Why Google lowballs that much?

New tremen
May 14 62 Comments

I would really love to join Google, but they lowball too much! Does anyone know why that is?

I’ve recently interviewed at FAANG and I feel my interview performance has been consistent across all the companies, yet the results were very different:

FB: E5 offer, ~390k TC
Netflix: ~400k TC
Google: L4 offer, < 300k TC (~270)

So, even if I really would like to join Google, it won’t be the smart move for me.

Yoe: 8

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 TOP 62 Comments
  • Facebook public2
    270,000 is a "lowball" rofl. That's barely the income of 5 average families. You should sue someone.
    May 14 8
    • Amazon UKBV06
      Check out this post! "Facebook vs Google vs Netflix (Tech Careers)"
      https://us.teamblind.com/s/ZEivXq52

      Shame that everyone votes G over FB then 😆
      May 14
    • Google / Eng 🍑☁️
      Lowballness is relative to your own value, not other people's value. If I offer Beyonce $100,000 to perform at my festival, it's a lot of money for most people but it's still a lowball for her
      May 14
    • Facebook public2
      OP is not beyonce...
      May 15
    • Google / Eng 🍑☁️
      You're missing my point. I'm saying it's possible to get offered what is in absolute terms a lot of money, and to still have it be a lowball. That logic is not unique to Beyonce.
      May 15
    • Facebook public2
      I get your point but a lowball assumes malicious intent to misvalue something or someone based on market value. Market value of a no name employee is am art, not a science. Offering 60k would have been a lowball, offering a standard salary for a specific role/level is not a lowball.
      May 15
  • Netflix quickster
    Google used to be small. They went for quality over quantity. Now Google is large. They go for quantity over quality. Neither is right or wrong. It all reflects their judgment of value on the margin.
    May 14 0
  • Google Elpf68
    I am pretty sure you're competitive but Google doesn't five a fuck. It doesn't need good engineers to do the work now. It's becoming AWS or sth that needs more and more work force rather than high quality engs.
    May 14 6
    • Apple kICY04
      This guy is absolutely correct. Most companies don’t need that many great engineers. Just monkeys who can write code at fast speed.
      May 14
    • New tremen
      OP
      So if you are an ambitious engineer (don’t know about great) who really wants to learn a lot and push himself, where should I go?
      May 14
    • Google / Eng lbtm+1
      It sounds crazy.. but Google is still a good choice, there are plenty of interesting projects and internal resources. And you have the freedom to explore or initiate sth .. but Google really sucks in perf and team matching. If you joined, you'd find that it's SO much easier to switch to a team you are interested in(but typically after one year) and you have better sense that what they are actually doing..
      Google is the only job I have ever had so maybe I have bias. But I do have many FANG friends. I feel that it's fair to say the above.
      The problem is that they don't want to give you L5 which makes your package significantly lower than expectation. It's a normal package for L4.
      May 14
    • New pbYo77
      Is it actually that easy to switch teams at Google?
      May 14
    • Google / Eng EIFY
      The precondition is that the team must have headcounts. YMMV
      May 14
  • Seagate toti420
    Real reason: people put Google on a pedestal and Google knows it.
    May 14 1
    • Oracle / Eng aham
      This. If you are not happy with the offer, walk away!
      May 14
  • Bloomberg / Eng iVX372
    Ask if you can interview for L5 without losing your L4 offer.

    Btw, Google is a much better place to work than FB or NFLX, and Google recruiters know it. In a recent Blind poll, 92% of Netflixers, 76% of Amazonians and 46% of FB'ers are afraid of being fired. That should show you the toxicity of their cultures. At Google, that number is 16%.
    May 14 12
    • Bloomberg / Eng iVX372
      The number is 76% at Amazon, not 92%. It's not ridiculous at all. Everyone without an EE performance rating could justifiably fear it. When everyone is doing their best and less than 10% of people actually suck, the PIP's can be somewhat random and political
      May 15
    • Facebook public2
      I hope math or stats isn't part of your job sir lol
      May 15
    • Bloomberg / Eng iVX372
      Actually, it is. None of your replies here have contained any mathematical or statistical analysis, unlike mine.

      I will admit that the sample sizes in the poll may not be significant for a p-value of 0.05 in statistically testing the hypothesis that FB's SWE PIP fear rate is higher than that of the average, for all companies in the poll. However, for Amazon and Netflix it obviously is without even running the numbers.

      EDIT: percentages may be slightly off because I last calculated them when that poll was published, memorized them and haven't recalculated since. But they're not far off
      May 15
    • Facebook public2
      Haha I actually laughed out loud. Either amazing trolling or craziness. Thanks.
      May 15
    • AnchorFree Israel
      Netflix is open about their policy to fire anyone who is not a best performer and they want everyone to do their best.
      May 20
  • Amazon
    seattle'd

    Amazon

    PRE
    Amazon, Salesforce, Google, Microsoft, Apple
     seattle'dmore
    You have two excellent offers.
    May 14 2
    • New tremen
      OP
      Yeah but Google is the company in which I have the most long term belief in. They are so diversified that they will keep thriving by definition. FB and NFLX seems much less defensible.
      May 14
    • Accenture Mulch
      Isn't like 90% of Google's revenue still coming from ads? They're pretty diverse in terms of products they've built out, but it doesn't seem like something they'd continue long term if they continue to be unprofitable, or at least not directing revenue to their money maker.
      May 14
  • Seagate toti420
    Join NFLX and tell them to stop offering suggestions on my account. Can’t have the in-laws know what I’ve been watching 😂
    May 14 1
    • Oracle / Eng aham
      Just create a different profile 😐
      May 14
  • Google WarrenBuff
    Dude, go to FB. What's the big deal?

    Reject the offer. Both are same tier.
    May 14 1
    • Salesforce curious01
      But FB is toxic and stressful
      May 23
  • Apple industry
    google fucked you up lmao
    May 14 0
  • CenturyLink ml7hsg6
    Did you present them these competing offers yet?
    May 14 1
    • New tremen
      OP
      I did. They say they can’t match it, they say the offer is consistent with the band they placed me in.
      May 14
  • Google HLvr72
    that's because your level at Google is only L4. that's below the level FB offered you. If you had gotten L5 offer, they will beat your competing offer
    May 14 0
  • Amazon
    seattle'd

    Amazon

    PRE
    Amazon, Salesforce, Google, Microsoft, Apple
     seattle'dmore
    Google offer for which location?
    May 14 1
    • New tremen
      OP
      This is all in the Bay
      May 14
  • Google jyfR24
    Shouldn’t you have interviewed for L5 in the first place?
    May 14 0
  • New ZoomDec
    Ask for extra interviews for L5 maybe ?
    May 14 0
  • Amazon / Eng DeepObsess
    Even L5 at Google won't get you $390k
    May 14 1
    • Alibaba vjqX22
      ~400 is def doable with L5
      May 15
  • Facebook Mannw
    But even for a L4, TC is lower than same level in FAANG. No?
    May 14 1
  • Salesforce curious01
    How to crack an L5 interview ? What is expected to get L5 ?
    May 23 0
  • thredUP JncA02
    Can I ask how did you study to get some compensation packages. Did you study leetcode? How many problems and what topics of problems did you study?
    May 15 0
  • Minted choloman
    L4 matches E5. Google's bar is a bit higher and their L4 band reaches all the way to mid E5 at fb. Google is usually willing to match unless you didn't perform well during the interview
    May 15 0
  • Amazon / Eng DeepObsess
    Perhaps Google HC are pressured to hire more so they down level some people whom they would have rejected earlier?
    May 15 0