Google SETI role
I have interviewed for the Softwate engineering role at google. My offer got rejected at the SVP stage. However, they are willing to offer a SETI role (Software Engineer Tools and Infrastructure). The recruiter tried to brand the quality of work being similar to that of the sde. But, from a google engineer's perspective how good are those roles and the quality of work? And how easy or difficult is it to shift from SETI to normal role? Have another compelling offer from another company from a good team(building a streaming analytics platform? Thanks! #google
Don't do it. Trust your gut. It sounds like more of a QA role. It's practically career suicide if you accept it.
It is glorified test engineering. Don’t go.
Thank you Just looking for some perspective from a current google employee
If you want to build test tools and test infrastructure then this is the role for you. It'll be harder to get software engineer role anywhere else in the future. They sell the role well and frankly lie, and most people I hired into the role are disappointed after a few months. Source: I used to be in the role an an EM
Thanks for the input. So are you in a similar role in Uber now ?
SETI is a second class citizen compared to SWE at Google. I'm back to SWE EM building product at Uber. If you join Google insist on the SWE title and then switch to a product team after a year.
It's nearly impossible to hire software engineers in test around Seattle. If you don't need the glory of working on the actual product, I think it's worth looking into. Granted some companies do overload it and force manual testing as part of the job, but there is a lot of development that should be a part of it as well.
Yes, the salary is similar
I was at Google before. The pay is a good starting point to analyze it but it's oversimplifying it. SETI has same pay because it's a dead end and there aren't enough takers in the job market. You won't be able to transfer to SWE (it's harder than doing the external interview) and now your resume will have a tester position. Avoid at all costs
Not a Google employee, but a mentor of mine that went to google as an SWE said the SRE and SETI are basically equivalents of SysAdmins and SDET, respectively. If you don't mind an SDET-related role, then SETI would be a great fit (even though Google has SET, these are glorified QAEs for the most part) for you.
Don't take it.
Sounds like starting salary is the same as see, what about promotions going forward and refreshers?
Say no and take the other good offer.