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Yeesh, the mindwash is strong. I had a hard time continuing to read this post after the Prestige by Association section. Working at a respected company known fo
by yfiapo 9y ago
Yeesh, the mindwash is strong. I had a hard time continuing to read this post after the Prestige by Association section. Working at a respected company known for cutting edge work is generally a good sign but it does not make you an Internet God or widen my eyes.
It is like saying you went to Harvard or MIT. That's neat. You are probably reasonably intelligent. However, even that isn't an automatic and I'll reserve judgement until I've made my own assessment.
- walshemj 9y agoYou might not and I agree with you but HR and the recruiting function wont.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- ksk 9y agoAssociation and Reputation puts people into seats on premier nights, or on the streets outside Apple stores, or gets a foot in the door in business. Its a real thing, and people are wise to leverage it whenever they can!
- notyourwork 9y agoLeverage it and treating it as gospel aren't the same.
- ksk 9y agoWhy would anyone confuse the two?
- debt 9y agoIt's actually quite hilarious to me this Prestige by Association. I've worked at a couple very high-profile companies in the Valley and have never felt this prestige primarily because I don't hang out with complete douchebags. If people get all starry-eyed when you announce the company you work for; run in the opposite direction. Also, don't kidd yourself, you and I know both know you're not working on anything that cool. Especially because almost everyone works on a team so responsibility is pretty spread out. And even if you are working on the very algorithm that determines which ads are shown when, you're still buried in seventeen layers of process and bureaucracy for a change or product that will probably never ship or will take years to market. The day-to-day is about unglamorous as it gets. People need to realize the big "names" in the Valley are simply large corporations.
- magic_beans 9y agoHe's (likely) Chinese-American. Chinese culture is HUGE on prestige.
- lostlogin 9y agoAs are all others I’ve encountered too.
- fatjokes 9y agoBecause Americans and Europeans didn't judge people by their schools or careers at all before Chinese came along /s.
- scarecrowboat 9y agoIt's interesting that you associate an American of (likely) Chinese descent with Chinese culture.
- throwaway13991 9y agoAs someone who works at one of the very high profile companies, on something cool, that people get in contact with every day (and sometimes discuss publicly), I respectfully disagree. Bureaucracy and process often exist, but it varies extremely. Sometimes it can be quite direct. (I certainly don't think that "working on the very algorithm that determines which ads are shown" is cool, though, as I work on products.)
- SystemOut 9y agoOr you have family/friends that aren't very technical and don't know any better. I saw people's faces change as soon as someone mentioned where I worked to others in my circle while I was at Google. I had never seen that before. It was weird at first and then I just accepted it. Then having to explain why I wanted to/did leave there was just a major PITA. I'd be lying if there wasn't some reservation or me doubting myself a bit at first when I realized I just wasn't happy there and needed to get out and I'd also be lying if I said some of it wasn't because of the above reaction of family/friends.
- 9y ago
- fwdpropaganda 9y ago> Working at a respected company known for cutting edge work is generally a good sign but it does not make you an Internet God or widen my eyes. I suggest you take a walk in the real world.
- lainga 9y agoYes, if you work for Facebook right now, you might cause a few eyes to actually narrow.
- pathseeker 9y agoWhat real world are you referring to? Non-techies are not blown away by people who work at Google/Facebook/Apple. In my experience they are just always interested in the perks, etc.
- filoleg 9y agoWhat? My experience was the complete opposite of yours. Not a single tech person I interacted with even batted an eye if someone said they worked at Google, most of the time you will just get "nice, what team?" When talking to non-tech people, a lot of them tend to think that everyone working at Google is a super genius changing the world.
- fwdpropaganda 9y agoEVERY tech article about the hot new startup introduces the founders in the following way. If they previously worked at Google, Facebook, they mentioned it. They don't say "founders previously worked at Google therefore THEY'RE AMAZING". But they mention it. If they previously worked at an irrelevant company, they don't mention the company. What's implicit is that if you worked at Google that's remarkable and worth mentioning. That is prestige by association. If you can't see it.... well, I just hope it's not because you're in denial. EDIT: Also, VCs. It's a lot easier to get a VCs attention, or a recruiter's attention, if you say you previously worked at Google. If any of this is news to you, I don't know what else to tell you...
- 9y ago
- ttul 9y agoTwo fucking years of savings? What world is this guy living in?
- jstanier 9y agoI didn't get that either. Surely if you work somewhere like that you're pretty employable and not in the middle or nowhere. Why not just go work elsewhere for a bit while you work out what you really want to do next?
- tyrust 9y agoSounds reasonable to me. You should have an emergency fund that covers six months of expenses, ideally you never touch this. If you quit without another offer it's safe to prepare for a job hunt lasting up to a year. Six more months for safety is just smart.
- protonimitate 9y agoThose types of statements are usually made by people who have never had to scrape by to survive for any major time period. Work 6 months for minimum wage in a major city and you'll find what most people consider 'low wages' to be laughable. Of course, you should do everything your power to have and maintain an emergency fund, but two years of savings is insane. Don't waste two years of life if you are unhappy in your job just because you're afraid of not finding new work. 6 months is a good target to shoot for.
- jogjayr 9y agoYou are aware Facebook pays well right? Unless what you're saying is "Only 2 years?"
- Shaanie 9y agoOutside of a life-altering sickness I see no way for someone who had worked for a top-tier tech company to go without employment opportunities for half a year, let alone two years.
- ryandrake 9y ago
- Asdfbla 9y agoAs I understood it, the author didn't really claim that working at such a company makes you a god or super hacker, just that it might give you such a reputation among certain circles (not you, but others perhaps) - which many people will derive confidence from. Seems like a reasonable statement. The article seems to be less about what some objective truth about good jobs is but more about how people perceive themselves, others and their goals in life.
- fatjokes 9y agoGood on you, but you're also kidding yourself. First impressions matter---and hearing someone went to MIT or Harvard or works at GoogFace immediately implies that they passed their rigorous vetting. In the absence of more information and the time to process it, it's a pretty strong signal. It also matters socially. I went to an Ivy League grad school and a no-name undergrad, so I can provide a point of anecdata that people treat you differently.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- nyrulez 9y agoMy experience isn't the same as yours. It probably depends on your circle. For my non tech circle, I always come across as some kind of hero, which is amusing. When entering the country, even the immigration officers like to make small chat about my high tech job. But I don't mind it.