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Comment by throwaway15273 | Hacker News Reader

Maybe I need to stop reading Google related articles on HN. I'm joining Google in less than a month, and some of the comments in threads like these get me worried.

I graduated less than a year ago and have been working at a startup in my hometown since then, and didn't bother applying to Google because I thought I'd never make it. Actually it was a thread on HN that convinced me to go for it. I'm moving away from everything and everyone I've ever known because I've always heard that Google is the place to be to really grow as an engineer.

I'm still excited, and I was nervous with or without reading these threads, but can someone chime in and give me some hope?

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You'll be fine.

The problem is that our culture in general, and some parts of the tech industry in particular, have a habit of pampering and infantilizing adult professionals. And, just as you would expect, these infantilized adults get spoiled and throw temper tantrums from time to time.

If you act like an adult, be a professional, do your job, don't pick stupid political fights you can't win, and hone your skills, you'll be fine. This is true at any company that has at least an adequate level of sanity, even though most of these companies engage in hypocrisy and mock displays of insanity to appease their more childish employees.

All my friends at Google are happy. You're going to be fine and you'll find that your work will probably be enjoyable.

If you listened to the Internet, my town of San Francisco is a faeces filled shithole where people will mug you at every corner. My other home in London is a bastion of knife crime and Sharia law with a bit of terrorism mixed in. I should live in perpetual fear that my life may be ended at any moment by actively malicious people bent upon religious and culture war.

In truth, life is pretty good in both these places. I love them both.

What you actually should do is stop giving these people any credence. Any fool can write a blog. And recycled news like this article is usually written by bottom feeders.

The world is a lovely place. Don't let the losers keep you down.

A vocal tiny majority has gotten hold of the loudest most annoying sound box. It's hard to even close your ears.

You don't need to be worried but you need to realize this is the real world.

This stuff happens at all companies and Google is not immune to those dynamics.

I recommend doing a few years at a large software company to pretty much everyone, especially as a first job. It will build a foundation of good software development practices that will hold you in good stead for the rest of your career.

HN is very pessimistic. You've got a good job and there is a pretty good chance you'll enjoy it.

The advice that I would give to myself in my early 20s is (1) nobody cares about your career except you: people come and go, change companies and have their own careers; (2) the only way to move up the ranks is by shifting between companies and getting multiple competing offers; this applies even to outstanding devs; so you are expected to move every 3-4 years if you don't want to get stuck at your entry level pay.

Don't know about google, but last I heard it's close enough from amazon. At amazon, the processes are very modern and smart, compared to most companies. You also work with bright people overall. So yeah, both are big companies and this come with some crap, but you shouldn't worry to much about it. If you're junior, you will learn a hell of a lot and the best of stuff.

Don't worry about it. The internet is awash in people whining about things. I don't work at Google but I know some people who do, and they love it. It only takes a tiny disaffected minority to complain louder than all of the people that are perfectly happy there.

You’re still going to work for a top notch company, and you’ll learn quite a bit about how to be a good engineer. Scrutiny is the price you pay for having influence.

Google helped me grow as an engineer. I learned how to:

- design software that can be incrementally rolled out

- design software interfaces before building

- build secure, internationalized, and accessible web frontends

- write pull requests that are easy to understand

- work across multiple teams and codebases

It's a really good opportunity, congratulations on your offer!

Congrats! Google is still fantastic. You'll have a blast and learn a ton.

Sidenote, anyone have an extension to hide all HN headlines with a keyword filter?

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