Tech IndustryNov 24, 2019
NewMWYL07

Help a new grad choose: MS (bing ads) vs. Palantir (gotham)

About me: undergrad in CA, studying CS. one prev. internship at a startup. Goals: Make a lot of money in the short and long term. Work hard to start and then chill more as I have kids. Offers: (base/stock/signing) MS - max new grad apparently 110/150 over 3.5 yrs/50 =~ 167/yr over 4 yrs AI/R - Bing Ads (aka Microsoft Ads now) Palantir - standard new grad two options: 120 (20% bump guaranteed after 1.5 yrs)/30k rsu units with $6 valuation over 5 yrs/30 =~ 188/yr over 5 yrs 140 (20% bump after 1.5 yrs)/15k rsus over 5 yrs/30 =~188/yr over 5 yrs full-stack work on gotham platform, software dev, not fdse Current thoughts: Conflicted. Palantir pays very well with the starting package and it seems like it continues to pay well with promotions / bonuses. Like the company culture, mission, and people seem smart. Potential for meaty returns from a very likely IPO (within 7 years as told by multiple people). On the other hand, the Bing/Microsoft Ads work seems more interesting and more likely to better set me up for the next job down the line (Goog/Fb/Twtr/Snap) b/c it's ads and a meaty product with traditional engineering challenges like QPS, petabytes of data, streams, building/modifying pipelines, etc... and it's revenue generating. Also potential to work on ML infra and/or models? People seem smart but the culture and people seem a little more bland/boring to me (but this doesn't matter too much to me). Please correct me if I'm wrong about anything and/or add your thoughts. Feel free to project your start-over desires on me too if you want lol. AMA as well.

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AmazonEng Nov 24, 2019

Palantir is known to be harder to get into. Is this a SWE role at Palantir or FDSE? Because if it is forward deployed it’s a different story.

New
MWYL07 OP Nov 24, 2019

software dev, not FDSE

New
AmazonEng Nov 24, 2019

Ok since these two jobs are just stepping stones, and you are obviously still considering Palantir cuz of TC I’d say go for Microsoft for the skills development and cuz you indicated clear superior interest in their projects. Then transition into the FAANGMULLAS (blinders correct me if I’m wrong) you want.

Davey qXcz3askb Nov 24, 2019

Palantirs OAs are so tough :(

New
MWYL07 OP Nov 25, 2019

it's a bit of a numbers game tbh. fail a bunch get a few. level up w/time

Microsoft amitguu Nov 24, 2019

Palantir

Tesla 🐉⛈ Nov 24, 2019

Let’s be real here - you probably won’t be at Palantir for more than 2 years so their rsus are practically worthless. I would go with MS then either become comfy and never leave or hop to a unicorn startup / FAANG.

New
MWYL07 OP Nov 25, 2019

I would actually stay at Palantir until I hit some plateau in comp or learning or both. Why would their rsus be worthless even if I left after 2 years? RSU expiration is 7 years.

Airbnb sjals Nov 27, 2019

Are you sure palantir is giving you rsus and not stock options? I had an offer from them a few months back and I guess things may have changed over that time

Microsoft dUKM75 Nov 24, 2019

Keep in mind Ms will have a large stock cliff at 4yr mark if you aren't promoted a few times, and maybe even still. Also, MS has annual refreshers and cash bonus which im not sure if youre including and 9.5k in 401k matching and minimum 2500 profit if you max ESPP and 800 a year for gym related stuff

New
MWYL07 OP Nov 25, 2019

I didn't include annual refreshers and cash bonus b/c they aren't guaranteed and b/c palantir also does 401k and bonuses too. the 800 gym thing is too small to count IMO. I am planning on moving at/before the cliff, barring a good reason to stay.

Microsoft dUKM75 Nov 25, 2019

Does palintir match 9.5k on your 401k? Most companies dont. Microsoft refreshers will be like 2k a year for you but will stack year over year. So take that for what its worth. Bonus at MS will be 0% if you suck, 10% if you do your job, and up to 20% for killing it. The bonus target is 10%

Microsoft dUKM75 Nov 24, 2019

Either choice will be a good choice, I'd probably vote Microsoft.

Microsoft oWix2k Nov 25, 2019

I had the same choice, chose microsoft, am very glad I did

New
MWYL07 OP Nov 25, 2019

why's that? and how long ago did you decide?

Microsoft betaco Nov 25, 2019

Please do Microsoft a favor by joining Palantir...

Palantir tzzQ73 Nov 26, 2019

Obviously I’m biased, but I’d pick Palantir every time. Comp is strong, exit ops are strong (I would think better than MS, everyone I know who had left had an easy time picking their next firm), and the Gotham product is *really* cool - both the tech and the actual use-cases of the thing.

New
MWYL07 OP Nov 27, 2019

Yeah the only thing that concerns me is the exit ops

New
Juuv Nov 28, 2019

I would not pick Palantir. It’s not a high hiring bar — many of my friends said it was the easiest of their interviews, so just because one person tells you it was their hardest or easiest doesn’t make a difference. One of my friends who works there now said she got 2 of her onsite questions wrong and they still gave her an offer. Also, the rep of a company like Palantir is so brutalized, the people who work there are often people who did not get better offers elsewhere. If you do a bit of searching, you will realize that Palantir actually does not pay too well for their stage of a startup. Compared to something like Airbnb/Robinhood. It’s not a bad offer, but it’s not the best. This is not to say the company is not good, but don’t make a decision off a false sense of prestige that doesn’t exist. Not sure if this makes a difference, but Palantir is not allowed to recruit at Berkeley or Stanford anymore...students hated it that bad that they protested it out of campus.

New
MWYL07 OP Nov 28, 2019

Yeah I don’t care about hiring bar tbh since interviewing is a bit of a crap shoot. I didn’t find the interview particularly difficult but i do feel like if you are particularly smart there is room to shine which I feel I did. Also smart people tend to underestimate how smart they are and thus think interviews are easy. If I had Airbnb I’d go there lol, I’m not hot on Robinhoods prospects. And yeah I don’t particularly care about prestige, I’m all about that $$$$ baby now and for the future. Though I do like the small feel of palantir vs big boi MS. I’m not much of a SJW so great for other schools not Stanford or Berkeley. I think quite a lot of stanfordians go to palantir anyways cuz they just apply direct and HQ is next door.