started looking for a job. At that time, I was lucky. Oracle Bone Inscriptions, SUN, Cisco and other companies are willing to hire me. By chance, I went to Google. "

"I went to SUN because I was a summer intern, because a classmate of mine at Stanford, who is also my good friend, works at SUN. When they recruited interns, they wanted me to go When I graduated, they expressed their wish to hire me. I think, at SUN, this is also very good. They are formal and need letters of recommendation. When I was at Stanford, one of my favorite professors was David Cheriton (David? Xie Lidan); At that time, when he wrote me a letter of recommendation, he said to me,' If you haven't found a job and are not completely sure, I can recommend you to other companies'; Then he recommended Cisco and Google. "

She quickly submitted her resume to Cisco and Google, and Cisco quickly replied. After the interview, she quickly indicated that she would be hired. However, there has been no response to Google's resume delivery.

At that time, she sent an email to David Cheriton, and David Sheridan sent her resume to Google. The next day, Google gave her feedback, saying that the vice president read her resume and was very interested in her. She was asked to do a telephone test first, which went well. Then she got an interview with Google.

Hong Zhou said: "During the interview, I felt that this company was completely different from other companies. For example, Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Sun and Cisco are all big companies. The company is very big and beautifully built; Google was very small at that time, and it was almost impossible to find it. It doesn't even have a house number. There is a small note on the telephone pole by the roadside. Google, written with a ballpoint pen, made an arrow. I drove over and finally found this company. "

At that time, Google had only a few dozen employees. In an ordinary building, the first floor is rented to another company, and the second floor is Google.

To Hong Zhou's surprise, in that case, Google not only had a kitchen, but also facilities and services such as washing machines and massage rooms, all of which were free until now. When Google put forward its IPO plan in April 2004, it made it clear to future investors that they must accept these benefits and "increase them in the future".

I didn't have breakfast because I went to Google for an interview very early. Unexpectedly, the interview went on for three rounds and didn't end until 4 pm.

1 round The interviewer asked Hong Zhou to write three programs. "Very demanding. After all, it is very brain-consuming and the best to make this program run and give the correct answer; After writing, I am a little tired. " In the second and third interviews, her question was near misses. Finally, a supervisor in charge of recruitment gave Zhou Hong a shirt. At that time, she thought: after most of the torture, if she was not hired by Google, she would mop the floor with this shirt printed with Google. Fortunately, the day after the interview, she got the employment notice from Google.

"Later, I wanted to think. I chose Google because I especially like interviewing my managers. They called me at 9 o'clock the next night. I felt very moved at that time. Those who are in charge of recruitment have to work until 9 pm, not to mention engineers. This work is very hard. " Hong Zhou said that she chose Google because the interviewer gave her the most difficult question; The three colleagues who interviewed her were all very clever. "I think it must be interesting to work with them, and I can learn a lot."

Another idea that Hong Zhou chose Google is, "I just came out of school and chose a small company, and I still have a lot of expectations for the future." .

In Google's current office building, there is a model of the earth in motion, and there is a bright spot on the model of the earth where Google searches. Hong Zhou said, "When I walk by every day, I will see a shining earth turning, and I will feel that others are using a few lines of programs I wrote, which will be good."

Only after Hong Zhou entered Google did she know that David Cheriton, who recommended her to enter Google, was Google's first angel investor. It is because of his introduction and recommendation that Google founders Peggy and Brin and his friend Andy Bechtolsheim (Andy? Becky Thoursie), met in the backyard of David Cheriton for the 1 th time, because Andy Bechtolsheim was pressed for time at that time, and signed a check for $654.38+million without listening to Peggy and Brin's business plan.

In just five years, David Sheridan and Andy Bekto Shm's original investment of $200,000 has been richly rewarded. In August last year, when Google went public on NASDAQ, the market value of the shares held by Andy Bechtolsheim and David Cheriton would reach about $300 million respectively, while the price per share of Google at that time was $85; Today, Google's stock price has reached as high as $353.06 (1 1.3).

Six months before Hong Zhou entered Google, that is,1June 7th, 999, was a historic moment for Google. On that day, Google won two of the most famous venture capital companies in Silicon Valley, Kleiner Perkins Caufield &; The buyer (Krena Baggins) and Sequoia Capital (Cunninghamia lanceolata) invested a total of 25 million US dollars.

Six months after Hong Zhou joined Google, Yahoo added $654.38 million to Google.

Unlike other companies that have experienced ups and downs, Google has been developing at a steady and high speed, that is, during the Internet bubble, other companies were desperately burning money, while Google was very frugal. And from 200 1, Google began to make a profit. Since its listing last year, Google has become a myth of Nasdaq.

