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The post mentions Google is still the same entrepreneurial company it was when I started, encouraging Googlers to take on big ideas and high-risk, high-reward o

by prpon 16y ago

The post mentions Google is still the same entrepreneurial company it was when I started, encouraging Googlers to take on big ideas and high-risk, high-reward opportunities. I do not know what the current salary/options numbers are but is it really high-reward for the top notch engineers they are seeking at this point in the game?

diego 16y ago
That's just corporate talk. Most likely some PR person made sure to include that, but I doubt anyone applying for a job at Google today would believe it.
slewis 16y ago
I used to work there, started post-IPO, left in December 2010. IMO the answer is absolutely. But that's all I feel I should say.
- dotBen 16y ago
  Maybe you can't comment/it isn't appropriate to comment slewis but my experience is that Googlers who leave with just their regular option grant don't really walk away with anything spectacular in terms of wealth from the stock. Also factor in that salary tends to market-rate and rarely more. However, it is known for engineers working on successful teams and products to obtain additional grants that can lead to them leaving Google with several $million worth of stock. I'm not sure if slewis's 'absolutely' answer is based on something like the latter - in which case you have to make sure you are working on high-value projects that are going somewhere.
  - slewis 16y ago
    Sorry, didn't see this earlier. In addition to project awards (which are significant as you say) there are individual bonuses and stock refreshers for top contributors that can also be 'significant'. Sorry for the vague terms. Further, getting promoted to the upper levels can be rewarding as well. But you are competing against 'top-notch' (to quote op of this thread) engineers for those types of awards. You'll also sometimes hear complaints about politics in the promotion process. It seemed mostly fair to me based on the promotions of engineers whose work I was familiar with.
rhizome 16y ago
...encouraging Googlers to take on big ideas and high-risk, high-reward opportunities. My impression is that it's no so much "encouraged" as required. "Publish or perish" (academia), "up or out" (military), and "20% time" (Google) are all roughly equivalent. Roughly.

by prpon 16y ago

diego 16y ago

That's just corporate talk. Most likely some PR person made sure to include that, but I doubt anyone applying for a job at Google today would believe it.

slewis 16y ago

I used to work there, started post-IPO, left in December 2010. IMO the answer is absolutely. But that's all I feel I should say.

dotBen 16y ago
Maybe you can't comment/it isn't appropriate to comment slewis but my experience is that Googlers who leave with just their regular option grant don't really walk away with anything spectacular in terms of wealth from the stock. Also factor in that salary tends to market-rate and rarely more. However, it is known for engineers working on successful teams and products to obtain additional grants that can lead to them leaving Google with several $million worth of stock. I'm not sure if slewis's 'absolutely' answer is based on something like the latter - in which case you have to make sure you are working on high-value projects that are going somewhere.
- slewis 16y ago
  Sorry, didn't see this earlier. In addition to project awards (which are significant as you say) there are individual bonuses and stock refreshers for top contributors that can also be 'significant'. Sorry for the vague terms. Further, getting promoted to the upper levels can be rewarding as well. But you are competing against 'top-notch' (to quote op of this thread) engineers for those types of awards. You'll also sometimes hear complaints about politics in the promotion process. It seemed mostly fair to me based on the promotions of engineers whose work I was familiar with.

rhizome 16y ago

...encouraging Googlers to take on big ideas and high-risk, high-reward opportunities. My impression is that it's no so much "encouraged" as required. "Publish or perish" (academia), "up or out" (military), and "20% time" (Google) are all roughly equivalent. Roughly.