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Hired by Google as L4 but rejected by top colleges

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Re: Hired by Google as L4 but rejected by top colleges

#11

Post by mertd »

teaearlgraycold wrote: post #5

Kid’s making bank, congrats! But as an ex-L4 Googler I need to say, I’m sure he’s similarly frustrated as I was. I don’t live to maximize income - I want to maximize learning and fun. Compared to successfully launching a startup fixing bugs and launching minor features as an L4 is depressing as hell. Not everyone will have it that bad. Hopefully he’s having a better time than I did.

Not a bad place if they make the most of it. They'll learn pretty good SDLC best practices and get exposed to Google's internal tooling. All of these are useful for running a technical team at some point.

Re: Hired by Google as L4 but rejected by top colleges

#13

Post by JohnFen »

wildrhythms wrote: post #9

I went to community college and a tiny private college nobody has ever heard of and I got a good paying job in tech as an engineer at a prestigious company. And I understand the obsession with Stanford and MIT, the networking opportunities, the namesake, but I never felt like I had to attend a prestigious university to study what I wanted. Just my 2c. Ironically the community college prepared me better for a career i…

I personally know a half-dozen high-performing devs at FAANG companies who have never attended college at all, too.

Re: Hired by Google as L4 but rejected by top colleges

#14

Post by jordanpg »

wildrhythms wrote: post #9

I went to community college and a tiny private college nobody has ever heard of and I got a good paying job in tech as an engineer at a prestigious company. And I understand the obsession with Stanford and MIT, the networking opportunities, the namesake, but I never felt like I had to attend a prestigious university to study what I wanted. Just my 2c. Ironically the community college prepared me better for a career i…

Yeah, I think that, at least with respect to programming, the important question is, does college matter anymore. I think that ideally, it should not, because there are so so so many other ways to learn and prove yourself.

I think college is great for a lot of things like physics or philosophy, but maybe, outside of theoretical CS, it just doesn't matter anymore. And that's OK.

Re: Hired by Google as L4 but rejected by top colleges

#16

Post by imbusy111 »

teaearlgraycold wrote: post #5

Kid’s making bank, congrats! But as an ex-L4 Googler I need to say, I’m sure he’s similarly frustrated as I was. I don’t live to maximize income - I want to maximize learning and fun. Compared to successfully launching a startup fixing bugs and launching minor features as an L4 is depressing as hell. Not everyone will have it that bad. Hopefully he’s having a better time than I did.

Can confirm - L4 is super depressing for ambitious engineer.

Re: Hired by Google as L4 but rejected by top colleges

#17

Post by WillPostForFood »

jonny_eh wrote: post #4

Why bother with working for a large corp or going to college? Seems like he should focus on his organically fast growing startup.

There is value for an 18 year old to work for a bit before trying to work a start up. It will help him meet people, pay rent, save some money, maybe learn some new tools, and something about management and business.

Re: Hired by Google as L4 but rejected by top colleges

#19

Post by [deleted] »

JohnFen wrote: post #13
wildrhythms wrote: post #9

I went to community college and a tiny private college nobody has ever heard of and I got a good paying job in tech as an engineer at a prestigious company. And I understand the obsession with Stanford and MIT, the networking opportunities, the namesake, but I never felt like I had to attend a prestigious university to study what I wanted. Just my 2c. Ironically the community college prepared me better for a career i…

I personally know a half-dozen high-performing devs at FAANG companies who have never attended college at all, too.

[deleted]
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