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Would You Accept a Google Job Offer?

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Re: Would You Accept a Google Job Offer?

#11

Post by cfinke »

I've turned down an offer from Google; here were my reasons:

1. I had just started at a startup (Mahalo), and I was excited about being 1/5th of a company's development team; being 1/1000th of a company's dev team felt less appealing.

2. They offered the same amount of money I was currently making, but I would have had to move from the affordable Twin Cities metro area to San Francisco.

3. I've telecommuted for every job I've had since college; I don't know how well I'd make the transition to commuting and wearing office-appropriate clothing every day.

At the time, #1 was the most powerful reason I had for declining, but now, it would be #2. They've called a few times since then to see if I've changed my mind, but with inertia being the powerful force that it is, I can't see myself moving out of Minnesota, away from my family and my wife's family. (I have told them that as soon as they open an office in Minneapolis, I'd be happy to talk to them again.) Although, with three feet of snow on the ground and sub-zero temperatures over the past few weeks, I'm reconsidering my four-season climate policy.

Re: Would You Accept a Google Job Offer?

#12

Post by inetsee »

It's my understanding that Google expects its employees to work very hard. You say that "We're all happy now with our current life." Would you continue to be happy if you had to work a lot harder than you do now? Would your family continue to be happy if your job was taking much more of your time, leaving less time for your family? I can understand the appeal of working with so many really, really smart people, but the transition from a happy life in a rural area to a high pressure job in California seems to me to be a fairly risky choice.

Re: Would You Accept a Google Job Offer?

#13

Post by skybrian »

inetsee wrote: post #12

It's my understanding that Google expects its employees to work very hard. You say that "We're all happy now with our current life." Would you continue to be happy if you had to work a lot harder than you do now? Would your family continue to be happy if your job was taking much more of your time, leaving less time for your family? I can understand the appeal of working with so many really, really smart people, but t…

This all depends. Some people are ambitious and work long hours, and others (often with families) have more regular schedules. There's a lot of talk about work-life balance. If you know what's important to you, you can probably get it.

Re: Would You Accept a Google Job Offer?

#14

Post by solost »

You say the only reason you struggle with the decision is because of the honor you feel in the validation of your work that Google is giving you by providing the job offer. Well if that is the only reason you haven't turned them down, then you have already answered your own question on whether or not to accept, don’t.

In your situation, based on what you have shared I wouldn't take the job. It sounds like you took the interviews to acquire the personal validation a job offer would represent to you and now that you have it, there seems no real reason to up root your life.

I hope my interpretation of the situation helps and I wish you all the best no matter what decision you may make.

Re: Would You Accept a Google Job Offer?

#16

Post by HerraBRE »

skybrian wrote: post #10

Do you know what you'll be doing? If not (which is common at Google), you might want to push back on that, to make sure you'll like your first job there. It's likely they'll say that it's something they don't normally do. This may be because they haven't decided yet , and the system isn't set it up to support it. So make it clear that you're on the fence and want to talk to the team you'll be joining, and you can wai…

This is really good advice.

I took a job for the big G a few years back, and although I don't regret doing so (it was a fantastic learning experience), I was never really happy in the role they had chosen for me.

Once you're in, it can be surprisingly difficult to change teams and geography plays a major role. Google has many offices, all over the world, and they do specialize. This means the team of your dreams may not actually have presence in the office you are hired into and you'd have to move again even if you did successfully navigate the politics of getting transfered.

Ultimately, that is why I left.

Related to this, there is one related thing to beware of: each recruiter is "owned" by a particular department and compensated at least partially by results. This means your recruiter will have no motivation to bump you to some other department, even if it would actually be a better fit.

Note that I left G well over a year ago, so my insights may be a little dated.

Re: Would You Accept a Google Job Offer?

#17

Post by booduh »

I've been in your shoes.

If the money isn't a lot more, or the project isn't AMAZING, or you don't really need Google on your resume (at this stage of life), then don't bother.

Google is a great place to work in general, but you may be surprised at what you end up working on when you get there (nothing much).

If you aren't that happy with your current job, then give Google a go!

Re: Would You Accept a Google Job Offer?

#19

Post by tunaslut »

No. Wouldn't take the job.

"We're all happy now with our current life" - what more can you ask for? you have a happy family which in my book is first and foremost. You have no debt - bonus!

Recognition? - they have offered you the job, you are good enough, now you just need to believe it yourself.

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