Would You Accept a Google Job Offer? | Hacker News Reader

Would You Accept a Google Job Offer?

11 pointstemp27018 comments

I'm happy with my current job, but have been made an offer from Google. It's for a lot more money than I currently make. However, I live in a rural area and would have to move to a big city in another state for the Google job so the money may balance out some. I'm 42 and have a wife and children. We're all happy now with our current life. Our house is paid for, no debt, etc. We're not rich, but we do OK and are happy.

The only reason I struggle with this decision is that it's been an honor that they called me and asked me to interview, thought my code and ideas were good and that I passed all the interview steps with no problems. I finally feel that I've been recognized for what I've spent my life working on (ever since I got the C64) by my peers. Is that stupid to feel that way?

Would you take the Google job or not? I just wanted to bounce this off of HN. This is a temp account. I appreciate any feedback.

View on HN

You say the only reason you struggle with the decision is because of the honor you feel in the validation of your work that Google is giving you by providing the job offer. Well if that is the only reason you haven't turned them down, then you have already answered your own question on whether or not to accept, don’t.

In your situation, based on what you have shared I wouldn't take the job. It sounds like you took the interviews to acquire the personal validation a job offer would represent to you and now that you have it, there seems no real reason to up root your life.

I hope my interpretation of the situation helps and I wish you all the best no matter what decision you may make.

Do you know what you'll be doing? If not (which is common at Google), you might want to push back on that, to make sure you'll like your first job there.

It's likely they'll say that it's something they don't normally do. This may be because they haven't decided yet, and the system isn't set it up to support it. So make it clear that you're on the fence and want to talk to the team you'll be joining, and you can wait while they figure it out.

This is really good advice.

I took a job for the big G a few years back, and although I don't regret doing so (it was a fantastic learning experience), I was never really happy in the role they had chosen for me.

Once you're in, it can be surprisingly difficult to change teams and geography plays a major role. Google has many offices, all over the world, and they do specialize. This means the team of your dreams may not actually have presence in the office you are hired into and you'd have to move again even if you did successfully navigate the politics of getting transfered.

Ultimately, that is why I left.

Related to this, there is one related thing to beware of: each recruiter is "owned" by a particular department and compensated at least partially by results. This means your recruiter will have no motivation to bump you to some other department, even if it would actually be a better fit.

Note that I left G well over a year ago, so my insights may be a little dated.

I've turned down an offer from Google; here were my reasons:

1. I had just started at a startup (Mahalo), and I was excited about being 1/5th of a company's development team; being 1/1000th of a company's dev team felt less appealing.

2. They offered the same amount of money I was currently making, but I would have had to move from the affordable Twin Cities metro area to San Francisco.

3. I've telecommuted for every job I've had since college; I don't know how well I'd make the transition to commuting and wearing office-appropriate clothing every day.

At the time, #1 was the most powerful reason I had for declining, but now, it would be #2. They've called a few times since then to see if I've changed my mind, but with inertia being the powerful force that it is, I can't see myself moving out of Minnesota, away from my family and my wife's family. (I have told them that as soon as they open an office in Minneapolis, I'd be happy to talk to them again.) Although, with three feet of snow on the ground and sub-zero temperatures over the past few weeks, I'm reconsidering my four-season climate policy.

First of all, you should never feel stupid for feeling proud of yourself. Getting a job offer from any top technical company is an accomplishment, let alone from a company whose work you admire. It's obviously not something you should let get to your head, but our society doesn't give us nearly enough time to enjoy and appreciate our accomplishments and how they reflect on our hard work - this sounds like a perfect time to do so. Seriously, congratulations.

As for the decision, well, I'm in a very different place in my life - 26, single, etc. I can't exactly give first hand experience. (I can say that living in cities is often cheaper than it seems, especially if you or your kids can take advantage of public transit - car insurance and gas adds up quick!) I think the important thing to remember is, all getting a job offer does is give you more options, not less. Whatever you decide, I'd take your offer as a vote of confidence that with or without working for Google, you'll do just fine.

Not stupid at all, I would feel the same way. Congratulations on being awesome!

Aside from yourself, it's obviously a big call for the wife and kids to begin new lives .. potential source of resentment. Especially if your wife is a homemaker - she'd be leaving behind her well established and important social and support networks for your opportunity, without the distraction of a new job to ease the loss.

