4 ms·

Reminder that Google is utterly a joke. Effectively infinite cash. Among the first-movers in the space. Literally nothing in full-scale production to show for i

by leoh 3y ago

Reminder that Google is utterly a joke. Effectively infinite cash. Among the first-movers in the space. Literally nothing in full-scale production to show for it. And today, beat by Zipline. Yet almost every CS major at Stanford still stays up all night doing leetcode or whatever stupid thing they're doing to try to get a place there.

rcme 3y ago
Why would a Stanford grad care about earning a meager salary at Zipline?
- amrocha 3y ago
  Zipline pays very well
  - leoh 3y ago
    This doesn't surprise me, because unlike Google, they actually have an innovative contribution in production; and given all the evidence, it ain't gonna' be cancelled any time soon.
- lijok 3y ago
  That's the problem GP is outlining. CS grads are breaking their backs to get a job at Google, then Google goes and wastes all that talent 'cause they can't get their house in order.
- m-ee 3y ago
  Zipline doesn’t pay like google but is decent, they post salaries for their roles. A Stanford classmate of mine works there according to LinkedIn.
- quailfarmer 3y ago
  Plenty of Stanford Grads at Zipline! :)
siva7 3y ago
People are still acting like they’re putting openAI out of business when they release their closed beta ai model because its google.
- Version467 3y ago
  Not out of business, but if the 5x rumored compute is true than they’d need to do something phenomenally bad to end up with a model worse than gpt-4.
  - siva7 3y ago
    They did that same move with bard, proving to put out fluff rumors and underdelivering by an order of magnitude from the public expectations while their competition silently overdelivers with a functioning product to all.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
n_ary 3y ago
> Reminder that Google is utterly a joke IMHO, misplaced blame. Rather let us think as _Amazon_ is utterly a joke, because they sprayed infinite(in terms of plebs like me) cash into drone delivery and still didn't make much progress in the space. Google is not even in logistics business and drone doesn't make any sense for them. > Yet almost every CS major at Stanford still stays up all night doing leetcode or whatever stupid thing they're doing to try to get a place there. In long-term, nothing trumps comfortable money and the prestige that comes with the name "GOOGLE" on a CV and opening more useful doors later on, compared to Zipline, which could've been any one of the other thousands of drone startups that came and went silently and didn't turn up much. We don't live in an ideal world, something all of us should remember.
- hef19898 3y ago
  Amazon didn't go anywhere with drone delivery because for most last mole delivery peoblems drones don't make sense. Especially not at the scale of Amazon. Sure, drones are great for really fast point-to-point deliveries, especially in remote areas. And that is not a problem Amazon, or any other company like UPS or DHL, has to solve. Another business Amazon retired, but a ton of start-ups still think is a good idea, is groccery deliveries.
DirkH 3y ago
Let's not pretend our industry doesn't immediately up the prestige and desirability of anyone who has worked at Google. I can already think of a friend off the top of my head who worked there. They will tell me their engineering work at Google is not even that impressive compared to her other technical accomplishments. Our industry doesn't seem to care and she gets immediate extra-prestige just from having "(ex-)Google" on her resume independent of her actual technical accomplishments at Google. Those Stanford grads aren't dumb. They are reacting to the incentives of our entire industry and making a wise decision that favours their professional growth through accruing status and wealth - both resources which can catapult you to finally having what you need to go do "the thing" you actually want to do. Hence all the ex-Google startup founders.
q7xvh97o2pDhNrh 3y ago
> Yet almost every CS major at Stanford still stays up all night doing leetcode or whatever stupid thing they're doing to try to get a place there. It's about the money. Work at a startup, and get paid meager table scraps to "follow your dreams" and "work on something meaningful." Watch all your friends become millionaires while you work 14 hours a day to afford name-brand ramen noodles. Or, work in Big Tech, get paid an actual decent salary, clock out in 60 hours or less every week while getting every perk imaginable, and retire into the upper-middle class before 50 (or 40, or sometimes 30).
- leoh 3y ago
  Of course it's about the money. But wait, if these folks were so brilliant, couldn't they just do their own thing instead of throwing their weight behind an incumbent, bloated, legacy giant? Let alone their talent going to /dev/null?
- baq 3y ago
  > clock out in 60 hours or less every week You misspelled 6.
- gambiting 3y ago
  >> get paid an actual decent salary, clock out in 60 hours or less every week while getting every perk imaginable, ....is that....meant to be good? As someone who works in "big tech" and works 37.5h a week I have no idea what kind of perk/money they would need to offer me to work 60 hours a week. I'm not sure that even exists - I like having a life outside of work.
- askonomm 3y ago
  Both of these seem .. illegal where I am from. 40 hours a week is the maximum an employee can ask of you in EU. So does Google in EU then explicitly ask in the contracts that you agree to work more hours or how does that work? And also, why the heck would anyone want to work more than 40 hours a week?
happytiger 3y ago
I think people should pay a lot more attention to your comment. It’s a monumental statement and one which we, as technologists, should really be paying a great deal more attention to. Changing the world involved actually thinking for yourself. And that is exceptionally rare. Edit: Downvoted immediately. What social commentary. Now I know what I’m saying is true: people hate it.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

by leoh 3y ago

rcme 3y ago

Why would a Stanford grad care about earning a meager salary at Zipline?

