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I think this reasoning is flawed. Joining Google does not mean you get to solve interesting problems because you will most likely contribute incrementally to a

I think this reasoning is flawed. Joining Google does not mean you get to solve interesting problems because you will most likely contribute incrementally to a vast body of work. You want to build the next-gen database? You have to come up with something way better than BigTable and Spanner. You want to build a queue service? You've got to come up with something way better than Google's PubSub, which optimizes itself all the way down to the level of GBP protocols. You want to build a machine learning framework? Have you checked out TensorFlow and JAX in particular their ecosystem? You want to build a file system? Are you sure you can overcome all the organizational inertia that Google has built on Colossus over the years? You want to build a 10X more productive framework for data processing? Are you sure you can beat DataFlow or Flume4J-ecosystem in Google? The point is, Google is a mature company. Mortals like most of us don't get to break ground in a technically advanced but mature company like Google. Instead, we find fast growing new problems to solve, to hone our skill, and to get to scale. P.S., I personally know a number of prominent professors used to work on the Borg projects just to optimize for a few percent of gains. It's deep and interesting work, but nonetheless hard for mortals like me to get much out of. That is, it's a more sure bet to work for a baby Google than to work for a middle-aged Google.

anonymousDan 5y ago
Yes or work on things that are fundamentally at odds with Google's business model, or on systems that in some way are difficult for Google to do because they have company-spe ific constraints or legacy systems
bricemo 5y ago
It’s definitely a tradeoff. I personally have gone through alternate phases where I wanted to be responsible for a huge piece of a small pie (startup) versus a tiny tiny piece of a huge pie (big company). There are pros and cons to both. The big slice of small pie feels cooler and more satisfying to my ego, but in the absolute sense the tiny piece of the big pie probably is actually making a bigger difference. 1% improvement at some of these companies means north of billions of dollars and improving hundreds of millions of peoples lives.
- ipaddr 5y ago
  The absolute numbers may feel like you are improving the lives of billions but a 1% increase in some matrix that gives google billions rarely helps millions and often hurts.
  - edmundsauto 5y ago
    This might be true in some cases, but given the level of generality being discussed, how can you justify the “rarely” and “often”? I agree that sometimes our actions have unintended consequences. These are often hidden effects, which makes it easier for someone to overlook, even when they are trying to do good. But that’s just a generic idea - the specifics matter.

anonymousDan 5y ago

Yes or work on things that are fundamentally at odds with Google's business model, or on systems that in some way are difficult for Google to do because they have company-spe ific constraints or legacy systems

bricemo 5y ago

It’s definitely a tradeoff. I personally have gone through alternate phases where I wanted to be responsible for a huge piece of a small pie (startup) versus a tiny tiny piece of a huge pie (big company). There are pros and cons to both. The big slice of small pie feels cooler and more satisfying to my ego, but in the absolute sense the tiny piece of the big pie probably is actually making a bigger difference. 1% improvement at some of these companies means north of billions of dollars and improving hundreds of millions of peoples lives.

ipaddr 5y ago
The absolute numbers may feel like you are improving the lives of billions but a 1% increase in some matrix that gives google billions rarely helps millions and often hurts.
- edmundsauto 5y ago
  This might be true in some cases, but given the level of generality being discussed, how can you justify the “rarely” and “often”? I agree that sometimes our actions have unintended consequences. These are often hidden effects, which makes it easier for someone to overlook, even when they are trying to do good. But that’s just a generic idea - the specifics matter.