On the other hand .. it's Google. An opportunity to play with some of the biggest systems on the planet! How secure is/are your current job(s)? Will you be harder to hire in 10 years if you didn't take the Google job?

Good luck with your choice. Good problem to have!

I wouldn't accept, for a multitude of reasons, ranging from not liking google, through no willingness to move, to loving my current job.

Google might be hot, and can be an amazing place to work at, if you're the kind of person who prefers that.

Myself, I'm not. Perhaps I'm silly, but it would take tons of money to 'persuade' me to leave my current position, because I value my co-workers, my job and the general atmosphere here more than I value my income.

As long as I love my job, and can live a comfortable life, I'm satisfied. Throwing money my way is not a motivation for me in any shape or form, and that's the only thing Google could offer me.

It's my understanding that Google expects its employees to work very hard. You say that "We're all happy now with our current life." Would you continue to be happy if you had to work a lot harder than you do now? Would your family continue to be happy if your job was taking much more of your time, leaving less time for your family? I can understand the appeal of working with so many really, really smart people, but the transition from a happy life in a rural area to a high pressure job in California seems to me to be a fairly risky choice.

This all depends. Some people are ambitious and work long hours, and others (often with families) have more regular schedules. There's a lot of talk about work-life balance. If you know what's important to you, you can probably get it.

Seems to me that all you need was some validation. And you got it. Well done. Doubling your salary will not double your happiness. Don't move for money or prestige. Move because it aligns with your longer term goals.

Although I am no expert, my wife and kids moved to Paris, France not more than 1 year ago and now we may be on the verge of moving back to the US. As you can imagine, it's no picnic moving with a family. (And the stay in Paris was/is aligned with my longer term goals.)

I've been in your shoes.

If the money isn't a lot more, or the project isn't AMAZING, or you don't really need Google on your resume (at this stage of life), then don't bother.

Google is a great place to work in general, but you may be surprised at what you end up working on when you get there (nothing much).

If you aren't that happy with your current job, then give Google a go!

No. Wouldn't take the job.

"We're all happy now with our current life" - what more can you ask for? you have a happy family which in my book is first and foremost. You have no debt - bonus!

Recognition? - they have offered you the job, you are good enough, now you just need to believe it yourself.

Google will let you work from home if you've got special skills and negotiate.

If I was going to quit my job, Google would be on the top of my list of places to apply to. But since I have a job I really love and get to work with a great team where I am now, I wouldn't consider leaving.

a) there are sites that will compare cost of living between places, so thats probably worth looking up

b) How does the rest of your family feel? Uprooting a family is never a particularly pleasant experience, but there are better and worse times/situations.

c) Why do you want to work there? Is it for the prestige? Is it because you'll get to work on something you really enjoy? Not saying theres any wrong/right answers, but at the least its a worthwhile thought exercise.

This is what comes to mind for me, though I have no "advice" as to whether or not you should accept the position:

I lived in the same house from the age of 3 until adulthood. I graduated high school with some of the same folks I went to kindergarten with. I got married at a young age to a man who only wanted to join the army. He did and we moved around for a couple of decades until we divorced.

The transition at the first duty station was quite hard for me. My then husband had grown up as a military brat and hit the ground running. I had no clue how to do that and he was zero help to me with this major adjustment. For that and other reasons (like a pregnancy where I threw up for 8 months out of the 18 months we were there), I was really miserable at that first duty station and it took me years to realize it wasn't the fault of Texas and to "forgive" Texas. I irrationally hated Texas for quite some time.

I wanted out of my home town and I have no regrets, though I resented my then husband's lack of support at the time (and never did feel he did the right thing in that regard). I returned to my home town during the divorce and I have been here about 5 years or so. I intend to leave again someday (basically as soon as I can arrange it, logistically) and I don't think I could be making such plans had I not left to begin with. For me, it was very much a growth experience and I think my life is vastly better for all of it.

But if you do this, I would suggest you be prepared to help the spouse and kids adjust. Maybe they will be fine. Maybe your wife is more resourceful than I was at, oh, age 21. Maybe she will have no problem finding hobbies, friends, and whatever else floats her boat. Maybe your kids will also jump in with both feet, gleefully. But if they do not, odds are good that they will blame you for their misery. Being sensitive to that and willing to assist will most likely go over a lot better than my ex husband's choice to let me just sink or swim on my own.

Good luck with this decision.

Congratulations :)

Yes.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com