Airbnb vs Facebook vs Google Vs Uber

Apr 5, 2018 62 Comments

I was lucky enough to get offers from all four of these great companies.

I’m interested in backend services/infra. I have about 2 years of experience. Any ideas on which to choose? My goal is to learn as much as possible. I always want a collaborative environment and teammates that are great to work with.

Pay is roughly the same. Uber is lower but comp isn’t my deciding factor.

Edit:
For those who asked:

I prepped with two months of leetcode. I did the top 100 questions liked and top 100 interview questions. This involved solving the questions and sometimes just analyzing answers. This depends on your learning style.

System design: using grokking system design. Some might say the course isn’t worth it but it’s only $80 and every little bit helps. I also watched Tushar Roy’s videos on YouTube. With these two resources I was able to pass system design for SDE II level equivalent.

In addition, I gave several interviews at companies I didn’t care about. This helped a lot, and at the end I had pretty much seen all types of questions.

There’s no secret other than practice. It’s sad the previous work experience doesn’t matter but that’s just how it works now.

Compensation:
If you’ve read other blind numbers and they seem high it’s definitely achievable to get those. 250 TC+ is reasonable with a lot of counter offers. Remember once you pass the interviews or several of them you have leverage. Use it! Good luck to everyone in the process. It’s definitely worth it when you can 2x your current comp!

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TOP 62 Comments
  • Uber
    Realtime

    Go to company page Uber

    Realtime
    Infra at Uber has a lot of problems waiting to be solved. Come join us at Uber!
    Apr 5, 2018 5
  • Airbnb / Eng
    pillow

    Go to company page Airbnb Eng

    pillow
    In terms of infra, G is amazing, FB is great, Uber is pretty patched up and stable, Airbnb is slowly maturing. G or FB are places to learn if you ask me, just stay curious. Uber or Airbnb if you want to see the problems unsolved and worked on.
    Apr 5, 2018 10
    • Google / Eng
      Ringa

      Go to company page Google Eng

      PRE
      Facebook
      Ringa
      I have seen both. Google’s infra is efficient cpu and memory wise. But from a developper efficiency, I found fb infra to be better for what I needed it to do.
      Apr 6, 2018
    • Uber / Eng
      bag

      Go to company page Uber Eng

      bag
      Googles infra is indeed already built out. But you can see the existing system and learn (if you find time). They are also building new stuff but a LOT has been built already.
      Apr 6, 2018
  • Facebook / Other
    uberfast

    Go to company page Facebook Other

    uberfast
    Facebook or Uber I'd say. If you're leaning towards learning and growing in a mature environment, go for FB. For a chaotic yet fast paced learning environment go for Uber.

    Disclaimer: my answer is focused on the dimension you mentioned. You might wanna consider other dimensions like culture, ethics etc.
    Apr 5, 2018 3
  • Goto Uber for slavery
    Apr 5, 2018 1
  • Thanks everyone for the advice! I’ll still undecided but leaning towards google as infra seems to be better overall.
    Apr 6, 2018 17
    • Facebook / Eng
      interloop

      Go to company page Facebook Eng

      interloop
      You can't really "pick teams" for at least a year at Google though. So you could be placed in any infra product doing any minimal impact work. Vs having a choice of what infra team you want to join at FB.
      Apr 6, 2018
    • Google
      xxxyyzzz

      Go to company page Google

      xxxyyzzz
      I chatted with 5 teams when I had to pick a team. It's not true that you are placed in any team. It depends on OPs situation, of course the right team and manager is more important than the company imo.
      Apr 6, 2018