Rumors of Google leaving its Madison satellite office were dispelled this weekend, though the company did report some recent employee cuts.
Two weeks ago, Google released a small number of employees from its Madison office. The employees released were part of a temporary project titled Google Places, which allows businesses to advertise locally on Google’s search engine.
Executive Vice President of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce Delora Newton said the employees were contracted to work for only a limited amount of time and on Google Places.
A team of 20 employees still works at the Google office, located at 301 S. Blount Street, Newton said. She said the GMCC enjoyed working with Google and the experience was a pleasure.
Google Places is a program run on Google’s website that allows businesses to advertise locally on Google’s search engine, and it allows local consumers to rate small businesses in the area. It is an experiment to see if business owners and consumers can communicate effectively, with apps for Google Places available for Android and iPhone.
Newton said the project started recently and created an illusion that the Madison’s Google office had grown significantly. In actuality, the Google office has doubled its employees since it opened in 2008, when it had 10 people employed.
“It’s great when a national company like Google opens a satellite office,” Newton said.
Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, said the recent employment endings are not likely to impact Madison in any significant way. He said computer science majors need not worry about a shrinking job market due to Madison’s Google office shakedown.
“There is still a strong demand for students with computer science degrees,” Resnick said.
With the presence of Epic, Sony, Sonic and a variety of other local tech businesses, graduates with computer science degrees should be able to look forward to a booming job market in Madison, Resnick said.
In the past, Madison’s Google office has taken part in Google Street View and Google Maps, photographing and blueprinting the streets of Madison in order to make quick and easy directions available on Google’s website.
At the moment, Newton said Google’s office is dealing with technical issues and is not attached to any one project. However, the office continues to look to expand and no further job terminations should be expected.