14 DAY TRIAL // Google is a big company and it certainly houses plenty of varied projects under its roof, but a machine workshop is probably not going to be among your first guesses. Google actually has four such workshops each specialized in either wood, metal, welding or electronics.
The workshops are used by Googlers for their personal or 20 percent projects, but they're also used for some of the companies more 'colorful' projects, like the Street View trikes or its self-driven cars.
"We often have to build physical products to help us collect and organize information that’s found outside of the web. We do this at the Google Workshops, a hands-on facility equipped with everything from an oscilloscope to a miter saw and even a plasma cutter," Daniel Ratner, Senior Mechanical Engineer on the Google Geo Team, wrote.
Googlers can build whatever they want in the workshop, it doesn't even have to be work-related, but not all employees enjoy the privilege of being able to use the facility and machinery.
This is a safety measure foremost, Googlers have to pass an exam to verify that they are qualified to operate the machinery safely and the test is taken very seriously. Currently, only about 300 Google employees can use the workshops.
Once they do get access though, they have complete freedom. While some core business projects started out in the workshop at Google, most of the work is done on 20 percent projects or personal ones.
That doesn't mean that it doesn't benefit Google, the Street View trike as well as the other contraptions used to gather imagery from remote or inaccessible places, started out in the workshop, as a 20 percent project
The workshop, which was created in 2007, was the idea of cofounder and now CEO Larry Page which wanted to bring back the startup culture at Google.