As an employee of Google, Hong Zhou said, "What I feel most is that Google is a passionate place, because what everyone does in Google is what they like best. In the middle of the night, I can hear my colleagues playing the piano in the lobby, or there are always people buzzing, and there are always cars in the parking lot. " It is this passion and creativity that makes Google employees don't care about working long hours.

At Google, an employee joined the company almost at the same time as Hong Zhou. That boy is mainly responsible for detecting how many visits Google has every day. Because he likes to draw crayons, he spontaneously draws on a big piece of paper how many visits Google has today and how many visits it will have tomorrow. He used traffic to describe the history of Google, and he has been doing this for 4-5 years. He drew a whole Google wall. Colleagues spontaneously marked their own things on his daily crayons, such as "I joined Google today", and some interesting people came to visit. It can also be said that there are small milestones recorded here, which are completely spontaneous.

In order to create a culture of enterprise freedom and employees' passion for this kind of work, Google has implemented some humanized systems since its inception.

In the past five years, Hong Zhou has never worried about being late for work, because she usually goes to work at noon. Because Google has a flexible working system, employees don't have to work nine to five. "Employees in our company stay up late and get up late. Personally, I usually go to work at noon and go back at midnight. I think this flexible working system is also very good for a person's creativity; If the working hours are limited to' nine to five', how can we innovate? Inspiration can't always come? "

In order to encourage innovation, Google also stipulates that employees should spend 20% of their working time every week doing things other than their own work.

Hong Zhou said that innovation is very important for an enterprise. If you want to be invincible, you must constantly innovate. "Only by constantly reinventing themselves will enterprises last long." . Therefore, Google encourages employees to try different things often during working hours. "20% of the time in a week, they can control their own time. Many products of the company are made in 20% time. For example, Gmail is a person's idea and it makes sense to do it. "

In addition, in Google, there is such a clear rule that management cannot restrict the free flow of an employee between different departments within the company.

Hong Zhou was deeply moved by this. She used to transfer from one department to another because of her interest. "Only by doing what she likes can she be very creative. If there are restrictions, it will be difficult to exert her greatest potential. " It is in this passionate atmosphere that Hong Zhou has held four software patents in its software development in the past five and a half years.

This freedom and passion of Google also infected Kai-fu Lee. After he first arrived at Google, he met China employees for the first time. Dozens of people expressed their willingness to return to China with him. He asked, "There are only two or three people in your boss's team. The boss won't be afraid of you leaving. Will you be advised to stay? " But they are puzzled by Kai-Fu Lee's idea, because no matter which department employees go to, it is for the better future of the company.

For the talents we recruit, I must have a very smart mind, a solid foundation and strong hands-on ability. We must be doers. We attach great importance to the ability of programming and have a deep understanding of the subject of computer. The most important thing is that you can adapt to Google's innovative culture.

At present, Google has more than 4,000 employees around the world, and its market in China has just started. It plans to recruit 50 employees before next summer, all of whom are fresh college graduates.

When Hong Zhou returned to China, he said, "I think Google has done something very meaningful. It has improved people's lives and made it easier for people to understand this information. Now Google attaches great importance to the China market. Personally, I am very willing to do something for China. For me, this is very fulfilling and satisfying. "

From job seekers to interviewers, from entering Google to returning to China, Isabella Chow's role has also changed. She believes that Google's requirements for recruiting talents in the United States are very high, and in China, this standard will not be lowered. "We pay great attention to personal ability when recruiting in the United States, and recruiting in China will not lower this indicator."

Hong Zhou said, "I remember when I first joined Google, the company organized some training, including how to recruit? How to get an interview? Among them, it is very important that you can be smart, but you have to be a good person; In other words, we need very smart people to come in, but we also attach great importance to team spirit. You must be able to cooperate with others. If you just work alone and don't want to communicate with others, then your development in the company will be limited. "

When talking about Google's specific recruitment criteria, Hong Zhou said that as a job seeker, it is very important for any company that pursues innovation not only to have a good idea, but also to realize it well. If you want to enter Google, you must pass the exam, usually through the written test and interview. "In the process of conversation, how did he solve the problem? Can you feel whether he is very creative through communication? "

Because Google started with technology, the talents it applied for have a solid foundation and strong hands-on ability; If you apply for an engineer, you must have strong programming skills and a deep understanding of the subject of computer; At the same time, knowledge seekers should agree with Google's innovative corporate culture.

There are many world-class experts in Google. If you work with them, you will feel that you are learning something new and doing something meaningful every day. In Hong Zhou's eyes, the achievements of those famous experts in Google are inseparable from their hard work. You can often meet them in the office on weekends or in daily work, and they are not only hard-working, but also very approachable and have a good relationship with colleagues in the company. "They are role models worth learning for any new colleagues who join Google."

As the "cultural ambassador" of Google, Hong Zhou said, "I want to transplant Google's corporate culture or human resources mechanism to China, so that outstanding talents in China can also feel their free development".