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Is Google still a coveted place to work in the US? Sounds kind of implausible, I was reminded of the excellent "are we the baddies?" video posted here a few wee

Is Google still a coveted place to work in the US? Sounds kind of implausible, I was reminded of the excellent "are we the baddies?" video posted here a few weeks ago :)

forgotmysn 6y ago
very, very, very much so. their salaries are among the highest in a high paid industry. additionally, they are among the best employers to have on a resume if you want to approach vc investors about a project of your own.
- cosmotic 6y ago
  Given their product grave yard, why would google being on your resume be a good indicator of success for vc investors?
  - forgotmysn 6y ago
    i think people tend to remember google's successes more than their failures, because google's successes massively, overwhelmingly outweigh their failures. [edit] as an example, people don't think of the Fire Phone with they think of Jeff Bezos.
  - owyn 6y ago
    A VC isn't going to give you a coding test so they use "worked at google" as a proxy. Also presumably the developer/founder made enough money at google that they could probably stretch out whatever seed money you give them a lot further.
    - ISL 6y ago
      Totally agreed. Google is known to have a more-reliable-and-thoughtful-than-many hiring process. It is a powerful credential.
  - SimonPStevens 6y ago
    Because they are picky and hard to get in to. To a VC who has very few other ways to asses you, having something in you past that singles you out as someone who has already cleared a highly selective process means you are more likely to be the kind of person who succeeds. Nothing to do with Google's own products. Any other club similar difficult to get into will convey the same signal. It's a crude signal, but it's a signal.
    - forgotmysn 6y ago
      exactly. stanford and harvard serve as similarly crude signals.
  - username90 6y ago
    Google engineers typically have little little to no say in product direction, and most Google products fails for that reason and not technical reasons. So knowing that someone is a Google engineer tells you that they have at least decent technical skills, and doesn't tell you anything at all about their product skills since they didn't make product decisions at Google. So if they with presentations or such manage to convince you of their product vision they are a very attractive founder, as they then have both product vision and the technical skills to not get tricked into hiring shitty engineers to build it for them.
  - RobRivera 6y ago
    the colors luke, the colors. unless the VC is colorblind.
- xyzzy_plugh 6y ago
  Their salaries are not that high. They love to down-level candidates (if you're a senior engineer now, they'll usually try and hire you as an intermediate engineer) which comes with a pretty big pay gap. Their salaries are definitely up there but plenty of successful startups pay much more. For total comp, they've done pretty well historically due to their increasing stock price.
  - forgotmysn 6y ago
    the startups that can compete with Google on salary are more likely to be "pre-IPO" companies than "start-ups." most technical roles at Google are in the $200-400k range. ya, maybe companies like OpenDoor and Plaid can pay that, but your average Series A start-up can't
  - username90 6y ago
    > Their salaries are not that high. > Their salaries are definitely up there but plenty of successful startups pay much more. These two statements doesn't match up. Google pays extremely high wages. There are jobs that pay better, but mostly at companies that are like Google or very small companies. If you measure by number of jobs then I don't think there are more jobs at companies paying more than Google and Facebook than there are jobs at Google and Facebook. So if you want that level of pay Google and Facebook is the easiest way to get it, which also means that Google and Facebook will be the main target employers for many candidates.
Traster 6y ago
They're always going to be a target for some people, not necessarily the same people that thought highly of them a decade ago.
cosmotic 6y ago
I think most people still covet google. However, given the hiring process, notorious interviews, propensity of product failures, declining core product quality, and periodic ethical issues, I feel like maybe it's undeserved.
caturopath 6y ago
Sure. There are some serious cultural and product issues, but it's generally respected as hiring stronger people than most and has top-tier comp packages.
- lostmsu 6y ago
  Recently they've been lagging behind Facebook on comp. It's kinda funny, when recruiter is apologizing in advance, that they won't be able to match existing offer, but still suggesting to go through a whole day of interviews, which he promises will be harder than Facebook's.
jnwatson 6y ago
Luckily, they have Facebook to set the floor.

