One Year Post-Google: The People Behind the Headlines
This interview began with one simple question: What happened to our friends in Zurich who were laid off from Google in early 2024?
Google is known for its high hiring standards. At the same time, it used to sponsor work visas for employees from around the world—relocating them to Zurich and offering relatively high salaries and other benefits. Few companies provide such attractive packages to so many employees.
In fact, organizing the interviews turned out to be more complicated than I had imagined. Some participants wanted to remain anonymous or declined to be interviewed, the only person who initially agreed to be interviewed on the record, changed her mind after I had finished post-production and asked to remain anonymous. Some of my follow-up questions also proved difficult to answer for various reasons.
Still, I believe this short video captures some honest reflections and offers a small glimpse into the everyday lives of the tech community in Zurich. I’m truly grateful to all my interviewees.
Challenges
It was a challenging project to coordinate with the interviewees. For example, I had explained everything to one participant at the beginning to confirm that she truly felt comfortable being on camera. But after post-production was completed, she suddenly asked me to change her name and keep her anonymous — which forced me to redo the voiceover and shoot additional B-roll footage.
Audio Mistake
I made an audio mistake during one of the interviews recorded on a Mac, as I wasn’t technically well prepared. It reminded me once again how crucial good sound is. Fortunately, I also learned how to avoid this mistake in the future.