Ask HN: Would you rather work at Google or Apple? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Would you rather work at Google or Apple?

7 pointscynosurelabs18 comments

A friend of mine applied for Google and Apple job as a data scientist. Luckily, he was accepted in both and passed both Interviews. Trouble is he can't make a choice on where to work. Please help.

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pay + benefits - cost-of-living

Even if your biases about each company are generally accurate, they may not be accurate for the wing of the company you will work in. I'd give priority to your personal wealth.

Strong point there. I'll have to do a little research to make a good decision.

This is really only answerable by the person, but from what I have heard about Apple and Google living halfway between both HQs in the Valley, I would lean towards Google. They generally pay better from what I can tell, and seem to have more respect for software. Apple also is not as friendly towards supporting employee efforts in open source from what I understand as well. I have heard some talk about unhealthy work-life balance at Apple as well, although that appears to be a mixed bag (true for some, not others) - from what I know about my friends at both employers, it feels like more work longer at Apple than Google.

YMMV may vary of course, and these anecdotes may not necessarily even apply to your friend.

At most companies of the G or A size, it all depends on the team and manager, as they'll define the day-to-day culture and work. Note that Apple is much, much more siloed due to its secretive culture, and if talking about and open-sourcing what one does is important, G is the much better choice. But mostly, team and manager should be the deciding factor.

Overall they are both great companies and home to some very happy engineers. What matters more is the team you'd be joining. My advice it to talk to the hiring managers from each company and see who you think is better aligned to your style of work. If you could visit them and meet the teams in person, that would be even better, and chances are, you'd find this becoming a much simpler decision.

I've been recruited by both and learned they both pay below market unless you're in the top 1% and have a messianic-like following. My choice would be neither, and find somewhere that pays more.

What do you mean by top %1? If you worked at both you should have been in the %1 category at some point right?

The last time I was recruited by a Google or an Apple, the offer was nearly $30k below what I'm being paid now, and I'm not overpaid by any stretch. I'll never be able to afford to buy a house or even think about starting a family at these rates. For reference, I live in the Bay Area.

You would make more money working at a bank in SF downtown rather than at apple or google in south bay. Though, these two should give you a lot of RSU's on the side. Which at the end of the year will put you up high.

You must choose Google. They are "Too Big To Fail" and they are investing in important future technologies, most importantly AI and robotics. Meanwhile Apple is basically in the retail business.

Thousands of companies worldwide have built there SaaS products on Google services and APIs. Nothing can touch Google.

Who cares if you make a couple of thousand dollars less from the median salary if you work at Google? If you work at Google for five years you can write your own ticket after that.

I also love Google because they are supportive for their open source oriented employees. Apple is a bit secretive.

You go for the company that has the biggest growth potential, of course.

Bad products VS products full of bugs... which one is which?

Apple is one of the most expensive brands worldwide. I'd rather work for such a brand. They've got iPhones, iPods and many other devices. Join me on team Apple.

I'd go with Google. No good reason at all, just gut instinct. Or maybe it's because I'm an android programmer.What about you?

I would also work for Google. I've always been mesmerized by their search engine. Time to learn how it works.

TL;DR square matrix exponentiation of a huuuuge matrix

Google is my choice also. Google has a great range of products, Google Maps, Google Earth ,Android etc

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