3 ms·

I'm not GP but in the 90s I was taught that bigger = better, and to some degree that was true, if you were into old (ergo, very expensive) tech. In the days be

by Jenk 5y ago

I'm not GP but in the 90s I was taught that bigger = better, and to some degree that was true, if you were into old (ergo, very expensive) tech. In the days before the internet, technology was niche (as was the knowledge to develop and operate it) and super expensive, so only mega corps had decent tech to work with. This reputation persisted for sometime into the new millennium until we started to see more of these scruffy younguns starting to make noise in the business, and techno, spheres.

decafninja 5y ago
GP here. I started my career in the mid-late 2000s. For me some of the reasons that I remember are: 1. Just plain old not knowing better. 2. Being in NYC, my social circle had a lot of Wall Street finance types. In fact, this is still true - I know more finance people amongst my friends than fellow SWEs. 3. Hacker tech culture wasn't as widespread or widely known back then, especially in NYC. Or maybe it was just me. Going back to #1, I thought things couldn't get any better than dressing up in business casual monkey suits every morning and being ordered to dance like a monkey by a hotshot trader in hopes of picking up after his glorious scraps. 4. I thought the money wasn't half bad, making like $80-90k back then. I thought no one could pay better than the Masters of the Universe on Wall Street. I don't know what a company like Google was paying their engineers back then, but I think it's a somewhat recent phenomenon where tech SWE compensation grossly and utterly outpaced tech-in-finance SWE compensation. Again, I'm not referring to ultra-elite finance firms like Jane Street or Citadel where I understand SWEs do get paid on par (or better) than FAANG. I distinctly recall even ignoring a Google recruiter's solicitations back then (2007? 2008?) because I naively thought working at my investment bank was utterly superior to anything Google could offer. Now I know better, and knowing is half the battle.
- Jenk 5y ago
  I regret scoffing at the very idea that Google had a slide in their office. Also thought it would never work to have free coffee, food, table tennis, etc in the workplace as the staff would just slack off. Today I take these perks very seriously and will see the lack of them as a potential concern for any new employer.

by Jenk 5y ago

decafninja 5y ago

GP here. I started my career in the mid-late 2000s. For me some of the reasons that I remember are: 1. Just plain old not knowing better. 2. Being in NYC, my social circle had a lot of Wall Street finance types. In fact, this is still true - I know more finance people amongst my friends than fellow SWEs. 3. Hacker tech culture wasn't as widespread or widely known back then, especially in NYC. Or maybe it was just me. Going back to #1, I thought things couldn't get any better than dressing up in business casual monkey suits every morning and being ordered to dance like a monkey by a hotshot trader in hopes of picking up after his glorious scraps. 4. I thought the money wasn't half bad, making like $80-90k back then. I thought no one could pay better than the Masters of the Universe on Wall Street. I don't know what a company like Google was paying their engineers back then, but I think it's a somewhat recent phenomenon where tech SWE compensation grossly and utterly outpaced tech-in-finance SWE compensation. Again, I'm not referring to ultra-elite finance firms like Jane Street or Citadel where I understand SWEs do get paid on par (or better) than FAANG. I distinctly recall even ignoring a Google recruiter's solicitations back then (2007? 2008?) because I naively thought working at my investment bank was utterly superior to anything Google could offer. Now I know better, and knowing is half the battle.

Jenk 5y ago
I regret scoffing at the very idea that Google had a slide in their office. Also thought it would never work to have free coffee, food, table tennis, etc in the workplace as the staff would just slack off. Today I take these perks very seriously and will see the lack of them as a potential concern for any new employer.