Background: started applying to new roles a little under a month ago. Basically picked 4 of the most interesting + high TC startups I could find in LA and applied directly without recruiters/referrals, surprisingly heard back from 3. Decided I may as well talk to Cornerstone as well (they'd been after me for a bit before then) and took a chance and messaged a Google recruiter (have had my applications ignored twice), who responded and kicked off the process there too. I set my timeline to make a decision in mid-October because at that point I was aiming for Google and wanted to be able to play some offers off of each other. My problem: Unfortunately(?) Tinder moved fast and decided to throw an exploding offer in my face, ignoring (or misunderstanding) my timeline - manager thought I'd meant start date, when I was pretty clear about mid-October being my "decision" date from the start. Problem is it's a really good offer - 160 base, 300 RSU, 15 signing (235 TC), Sr. Backend Engineer. (I interviewed for Staff but with my YoE I'd have to have completely blown them out of the water during the interview, which I guess I didn't. It was a bit weird.) It's basically lower-end L4 at Google, which is what I'd expect to get leveled at (assuming I do well). Tinder offer expires on the 21st (next Friday), while my Google phone screen is on the 17th (Monday). I'm also going on-site for final round with Cornerstone then, but unless I'm mistaken about their salary bands I don't think they'll be able to beat Tinder's offer even if I level at Principal (what I'm interviewing for). Maybe match, best case. Also have an on-site with TuneIn (not yet scheduled) but same deal with comp, probably, and it's worse because it's not publicly traded. I don't want to be that guy who takes the offer and walks back on it if Google goes through later. Suggestions? I still need to pass G phone screen, obviously - if I don't, my decision is pretty easy. Need to plan for the "hard" scenario, though. TC: ~150k, 5 YoE.
Why don’t you ask google recruiter to skip phone screening and schedule onsite before 21st?
Even if I could get them to agree to that (which, granted, may not be impossible), there's no way I could go on-site next week and get through HC by the 21st. Also, I don't think I'm ready... Tinder's algo questions were maybe approximately of the difficulty I'd expect from Google (one starting easy/med but building more requirements over time, one hard) but I struggled with the second one and didn't get to any second questions (which I'm pretty sure they had prepared). They probably have a lower bar for that kind of thing, plus I did really well on the system design and culture fit.
Even If you ace on-site at G, you must find yourself a team (1-3 weeks), then HC. My current process is going fast for a company like Google but it has been like two weeks and I’m still in the team matching and don’t even know when I’ll get to HC... And oh, I skipped phone screening.
Cornerstone interviewing you for Principal at 5 yoe? Wow
Recruiter warned me that they'd probably want to bring me in at Senior, but that's what I applied for and what the online application says. Ultimately it'll probably be the same thing as Tinder (I applied for Staff but got offer for Senior). OTOH, I have exactly the skillset they want + non-zero experience leading both technical decisions and people. So it's not impossible.
Its called Bait and Switch
If you like the team at Tinder (and clearly they have thrown a good offer at you) unless you can get Tinder to extend the deadline, I would take Tinder offer. Too many uncertainties in waiting for Google. There is no guarantee they may even come back with an offer. You are getting 50%+ TC. Take it and make some lonely souls happy.
Yeah, my other big problem is that even if I make it to on-site, historically that's a 20% pass rate (at the upper end). Even if I think I'm strong relative to other candidates, I'd need to be *way* better to have better-than-even odds at a first pass. It's probably worth shooting for the on-site just to see what it's like if I decide to take another run at it later, though.
Did you negotiate? If not, you can start pushing back on comp and use that as a stalling tactic. FWIW, the market is pretty crazy right now (companies fighting over quality candidates). E.g. none of my few offers put a deadline, the negotiations took a whole month. I'm not saying they're bluffing, but it's also a distinct possibility and they might be willing to wait regardless.
This is pre-negotiation. I don't have any other offers yet (though with two on-sites and not counting Google, I expect I would). I don't think it's impossible that they're bluffing but I was actually interviewing for a specific role on a specific team, and from the looks of it they only have 1-2 other Backend roles open on different teams. All the other places I'm talking to have been considerably more accommodating of my timeline, though that might just be a function of generally slow processes (which in this case was working in my favor, until now). Realistically speaking, how far do you think I can push the comp right now? Aline Lerner (of interviewing.io) recommended in a recent blog post to ask for increases of 10-15% base, 50-100% equity, and 20% sign-on as a reverse used car salesman - i.e "I'll sign right now if...". In my case this would be anywhere from ~50-100k extra yearly TC. The lower bound I can see being taken seriously if I had actual competing (and better) offers, or at least the possibly of them, so it might be worth trying.
Your best bet for getting more comp is to have a competing offer. At this early stage you can tell them that you're still waiting on your other offers, but based on your research, you're aiming at <blah>. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask them to wait for your other offers - I was pretty upfront about that with all the companies I interviewed with, and it helped with negotiation (i.e. they waited on numbers updates).
Have you let Tinder know that you would like to wait? Worst case you can join tinder... go to google later. You have a good offer, don’t burn bridges.
Yes, I was upfront with my timeline from the very start and explained it in more detail when the hiring manager called with the offer, as it was clear that they'd misunderstood it. They said they'd have to check with somebody; a day later I got an email from the recruiter telling me that the Head of Engineering had decided to put a deadline on "all pending offers", including mine. Convenient! Yes - that is an option I'm considering, and of course I wouldn't even consider joining Tinder if I didn't like the people I'd met there. Upside could potentially be pretty high too, since it's a fairly young company still. The recruiter process has been pretty mixed, though, and the way they're handling this part leaves me a bit put off.