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siscia

I believe Google have brainwashed us all.

Are we sure that it is worth all this effort? Are they so much better than any other company or startup?

Is our own self so much more valuable if a random intervier liked our works an epsilon more than the other candidate?

People inside FAANG are unhappy as well, they leave their company as well.

I believe we should be less impacted by the ads that Google is running to sponsor itself as the best workplace ever.

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I agree with you. I was immediately struck by the tone of the article that the author was "fortunate" enough to be interviewed by Google. Maybe it's because I've been working for nearly 20 years now and am becoming an "old man", but the feeling that Google is this promised land of opportunity rubs me the wrong way. Every company has pros and cons and I suppose Google may have a lot of pros (free food, good perks, and good pay) but at the end of the day, it's just a big company where you work on large projects and will likely have little say in the final product's look and feel.

Recently interviewed at Amazon and I got that vibe as well. Didn't really "sell" the job to me at all, just assumed I would automatically be in love with them. Obviously they're there to evaluate my skills, but in my opinion an interview should be something of a two-way street.

Their pay and RSUs are pretty good...

Nobody could say otherwise, but are THAT much better?

Moreover, after some level of income the marginal improvement of more money approaches zero...

I think it is a bigger issue of signaling. Just like going to Harvard or Stanford. Proving you are "good" enough to get a job at FAANG get you pay and RSU but then also sets you up for all future opportunities.

https://www.levels.fyi/

More money allows you to retire earlier (or have a big enough cushion to take time off as sabbatical or to start your own company or whatever), which is a huge benefit IMO.

I thought for the past five years FAANG, maybe Netflix aside, was supposed to be passé. Unicorns like AirBnB or Stripe were supposed to be the killer workplaces to strive for. Though I suppose with the potential IPO busts this year (see Uber) the dream aspirant tech workplace might be changing, too.

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