amrocha 3y ago
Zipline pays very well
- leoh 3y ago
  This doesn't surprise me, because unlike Google, they actually have an innovative contribution in production; and given all the evidence, it ain't gonna' be cancelled any time soon.
lijok 3y ago
That's the problem GP is outlining. CS grads are breaking their backs to get a job at Google, then Google goes and wastes all that talent 'cause they can't get their house in order.
m-ee 3y ago
Zipline doesn’t pay like google but is decent, they post salaries for their roles. A Stanford classmate of mine works there according to LinkedIn.
quailfarmer 3y ago
Plenty of Stanford Grads at Zipline! :)

siva7 3y ago

People are still acting like they’re putting openAI out of business when they release their closed beta ai model because its google.

Version467 3y ago
Not out of business, but if the 5x rumored compute is true than they’d need to do something phenomenally bad to end up with a model worse than gpt-4.
- siva7 3y ago
  They did that same move with bard, proving to put out fluff rumors and underdelivering by an order of magnitude from the public expectations while their competition silently overdelivers with a functioning product to all.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

n_ary 3y ago

> Reminder that Google is utterly a joke IMHO, misplaced blame. Rather let us think as _Amazon_ is utterly a joke, because they sprayed infinite(in terms of plebs like me) cash into drone delivery and still didn't make much progress in the space. Google is not even in logistics business and drone doesn't make any sense for them. > Yet almost every CS major at Stanford still stays up all night doing leetcode or whatever stupid thing they're doing to try to get a place there. In long-term, nothing trumps comfortable money and the prestige that comes with the name "GOOGLE" on a CV and opening more useful doors later on, compared to Zipline, which could've been any one of the other thousands of drone startups that came and went silently and didn't turn up much. We don't live in an ideal world, something all of us should remember.

hef19898 3y ago
Amazon didn't go anywhere with drone delivery because for most last mole delivery peoblems drones don't make sense. Especially not at the scale of Amazon. Sure, drones are great for really fast point-to-point deliveries, especially in remote areas. And that is not a problem Amazon, or any other company like UPS or DHL, has to solve. Another business Amazon retired, but a ton of start-ups still think is a good idea, is groccery deliveries.

DirkH 3y ago

Let's not pretend our industry doesn't immediately up the prestige and desirability of anyone who has worked at Google. I can already think of a friend off the top of my head who worked there. They will tell me their engineering work at Google is not even that impressive compared to her other technical accomplishments. Our industry doesn't seem to care and she gets immediate extra-prestige just from having "(ex-)Google" on her resume independent of her actual technical accomplishments at Google. Those Stanford grads aren't dumb. They are reacting to the incentives of our entire industry and making a wise decision that favours their professional growth through accruing status and wealth - both resources which can catapult you to finally having what you need to go do "the thing" you actually want to do. Hence all the ex-Google startup founders.

q7xvh97o2pDhNrh 3y ago

> Yet almost every CS major at Stanford still stays up all night doing leetcode or whatever stupid thing they're doing to try to get a place there. It's about the money. Work at a startup, and get paid meager table scraps to "follow your dreams" and "work on something meaningful." Watch all your friends become millionaires while you work 14 hours a day to afford name-brand ramen noodles. Or, work in Big Tech, get paid an actual decent salary, clock out in 60 hours or less every week while getting every perk imaginable, and retire into the upper-middle class before 50 (or 40, or sometimes 30).

leoh 3y ago
Of course it's about the money. But wait, if these folks were so brilliant, couldn't they just do their own thing instead of throwing their weight behind an incumbent, bloated, legacy giant? Let alone their talent going to /dev/null?
baq 3y ago
> clock out in 60 hours or less every week You misspelled 6.
gambiting 3y ago
>> get paid an actual decent salary, clock out in 60 hours or less every week while getting every perk imaginable, ....is that....meant to be good? As someone who works in "big tech" and works 37.5h a week I have no idea what kind of perk/money they would need to offer me to work 60 hours a week. I'm not sure that even exists - I like having a life outside of work.
askonomm 3y ago
Both of these seem .. illegal where I am from. 40 hours a week is the maximum an employee can ask of you in EU. So does Google in EU then explicitly ask in the contracts that you agree to work more hours or how does that work? And also, why the heck would anyone want to work more than 40 hours a week?

happytiger 3y ago

I think people should pay a lot more attention to your comment. It’s a monumental statement and one which we, as technologists, should really be paying a great deal more attention to. Changing the world involved actually thinking for yourself. And that is exceptionally rare. Edit: Downvoted immediately. What social commentary. Now I know what I’m saying is true: people hate it.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]