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Tips for Noogler Engineers (Noogler = New at Google)

piaw.blogspot.com

31–40 of 86 posts

Re: Tips for Noogler Engineers (Noogler = New at Google)

#31

I thought at Google most people, regardless of salary or rep, were just "Software Engineers". If so, how do people know you got a promotion?

Software engineer is the generic title for a number of levels: software engineer II, software engineer III, senior software engineer, staff software engineer, senior staff software engineer, and so on. I heard that the job titles for engineers above a certain level are shared publicly with in the company.

[deleted]

Re: Tips for Noogler Engineers (Noogler = New at Google)

#32

I thought at Google most people, regardless of salary or rep, were just "Software Engineers". If so, how do people know you got a promotion?

Google has a software engineering ladder. It was introduced in 2002-2003. Many old-timers considered it Google's biggest mistake.

Past a certain point in the ladder, promotions were a big deal and those who got promoted to that point got it publicly announced. Past another point, the CEO himself announced it in a company-wide e-mail.

Re: Tips for Noogler Engineers (Noogler = New at Google)

#33
This post has to be taken in context of everything else that Piaw has been saying for a while: Google is an excellent place to work. It may not be as nimble as it used to be, but it is still better than most other big companies and most other startups as well. Sure, it is not _the_ best place, but it is right there at the top.

Once you keep that as the background for the article, then you realize that the article is meant for Nooglers interested in a certain career path. It is not for everyone, but it is certainly the most common expected path for the majority of their engineers.

It is odd to see HN jumping to conclusion reading one article without any background. I think thats part of the reason why bloggers stop blogging because whatever they say is taken to mean something else.

Re: Tips for Noogler Engineers (Noogler = New at Google)

#34
post #29

I was expecting one more "google is great" love-post. It was anything but. If you are dreaming of joining Google, this is the article to read. Really.

Google is still the best big publicly held company in the valley to work for. I wrote this to guide the thousands of Googlers they'll add this year. Having said that, I've been at well functioning startups, and I've been at Google. Google when I joined was better than many many startups. Google when I left was not so.

What I've noticed at Google is that there's really no comparison between teams. Different parts of the company might as well be entirely different companies, aside from a few common cultural attributes (flat hierarchy, data driven decision, and of course all the perks.)

The best piece of advice in there (I think) is to pick your team carefully, and more importantly, don't feel shy about switching if you aren't making headway.

Re: Tips for Noogler Engineers (Noogler = New at Google)

#35
post #33

This post has to be taken in context of everything else that Piaw has been saying for a while: Google is an excellent place to work. It may not be as nimble as it used to be, but it is still better than most other big companies and most other startups as well. Sure, it is not _the_ best place, but it is right there at the top. Once you keep that as the background for the article, then you realize that the article is…

Thanks!

Re: Tips for Noogler Engineers (Noogler = New at Google)

#37

Had to look up "SRE": SRE: Site reliability engineer SWE: Software engineer

It seems that I should have answered acronyms to the "Ask HN: What annoys you?" question[1]. [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1560796

Yes, we should complain to the AAAA.

The tried and true American Association for Acronym Abuse can help there.

Re: Tips for Noogler Engineers (Noogler = New at Google)

#38
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google is still the best big publicly held company in the valley to work for. I wrote this to guide the thousands of Googlers they'll add this year. Having said that, I've been at well functioning startups, and I've been at Google. Google when I joined was better than many many startups. Google when I left was not so.

What I've noticed at Google is that there's really no comparison between teams. Different parts of the company might as well be entirely different companies, aside from a few common cultural attributes (flat hierarchy, data driven decision, and of course all the perks.) The best piece of advice in there (I think) is to pick your team carefully, and more importantly, don't feel shy about switching if you aren't making…

I think you'll find that is true for any company of sufficient size.

Re: Tips for Noogler Engineers (Noogler = New at Google)

#40
post #5

That must be the most depressing thing I read in quite a while.

Agree, it feels very disturbing. Although what he is describing is pretty much life in the real world. This is what is called "Playing the game". Idealistic persons will probably have the hardest time with this. To you I tell you to create your own startup. Google is already too big to provide any of the excitement and benefits of when it was just ramping up.
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