Google Data Scientist vs Uber Applied Scientist
Assuming the TC is the same (~$300k for the first few years), what would you all pick between L4 Google Data Scientist and L4 Uber Applied Scientist? Context: I'm gonna be graduating from my stats PhD program (n.b. my research is not in deep learning) My thoughts are: Google: Pros: Maybe better exit opportunities, job stability, (likely) safe from lay-offs, probably better stock performance Cons: The work may be more boring (e.g. I've heard it's sometimes like a stats PhD doing an undergrad's job), slower internal career growth Uber: Pros: Probably more interesting work with more impact, faster internal growth Cons: Higher lay-off chance (though probably still relatively low atm), probably worse stock performance Thanks! TC: ~$40k (yay grad school) #data #datascience #google #uber
That sounds about right to me, though I personally think Uber might have more potential upside with pandemic recovery and when we prove out positive free cash flow
Lol ok DK!
Aren’t you worried about recession?
My impression is Google does not pay that much for L4…but the name of Google worths 100K so I would choose Google for my first two years if the compensation diff is not huge Are you a phd?
Yes, finishing up my PhD
From recent news, Google has changed it's methods of evaluating employees. So one of the cons might be solved. But yeah, AFAIK Data Scientist at Google is mostly product analytics role.
Is that true? Google got product analyst roles working on product analytics; ds is a different role
I mean it's not very ML intensive role. For that they have Research Scientist and SWE-ML roles.
Is it same TC? Same level?
Ya, roughly the same TC. And both L4 (new PhD hire)
Both are good for resume and future growth. Select based on how you like projects, team, hiring manager
What team at Uber? Will be easier/faster to promo to L5 at Uber. Uber role will focus on mathematical modeling where as Google DS are often statisticians. I had a labmate from PhD lab do Google DS, he said he ended up transitioning to ML Eng because DS didn't get to do "good" projects (ie analyzed dozens of experiments but created no ML models in 3 years of working there). Google is big though, I'm sure this is highly team dependent and one could find interesting things to do. Concerns on Uber stock are totally fair. Hiring is slowing down, not frozen, no layoffs on the horizon. Last time we had mass layoffs it was because revenue was down 80%. The decreasing stock price is unfortunate, but not driven by any structural shift in the business (well, except for gas prices I guess)
Thanks for the thoughts! Not gonna say the Uber team so I don't dox myself, but it's more focused on building up a product. It sounded like a more traditional data science team (running experiments, trying to be business-minded, etc). It didn't seem like it's particularly ML-heavy
At Uber as an AS, finished my PhD last year. Can confirm that the AS team here gets to work on some really interesting problems. Enjoying it a lot so far. There is a DS team too at Uber which mostly just sets up and analyzes A/B tests. This honestly sounds boring af to me but I’m also super grateful they are there because it means I don’t have to do it! If the DS team at Google is anything like that and are just for analytics I bet you would be bored and underutilized with your PhD and background in machine learning. (Not sure if the DS team at Google is analogous though and maybe they work on super cool stuff.) Whatever you choose, best of luck OP!
At Uber as an AS, finished my PhD last year. Can confirm that the AS team here gets to work on some really interesting problems. Enjoying it a lot so far. There is a DS team too at Uber which mostly just sets up and analyzes A/B tests. This honestly sounds boring af to me but I’m also super grateful they are there because it means I don’t have to do it! If the DS team at Google is anything like that and are just for analytics I bet you would be bored and underutilized with your PhD and background in machine learning. (Not sure if the DS team at Google is analogous though and maybe they work on super cool stuff.) Whatever you choose, best of luck OP!
Hi, I'm looking to apply for Uber AS roles, I failed bps in Jan, can I reapply now? And through same recruiter?
DS work really depends on team, if it's ads or youtube or medical brain, i would go to google. otherwise hard to say.
Thanks for the advice! For ads and YouTube, is the appeal the impact and interesting experimentation challenges? Or are there fun ML/modeling projects data scientists get to do
both! ads ds basically rules ads and ds can do whatever they want in improving ads i know some yt ds who work on really sophisticated modeling in collaboration with research https://www.unofficialgoogledatascience.com/2021/04/why-model-calibration-matters-and-how.html but there's actually way more going on
How does Uber AS TC compare with swe at Uber?
AS TC is a bit less, afaik. But probably within 10-15% if I had to guess
It’s equal for AS. DS about a band lower iirc
Focus on skillset in your first job. Uber one sounds like you might get to dive deeper into ML, which is SUPER sought after. Google DS seems like pure analyst type role, ceiling is lower
Don't listen to LinkedIn. Go for Google and internal transfer to a more research oriented team if that's your goal. Also, google got much stronger codebase + ML tech stack. If you go for Uber, then at best you will get a match/average downlevel by 1 if you want to jump back in Google. If you go with google and then go with Uber within half year or one year, you are automatically calibrated at L+1 scope and responsibility at Uber.