Is Google still a coveted place to work in the US? Sounds kind of implausible, I was reminded of the excellent "are we the baddies?" video posted here a few weeks ago :)

forgotmysn 6y ago

very, very, very much so. their salaries are among the highest in a high paid industry. additionally, they are among the best employers to have on a resume if you want to approach vc investors about a project of your own.

cosmotic 6y ago
Given their product grave yard, why would google being on your resume be a good indicator of success for vc investors?
- forgotmysn 6y ago
  i think people tend to remember google's successes more than their failures, because google's successes massively, overwhelmingly outweigh their failures. [edit] as an example, people don't think of the Fire Phone with they think of Jeff Bezos.
- owyn 6y ago
  A VC isn't going to give you a coding test so they use "worked at google" as a proxy. Also presumably the developer/founder made enough money at google that they could probably stretch out whatever seed money you give them a lot further.
  - ISL 6y ago
    Totally agreed. Google is known to have a more-reliable-and-thoughtful-than-many hiring process. It is a powerful credential.
- SimonPStevens 6y ago
  Because they are picky and hard to get in to. To a VC who has very few other ways to asses you, having something in you past that singles you out as someone who has already cleared a highly selective process means you are more likely to be the kind of person who succeeds. Nothing to do with Google's own products. Any other club similar difficult to get into will convey the same signal. It's a crude signal, but it's a signal.
  - forgotmysn 6y ago
    exactly. stanford and harvard serve as similarly crude signals.
- username90 6y ago
  Google engineers typically have little little to no say in product direction, and most Google products fails for that reason and not technical reasons. So knowing that someone is a Google engineer tells you that they have at least decent technical skills, and doesn't tell you anything at all about their product skills since they didn't make product decisions at Google. So if they with presentations or such manage to convince you of their product vision they are a very attractive founder, as they then have both product vision and the technical skills to not get tricked into hiring shitty engineers to build it for them.
- RobRivera 6y ago
  the colors luke, the colors. unless the VC is colorblind.
xyzzy_plugh 6y ago
Their salaries are not that high. They love to down-level candidates (if you're a senior engineer now, they'll usually try and hire you as an intermediate engineer) which comes with a pretty big pay gap. Their salaries are definitely up there but plenty of successful startups pay much more. For total comp, they've done pretty well historically due to their increasing stock price.
- forgotmysn 6y ago
  the startups that can compete with Google on salary are more likely to be "pre-IPO" companies than "start-ups." most technical roles at Google are in the $200-400k range. ya, maybe companies like OpenDoor and Plaid can pay that, but your average Series A start-up can't
- username90 6y ago
  > Their salaries are not that high. > Their salaries are definitely up there but plenty of successful startups pay much more. These two statements doesn't match up. Google pays extremely high wages. There are jobs that pay better, but mostly at companies that are like Google or very small companies. If you measure by number of jobs then I don't think there are more jobs at companies paying more than Google and Facebook than there are jobs at Google and Facebook. So if you want that level of pay Google and Facebook is the easiest way to get it, which also means that Google and Facebook will be the main target employers for many candidates.

Traster 6y ago

They're always going to be a target for some people, not necessarily the same people that thought highly of them a decade ago.

cosmotic 6y ago

I think most people still covet google. However, given the hiring process, notorious interviews, propensity of product failures, declining core product quality, and periodic ethical issues, I feel like maybe it's undeserved.

caturopath 6y ago

Sure. There are some serious cultural and product issues, but it's generally respected as hiring stronger people than most and has top-tier comp packages.

lostmsu 6y ago
Recently they've been lagging behind Facebook on comp. It's kinda funny, when recruiter is apologizing in advance, that they won't be able to match existing offer, but still suggesting to go through a whole day of interviews, which he promises will be harder than Facebook's.

jnwatson 6y ago

Luckily, they have Facebook to set the floor.