Ask HN: How much can one learn in Google (L6)? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How much can one learn in Google (L6)?

10 pointsthrowawaydub3 comments

I'm negotiating an offer from Google at L6 in EU. The problem is that due to tax difference, higher cost of living and the fact that I own housing in my current city but would have to rent in the new location, there isn't a sure financial upside. I've worked almost exclusively in smaller companies (<100 people) until now (I co-founded one of them previously). No recognizable brands. I'm paid only cash (and a small bonus). The work-life balance is very good.

The main costs come from having kids (childcare, at least 2 - 3 bedroom apt). But that's also the reason I'm considering the change now. We've wanted to live abroad for some time but never got to realize it. As the kids grow older, I imagine it will be harder for them to adapt - in both directions, i.e. when moving there and back a few years later.

From the outside, Google engineering with bespoke tools seemed almost magical. So I'd treat it as a learning experience. I'd like to hear mostly from Googlers and Xooglers how much can one learn on the job. What's not accessible in startups? Do you feel you gain experience on which you can build later?

I worked in smaller companies and now I work at Google. I enjoyed working for smaller companies so much more. I would never make a change from a small company to Google for the same pay. I think you will be shocked by how political and non-meritocratic Google is. Living abroad is also far from being all roses.

Never worked at a FAGMAN company but from what I've heard this is all true, no disagreement. I personally avoid such companies for the reasons you've described.

That being said, given the not so great, let us say, cutthroat culture that naturally will present itself in such places, the two big wins are salary, and arguably, CV padding. If I had "worked at Google" on my CV that would likely count for a lot, and I'm sure that can be framed as a dollar value on some level. This is something to consider even if intending to stay for only a couple years.

> Google engineering with bespoke tools seemed almost magical.

Definitely not the case. It's good, but I miss git and a few other things. Their cloud IDE is really good now. Build system is OK. I miss using some better programming languages. Code cleanliness is quite high, but quality goes from yuck to really good.

The talent density is refreshing though. Every L4 I meet is pretty impressive, and it only gets better. It's not that I didn't work with amazing people at other places, it's just more frequent at Google.

Diverse backgrounds too. You see hotshot young up and comers along with grey beards at L5/L6, people with high pedigree degrees from top schools, and less common but not rare are kids who dropped out of school to do startups or something.

>What's not accessible in startups? Do you feel you gain experience on which you can build later?

I enjoy working on hard scaling problems. The scale of the problems you see at Google are unique to a handful of companies. You may or may not work on this depending on your team.

You're are the opposite of micromanaged. At L6 you are given vague goals and you have a long time to come up with a solution. Then at the end of the year they take a look at your solution and you either make the cut or don't. That is awesome for some people and terrifying for others.

>there isn't a sure financial upside.

Are you sure you're calculating all the benefits? G has an amazing 401k match, and the stock usually grows. Keep in mind if it doesn't grow, you can always get a new job, but if it does grow, you just keep raking in that extra equity.

On top of that, if you are planning on working hard and confident in your abilities, you can definitely get more than your target comp at review time. I ended up with 10% extra comp than what my offer letter said after the first year, not including stock appreciation. With stock appreciation, I'm making over 100k over what my 'target comp' (offer letter) said.

All in all, I'll say Google is not some magical programmer fantasy land utopia. It's a corporation, it has some annoying work, some politics, sometimes layoffs, sometimes bad managers, legacy code, understaffed teams and more.

But compared to all the places I've worked in my 20+ year career, it pays better, gives people more freedom, and has some really interesting problems.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com