I’m currently at Google as a L3 SWE (YOE <2) with a promise of promo in Sept. I have an offer from Uber at +1 level. When I told my manager and skip level manager of my intention to leave, they tried to get me to stay. One of them essentially said you’re well off at any other company than Uber, talking about toxic work culture and whatnot. I know he might be biased, but want to ask the community as well. What I care about: 1. Work culture. I work hard, don’t mind spending the occasional 8+ hours. Google always rewards for any extra efforts you put in. If I have to work on a weekend for some reason, I almost always get some kind of spot bonus. I don’t expect such instant gratification from Uber, but at least some recognition. 2. Peers: I want to be the dumbest person in the room, so I can learn from my peers. 3. Don’t want to get laid off for at least 2 years. 4. $$$ (Uber wins by a good margin) Blind tax: TC: 170k YOE: 2
I’ll answer to the best of my ability. Everyone’s experience will be different just as as large organizations. 1) Work culture - this heavily depends on which team you’re working under. I will say more and more Uber has been pushing more of a work / life balance so it’s not the work long hours like it used to be. Yes, you’ll find pockets of people working long hours, but typically those are the exception. As for bonus, you get rewarded to some degree but you don’t get crazy multipliers like you used to. (Anywhere from 1x to 2x on avg) Again recognition depends on your manager and team members, there’s definitely politics involved so it’s not always black and white. 2) You will most likely not be the dumbest person in the room. From my experience I felt that I was probably one of two of the smartest people in the room. I’m not trying to even trying to brag, that’s how much the bar has dropped over the past year. We’ve been desperate in some areas. 3) It’s hard to say 4) When I first joined I was making $800K+, due to stocks my comp dropped nearly $200K. It may be good today, but it’s up to you if there is still upside.
Why did you interview in first place?
1. Higher leveling. 2. The team is great, met some very smart people. 3. Core user facing and direct customer impacting projects. 4. the pay is almost double as to what I make now. 5. I have not heard such bad things about Uber.
I really like it so far