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Announcing Google Research, Europe

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Re: Announcing Google Research, Europe

#61

Post by delroth »

spacecowboy_lon wrote: post #38
wbhart wrote: post #12

I wonder if this is because Google is having trouble recruiting people to the US, due to the crazy political system there, or because of visas or because of people with concerns about surveillance, gun control, the death penalty, lack of whistleblower protections, etc.

why would they do that when they can get their pick of european talent and pay them 50% less than they would in SV

50% less than SV in Zürich? You're greatly mistaken. Last I checked I'm paid more here than what I would get if I were to do the same job in Mountain View.

Re: Announcing Google Research, Europe

#62

Post by wmkn »

make3 wrote: post #49
XCSme wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have actually applied to Google Zurich (but after 10 interviews they didn't hire me) and studied a bit how the life is there. There are many advantages or living there, but the cost of life and the fact that most people in Zurich are immigrants makes it a pretty cold city where it is hard to make friends or stay for a very long period of time. I think that now your point about "tech friendly environments" is not re…

10 interviews? is that normal for a research job? that feels like a lot

I had a total of 21 interviews at Apple (oh which 4 were phone interviews). Was not hired in the end. I would not recommend it...

Re: Announcing Google Research, Europe

#63

Post by Maro »

dharma1 wrote: post #54
amelius wrote: post #41

I would rather see Europe monetize their own tech instead of some US company.

Would be great if the next Google/Facebook/Microsoft was European and HQ'd in Europe, but it's hard to see that. ML anecdotes - Schmidhuber makes a point of how LSTM was developed on European taxpayer's dime. Backpropagation was invented by Esko Linnainmaa (a Finnish researcher) in the 70s. Universities or startups can't compete with finance/Google/FB level compensation, so that's where a lot of the bright minds go.

I also used to think that, and in the long-term I agree, and I have (i) done a startup in Europe (failed for lacking of funding) (ii) worked for a European startup (Prezi). But right now I work for Facebook (in London), and this is a good thing. You can go to these places and learn a lot, a lot more than what you can figure out on your own with your friends sitting in a garage or at one of the moderately successful European startups (moderately successful=0.1% of Facebook, that's already like $300-500M), which any sane entrepreneur here would be super happy over, fully so.

By "a lot" I mean cultural things, vision, strategy, how to set your own expectations, how decisions are made, what tools are available, etc.

Re: Announcing Google Research, Europe

#64

Post by zerr »

Roritharr wrote: post #3

This really makes me consider moving my family to Zurich. Looking back at growing up in Germany/Europe made me really feel disadvantaged compared to people growing up in more tech friendly environments. I would want my child to grow up somewhere where technology is not overwhelmingly debated about in a negative light. So much good stuff is coming out of ETH that it really seems to be a place where people talk more en…

Not at all. Germany is one of the most tech/dev friendly country, especially if you are outside web dev. I see a lot of C++ engineering opportunities there. If only it was an English speaking country, and they had a sun... (It's a shame that we don't have a good English speaking country in whole Europe...) ;)

Re: Announcing Google Research, Europe

#65

Post by maxerickson »

wmkn wrote: post #62
make3 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10 interviews? is that normal for a research job? that feels like a lot

I had a total of 21 interviews at Apple (oh which 4 were phone interviews). Was not hired in the end. I would not recommend it...

These sorts of stories point to it still being an excellent job market for employers.

In a market that was more favorable to employees, there'd likely be less interviewing and more provisional hiring.

Re: Announcing Google Research, Europe

#66

Post by blub »

make3 wrote: post #49
XCSme wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have actually applied to Google Zurich (but after 10 interviews they didn't hire me) and studied a bit how the life is there. There are many advantages or living there, but the cost of life and the fact that most people in Zurich are immigrants makes it a pretty cold city where it is hard to make friends or stay for a very long period of time. I think that now your point about "tech friendly environments" is not re…

10 interviews? is that normal for a research job? that feels like a lot

Apparently Apple, Google & co have so many applicants that they can do whatever they want. How incompetent can one be at interviewing to need 10 or 20 interviews?!

Soon they'll make candidates crawl through broken glass.

Re: Announcing Google Research, Europe

#67

Post by bitL »

RBerenguel wrote: post #21
tluyben2 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Berlin, Munchen, Madrid, Barcelona London (for now), hell even Malaga are tech friendly and much easier (in my experience, but that is totally a matter of taste: I find Swiss too stiff) to settle. Really wondering where you are from. Edit: fixed Barcelona

Barça is only used for the football team, the city is Barcelona, Bcn (for short) or "down there" if you are not in the area but still in Catalonia

Barna is the short name of the city ;-)

Re: Announcing Google Research, Europe

#68

Post by dominotw »

>This really makes me consider moving my family to Zurich.

If you immigrate to America you can become an American. You can shop till you drop, eat mc donlads, celebrate 4th of july and call yourself an american.

This can not be said for any other country. In Germany you will always be an "immigrant", maybe if your kids are white and young enough to pick up the language maybe they can become invisible. But for anyone else it impossible to become german, dutch ect. I don't mean any of it in a negative way, btw.

Re: Announcing Google Research, Europe

#69

Post by saiya-jin »

vigilant wrote: post #50
XCSme wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have actually applied to Google Zurich (but after 10 interviews they didn't hire me) and studied a bit how the life is there. There are many advantages or living there, but the cost of life and the fact that most people in Zurich are immigrants makes it a pretty cold city where it is hard to make friends or stay for a very long period of time. I think that now your point about "tech friendly environments" is not re…

Don't a large number of immigrants make it easier to make friends? My experience in a different large city - immigrants new to the city are eager to make friends, as they won't know many other people in the city. People who grew up in the city often still have their friend group from childhood, and thus are less interested in meeting new people.

in theory yes, but in this specific case (or anywhere else in Switzerland), not that much. it's hard to make long-lasting friendships here - turnaround of foreigners is massive, Swiss are not extremely welcoming to foreigners, most of whom don't know the language well (and they don't like that much germans/french either for various reasons, go figure).

Bear in mind that Zurich is not large city in London/NY/Kuala Lumpur/whatever sense. But if you adjust, it can be a nice place to live. Salaries are far from current SV trends and all stuff & services are very pricey. As I said, if you adjust...

Re: Announcing Google Research, Europe

#70

Post by tomp »

eps wrote: post #45
s3nnyy wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am well-connected in the tech-scene in Zurich and if you're thinking of moving here and getting an IT job, feel free to contact me - you find my email address in my HN profile. Also you can read my blogpost "8 reasons why I moved to Switzerland to work in IT": https://medium.com/@iwaninzurich/eight-reasons-why-i-moved-t...

Dude, enough already. You've been spamming every thread that barely touches anything Swiss+jobs with your top 8 list and placement offers for a long time now. Please stop.

Clearly it's still beneficial for some people.
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