[kcorbitt]

1. In everyday conversation, it doesn't come up. Not that I hide the fact that I left early, but the natural conversation usually goes "when I was working at Google ..." not "When I was working at Google, which I left after only 8 months, ..."

2. Sometimes it does come up (including while interviewing for my current job), and someone will ask me why I left so soon. I just tell the truth, which is that I liked my coworkers and the perks but didn't particularly enjoy the big-company atmosphere. Most people I talk to working in startups can identify with that and don't hold it against me. Of course, if I had a string of several companies that I worked at for less than a year each, I'm sure that would be interpreted differently. But that's not the case.