It's not unique to Google. Lots of organizations intentionally build a culture of elitism. However, it means I would never, ever rely on Google for anything. Free products like search are a-okay. My email is on gmail because legacy.
Build a business on Google platforms? Nope.
Fun fact for you - if I get promoted this year at Amazon to L5, I'll _still_ make less than a new grad at Google. It's extremely depressing to the extent that I can't get out of bed in the morning, but I'd wager that inferiority complex probably helps on the product side to empathize with customers.
This doesn't appear to be close to true based on levels.fyi, unless you're severely underpaid for an Amazon L5.
*The net effect is "pay for performance" isn't really a thing.
The only way for me to do a significant compensation bump is to do what's called a "dive and save", but this is very rarely done for L5's and is significantly more common for L6's. I got an offer for about $200k a year ago at a hedge fund, but that wasn't eligible for dive and save because of my level and I'm (clearly) too mentally defective to pass a Facebook or Google loop.
The other more popular approach is to "play the game" as I think of it, I.e. every 18-24 months you switch to a new job with a substantial increase in pay as result.
I wish this wasn't the case, but I guess it is what it is.
"Just move" is something someone without any empathy for other people's circumstances would say - most people aren't capable of "just moving" as if the only concern is choosing an employer.
No disagreement on the good recommendation as a signal, but I doubt that'll matter to the HC if I can't pass 3/5 rounds at the minimum.
That long enough part is the kicker and that terrifies me in every job search (to the extent I have sometimes jumped at the first half decent opportunity, and agreed to salaries below my potential). I find it does help to apply often and everywhere and not be invested in any particular opportunity.
With dating they say every failed relationship is a step toward finding the right one, and I think that same principle applies to job interviews.
Anyways, that’s my two cents
Mind you, he would probably have turned us down anyway to go do a PhD, so he probably dodged a bullet.
You make six figures at a top tech company and you’re bitterly complaining because you think you’re entitled to more, and in the same breath you’re chastising Google’s pretentious culture? There’s a lot of irony there.
Focus on improving yourself and don’t get caught up in comparing yourself to others.
I see too many people talking about their Tahoe Google offsites (jbd@ on twitter claims a bunch of her coworkers just work from Tahoe during ski season) or their Colorado skiing weekends.
Anyways, hypocrisy doesn't mean I'm wrong, and I think its valid to be mad that I'm seen as inferior daily.
Yet you still make more than what the vast majority of engineers in western Europe will ever make in their whole career. And that's still only looking at the most developed countries.
The job market isn't fair. No use getting burnt over that.
I'm also quite surprised by your wage comment: a common aphorism is that Amazon cheaps out on everything except real estate and compensation.
Which ones do and don't? Because all of the ones I've heard of have pretty loose ones compared to my organization.
And yes, Amazon doesn't cheap out on real estate because we own so much of it. It's honestly remarkable how it's done. But I was under the impression everyone knows they pay less.
I only have about ~40 stocks up from about 35 before the refresh cycle (unvested) and that's unlikely to go up if I get promoted (if you have too many they don't give you more). Googler and FB refresher values are significantly higher.