The article fails to answer then who is in Tier 1?
Google Is Now a 'Tier Two' Employer, Says Recent Comp-Sci Grad
31–40 of 44 posts
Re: Google Is Now a 'Tier Two' Employer, Says Recent Comp-Sci Grad
#32According to one recent grad. Why is this even an article?
I can say from my interactions with CS students at top schools that this attitude is common. Google is no longer seen as innovative; everyone wants to work for Facebook or Apple now. Google isn't seen as a bad company to work for, just not sexy like it used to be. It's like going to work for Microsoft: you'll make good money and get some interesting projects, but major engineering decisions happen in an ivory tower a…
Should recent grads be making major engineering decisions for any established company? This article smacks of entitlement.
A very few recent grads may be able to make major contributions. How do you know if you're one of them?
Re: Google Is Now a 'Tier Two' Employer, Says Recent Comp-Sci Grad
#33"For full time specifically, you get equity at a startup. If it IPOs, you make millions if you're one of the first 100-1000 employees." Not really. You can make millions if you're a founder... As a regular employee you have more chances to make millions by going to Vegas than with stock options.
Speaking as someone who just left a startup to join Google, I was excited in getting really stock options that after vesting could be exercised and sold.
It's a long road to go from options to real money. Something I didn't realized before joining a startup. There are many points at which you could be locked in if the company is sold or other events happen.
Re: Google Is Now a 'Tier Two' Employer, Says Recent Comp-Sci Grad
#34Lower prestige? I think this is true. People may not be consciously aware of it, but due to the company's core business model, i.e. basically adware and spyware, non-billionaire employees will almost certainly incur a hit to their social prestige account.
Re: Google Is Now a 'Tier Two' Employer, Says Recent Comp-Sci Grad
#35According to one recent grad. Why is this even an article?
I can say from my interactions with CS students at top schools that this attitude is common. Google is no longer seen as innovative; everyone wants to work for Facebook or Apple now. Google isn't seen as a bad company to work for, just not sexy like it used to be. It's like going to work for Microsoft: you'll make good money and get some interesting projects, but major engineering decisions happen in an ivory tower a…
What I see in attitudes reflects what you've seen as well. (This is a longer way of saying "me too!" to your comment)
In 2005 I saw people lining up for Google T-shirts and feeling cool when they had invites they could hand out for new Google products. Wave and Gmail people immediately jumped me for invites and then when I was out my friends for invites. Inbox? Nobody cared.
Re: Google Is Now a 'Tier Two' Employer, Says Recent Comp-Sci Grad
#36Not a convincing article. Google is a great employer. May be people's expectations have risen.
Re: Google Is Now a 'Tier Two' Employer, Says Recent Comp-Sci Grad
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not in itself, no. I'd be happy to have a PhD writing unit tests for me, but if they're overqualified for that (which I think is the assumption we're making) I'd probably rather have them working on a harder problem. I think the point is that it's not an efficient use of their skills.
Which is why it wouldn't happen. Interns and entry level grads are doing testing; they hire PhDs specifically for doing the kind of research they were doing at university. But the original comment wasn't serious anyway, just making a point.
Most PhDs write terrible unit tests or don't test at all.
Re: Google Is Now a 'Tier Two' Employer, Says Recent Comp-Sci Grad
#38TIL that even students from top CS program have no idea about taxes if they think that housing stipend is taxed higher than ordinary income. He is not alone though - compensation director at Box tried to convince me that higher salary is significantly better than lower salary + bonus because of higher taxes on bonus.
There is some truth to this actually. Companies often charge both sides of payroll tax on bonuses, which adds another ~6%. IIRC some states have a bonus tax as well. That said, higher base salary is usually better than lower salary + bonus because your annual raises are larger on a higher base. Variable comp also just kind of sucks period - you get a big windfall at some point in the year, but you can't plan for it b…
I have never heard about companies charging both sides of payroll tax on bonuses - is it even legal? Anyway, Google does not do it and California does not have any extra tax for bonuses so it does not matter in this case.
With that, I agree that having higher guaranteed salary is better than having the same expected variable comp but the comment was about taxes.
Re: Google Is Now a 'Tier Two' Employer, Says Recent Comp-Sci Grad
#39"For full time specifically, you get equity at a startup. If it IPOs, you make millions if you're one of the first 100-1000 employees." Not really. You can make millions if you're a founder... As a regular employee you have more chances to make millions by going to Vegas than with stock options.
Are there any tech IPOs that made employee #1000 millions? IIRC Facebook only came close even if you ignore the "s", and Google "only" made hundreds of people millionaires.
Allegedly, there were over 1,600 Twitter employees with options valued over $1M at IPO:
http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-ipo-created-1600-mill...
Re: Google Is Now a 'Tier Two' Employer, Says Recent Comp-Sci Grad
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can say from my interactions with CS students at top schools that this attitude is common. Google is no longer seen as innovative; everyone wants to work for Facebook or Apple now. Google isn't seen as a bad company to work for, just not sexy like it used to be. It's like going to work for Microsoft: you'll make good money and get some interesting projects, but major engineering decisions happen in an ivory tower a…
Should recent grads be making major engineering decisions for any established company? This article smacks of entitlement. A very few recent grads may be able to make major contributions. How do you know if you're one of them?
Some are, yes. We're talking about the top CS students at schools like Stanford, Berkeley, CMU and MIT - these kids are in the top 10% of the top 1% of students. They may not be making major decisions on day 1, but they expect to be able to grow into a role where they are at least a voice at the table within a year or two.