Ask HN: What Have You Learned at Google as a Software Engineer?

#1

Post by aalhour » Sun, Sep 08, 2019, 4:05 PM UTC

Hello Googlers (former and current ones),

What have you learned at Google, as a Software Engineer, that you think was interesting and helped you up your game as an engineer? Anything you can share with people outside of Google that can help them improve as engineers?

Re: Ask HN: What Have You Learned at Google as a Software Engineer?

#2

Post by sulpiride » Sun, Sep 08, 2019, 4:49 PM UTC

it's also interesting what have someone learned as a google intern

Re: Ask HN: What Have You Learned at Google as a Software Engineer?

#3

Post by apollo_ » Sun, Sep 08, 2019, 4:50 PM UTC

I've been at Google for 1.5 years and before that startups. I've learned a lot about working at a large company (getting adjacent teams on board with my ideas, writing compelling design docs, etc). I haven't observed any changes in the quality of my code or ideas.

Re: Ask HN: What Have You Learned at Google as a Software Engineer?

#4

Post by zuck9 » Sun, Sep 08, 2019, 4:51 PM UTC

You should replace Google with "big tech company" or FAANG to get more responses.

Re: Ask HN: What Have You Learned at Google as a Software Engineer?

#5

Post by amelius » Sun, Sep 08, 2019, 4:56 PM UTC

Perhaps nice to mention here: "Talks at Google"

https://talksat.withgoogle.com/

Not restricted to just software engineering, though.

Re: Ask HN: What Have You Learned at Google as a Software Engineer?

#6

Post by awinter-py » Sun, Sep 08, 2019, 4:57 PM UTC

A friend who spent a short time there said "you know that tool that you want to build before you start working on your real job? At G, it already exists"

This is less true now because a lot of their tooling has been exported either directly or by rumors leading to it getting rebuilt outside. I'm talking containerization / orchestration and protobufs specifically.

Re: Ask HN: What Have You Learned at Google as a Software Engineer?

#7

Post by aappleby » Sun, Sep 08, 2019, 4:58 PM UTC

Even really smart people sometimes write really dumb code. Including you. :)

Re: Ask HN: What Have You Learned at Google as a Software Engineer?

#8

Post by mav3rick » Sun, Sep 08, 2019, 5:02 PM UTC

My quality of code has been immensely helped by code reviews by senior people. My team also has a good culture of getting feedback on design. I've learnt a lot on designing with security on mind - sandboxes, SELinux etc. I had no clue about them before I joined.

Design docs and comments by great engineers like Jeff Dean are openly accessible. Treasure cove of knowledge that I try to dip into everyday.

Re: Ask HN: What Have You Learned at Google as a Software Engineer?

#9

Post by mav3rick » Sun, Sep 08, 2019, 5:02 PM UTC

zuck9 wrote: post #4

You should replace Google with "big tech company" or FAANG to get more responses.

FAANG don't share the same engineering culture.

Re: Ask HN: What Have You Learned at Google as a Software Engineer?

#10

Post by octocode » Sun, Sep 08, 2019, 5:04 PM UTC

Not Google but similar. I learned that my motivation is proportional to the quality and amount of free food I receive. This includes willingness to participate in pointless meetings.

Note: this is not something I'm particularly proud of or anything. Just an observation.