Ask HN: What tech companies are most like grad school? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What tech companies are most like grad school?

8 pointsjnbiche10 comments

Very subjective, but at which companies is work closest to a grad school experience?

Things like some or all of the following (and perhaps other characteristics I'm neglecting):

* have the "feel" of a college campus

* deal with math- and CS-heavy projects

* promote continuing education

* collaborate with academia

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The thing about being a graduate student is they work you like a dog and pay you peanuts, it's not a kind of environment I have any desire to go back to.

I'd rather know which company is _least_ like grad school, because this.

I've heard great things about Two Sigma, they sell themselves as having a very academic environment (lots of PhDs, tech talks, etc.).

I started there a few months back having just finished graduate school. I wouldn't call it 1:1 with graduate school. I like it far better, and I enjoyed graduate school.

Can you share what interviews are like for positions like data analysis or data visualization? Algorithm heavy? Will studying for a Google-style interview leave me adequately prepped?

Wow, thanks for that. I had not heard of them. They even have positions advertised in my area of expertise (which is not even directly related to finance).

Obviously...Google. You should think about including (not Google) in your title.

I'd imagine the experience, even within the company, would depend on the position.

As a recent grad working at Google, it's probably a lot like being a janitor at NASA. Some really cool stuff is going on there, but you're still just a janitor.

Google has a couple interesting projects, but most people are doing the grunt work associated with keeping a large corporation running.

Yes, I thought Google was an obvious one but didn't want to bias the question.

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