Hello Blinders! I’m a current junior in college and have a choice to make about my last summer internship before I graduate. I am extremely conflicted about my offers and I wanted y’alls professional and life advice. - Microsoft Azure Compute team at Redmond HQ (already accepted offer) Pros: Team seems super interesting, and from what I’ve read, seems like there’s a lot of work to be done and chance to make an impact. Also better average engineering talent than Microsoft overall? Cons: Is in Redmond, Seattle (very important to me) - Palantir- SWE at New York Office (office mainly works on Foundry) Pros: Cool + interesting product w/ Foundry. Talented engineers, and opportunity to make a big technical impact? Also: New York (very important) Cons: Would have to renege. Possibly smaller brand name than Microsoft Azure compute? - Wait to hear back from Google HC and accept if given an offer. Pros: Biggest brand name Cons: Would have to renege Some things about me: I’m not chasing TC and I don’t care too much about reneging. The most important things to me are the opportunities to make a technical impact and learn a TON, as well as location. With location, I really want to live in either New York, Austin, or Chicago (Seattle and Bay Area are definite no-gos for me) after grad. Palantir would be an incredible opportunity in NY and I really liked their team and the vibe of the company (and I feel like it would be easier to break into NY w/ a return offer), but Microsoft Azure Compute seems like too good a chance to pass up. If I went Microsoft Azure for the summer, how do y’all think it would compare to Palantir in terms of resume value when I recruit for new-grad positions in NY/Austin? Also, what are y’alls thoughts on the quality of engineers between Palantir and Microsoft Azure Compute/opportunity to make an impact and learn a ton? If I ended up with Google, I think I would definitely take it and recruit again next year. Let me know what y’all think, thanks in advance.
Don't Palantir send all of their engineers to the border to help build "the wall"
No
Plantir will never IPO
why not? seems to be on the cusp of it
They don't need the capital As well with all the government stuff I wonder if there is any national security concerns
I would go with Palantir. I previously interned at Microsoft and felt like my impact was not felt by the company due to its large size.
If you don’t mind me asking, did you end up returning to microsoft? Or did you choose a smaller company to work at as a new grad?
Smaller company. DM me!
Location is important
Negotiate first before trying to make decision.
If you want to live in NYC, either Palantir or Google for full time. For an internship, it won't make a difference unless you're angling for a return offer. Seattle is REALLY nice during the summer, so it wouldn't be a bad place to spend a few months even if you don't want to live there long term. And there's a lot to be said for varied internship experiences. Chicago, NYC, and Austin are all VERY different so I'm not sure why bay area and Seattle aren't options for you. But all are cool places to live. There is no difference in resume value.
Thank you for the insight! The main reason I don't want to live in the Bay Area/Seattle is that it just seems like it's not that a great of a place for a person in their 20s. Long term family, I could see me liking it, but as a most probably single dude after graduating who enjoys their share of night life and time outside of tech circles, Bay Area/Seattle seems to fall short (feel free to correct me, never actually been to the Bay but that's what I've guessed from things online). NYC is the dream for me b/c it has the best of both worlds (tech opportunity as well as quality of life in one of the biggest cities in the country).
I lived in NYC in my 20s and Seattle now. They are pretty equivalent for a single guy, probably. Of course, Seattle is smaller but if you can't get a date with 500k women, an extra 2mm isn't going to make a difference. Seattle is about more outdoorsy than NYC. But it's not like you can't go to bars. The nightlife is more laid back on the west coast. Silicon Valley is tech centric, but San Francisco itself is every bit the equal of NYC in most regards. Neither SF or Seattle have the same energy as NYC. They are just different. No right or wrong answer. If you are sure you want to end up in NYC, a return offer frim Palantir is probably your best bet. Google also has a large office there. Microsoft does not. The pay in NYC will be significantly lower than Seattle relative to COL.
Obviously biased but given your goals of technical impact and learning, palantir is easily your best choice, assuming this is for SWE and not FDE. The amount of freedom and responsibility you’ll have as an intern or new grad is far more than somewhere like MS, and you’ll easily be able to make an impact that far exceeds whatever small well-scoped intern project they give you at MS. Happy to talk more over DM if you’re interested.
Hey, curious how you view FDE compared to SWE? Worse off technically but slightly more soft skill focused?
Yup, it’s for a SWE position. Most of my indecision comes from the fact that it’s the Microsoft Azure Compute team: pretty much any other org, and I would’ve taken Palantir in a heart beat. DMed!
I am probably biased here but having talked about this with a large number of friends who work at Google and Microsoft, I definitely think you will grow more as an engineer and can have a much larger impact at Palantir. The palantir internship is less structured than the other two, but that can translate into an intern getting placed on a highly impactful project with actual engineers, in comparison to the low value pet project you are likely to get put on at MS or Google.
We never put interns on pet projects. Not in any of my orgs, at least. They are regular members of the team.
I guess maybe it depends on what you consider a pet project...I find that most candidates who I interview for Palantir who have experience at Microsoft / Google tend to have been given projects that consist of building minor internal tools or internal dashboards both of which I am (maybe incorrectly) categorizing as pet projects because I am using that to mean projects that don’t really impact the business goals of the company
I have the impression Microsoft oversells the content of their internships. Intern turned full-time here... I just don't see how you can intentionally intern in a place you don't intend to work in. In case the thought of full time at Azure Compute crossed your mind, I will challenge to search for comments from people in compute. Spoiler alert - not pretty
It was mainly the problem space that was super interesting to me. And I did some research about the org: it seemed like WLB might be on the bad side, but a lot of interesting work to be done. It was mainly the Seattle location that makes me not want to work there full time.
DM
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I would've said Microsoft but I wouldn't take it if you're sure you don't want to live in Seattle
I was thinking about taking microsoft just for the summer (Azure cloud stuff is super interesting for me) and trying to recruit in NY for the top tech firms there next year. And who knows, maybe over the summer Seattle will grow on me. But for resume brand and getting interviews, do you think Microsoft Azure is better than Palantir? Do you think this is a bad idea?
I'm not really sure, like personally I'm biased against Palantir but that's not for like resume reasons I like Seattle during the summer, it's absolutely lovely, but I don't plan to live there either post grad