Google: SE vs SETI
I spoke to a recruiter and he told me to apply for Software Engineer, Tools and Infrastructure instead of Software Engineer as both of them have same pay structure. I wanted to know does SETI role include lot of testing and is considered second class when compared to SE ? Thanks.
Pay structure is the same. SE is widely respected in and outside Google. Seti is not widely understood outside Google and often confused with a quality engineer role. Seti is comparable to roles like internal engineering productivity or developer infrastructure roles outside Google. If you enjoy building tools this role is for you. If you prefer building products that external customers use then SE is for you. Seti is a support function so not all companies value it as much as Google does. SE is safer long term imo.
Thanks for answering the question. Is it easy to switch from SETI to SE internally.
Lateral transfer to SE for SETI is easy and no longer requires interviews, just peer and manager feedback. I don't see many transfers because the SETIs I know really like their job, they are excited to impact the productivity of many engineers and they don't want to build features. Comp is the same.
Yeah, you are not writing tests, you are building or setting up testing infrastructure. A lot of figuring out how to automate things, and make devs happy, but the core work is still SE, just focused on infrastructure. There is a separate TE role that just writes tests and does push button releases etc.
Is the selection process same for both seti n se? Or is easier for seti?
They always ask you to apply SETI first because it is more difficult to recruit.
This isn't accurate. There is a SETI recruiting team that specifically looks for tool developers. If someone is a clear front end SWE, the SETI team won't be interested.
OP which one did you choose finally?
Yes.