Going into the team-matching process with Google, I was pretty much set on Dropbox (for a variety of hard-number reasons), but then I ended up matching with a specific Google team that made me reconsider everything. Here is the list of pros I had in favor of Dropbox before team-matching with Google (not concerned about TC, because both reassured me that they can match whatever the other company is offering): Dropbox pros: * Higher level I get hired at (senior vs. L4 for Google). * More street cred/more difficult to get. * Overall, feels like a better corporate culture. * Full remote, no ifs or buts. * Less of a giant corp vibe (coming from MSFT, I am way too familiar with that, but it doesn't bother me that much). * Emphasis on work-life balance. * The project I would be working on looked mildly interesting, but it is kind of similar to what I currently work on at MSFT in terms of tech stack (both a pro and a con, because part of the reason I was looking for a new job was to try something new; and while this project would have plenty of new stuff, it isn't something I am not familiar with at all), and it isn't insanely groundbreaking or anything like that. Then during team-matching with Google, one of the teams interested in me blew my mind. Here are the pros of going with that specific team: * They are working on a quickly emerging area of technology that I have been personally hyped about for a while and I am convinced will become insanely giant in the near future. There aren't many companies in the world at all that can even experiment with such tech. Before someone asks, no, it isn't crypto. * Brand new group of teams that is expected to grow the headcount 10x by the end of next year (and even more later), meaning I would be one of the early engineers. * Completely different tech stack and area of tech than what I am used to, which is great. * Given I see this area of tech growing wildly over the next decade, this would be good for my career too (outside of tech). Feels similar to being one of the early leading machine learning engineers back in 2009, before the hype around that field grew. Anyone who had legitimate experience with machine learning at a big company like Google back then would have been easily hired at insane amounts of TC at almost any tech company that could afford them. But here are the cons for that Google offer: * Not a fan of google's internal politics (in regards to projects and funding) and company culture. * Plenty of "ifs and buts" when it comes to remote work. * Lower level (L4 vs. senior at Dropbox). * Lower street cred/easier to get. * While I am not concerned with work-life balance at Google in general (based on talking to other teams and my friends working there), for that specific team i expect it to be worse than at Dropbox. Another thing I didn't consider was career velocity for internal promotions either, but that's primarily because I don't have much info on it, unfortunately. Would it be easier to get promoted up at Google or Dropbox and get a better increase? Would being one of the very early members of that project at Google allow for a faster promotion trajectory? No idea. What are your thoughts? 4.5 YOE Current TC: $240k Proposed TC: unavailable for Dropbox, they haven't finished drafting up the offer. Google's is $310k right now, but they confirmed they are totally down to match whatever Dropbox can offer. #swe
This tech sounds like classic vaporware.
Fair skepticism, but as someone who played with it before (early prototypes at other companies and some currently existing commercial offerings), the tech itself isn't vaporware. Whether Google's implementation of it ends up being dead as vaporware, that's a different story. But something tells me that if they are investing into growing the headcount on that project by x10 in a single year (from mid double digits to mid triple digits), then it is unlikely.
Iād go with Dropbox personally, but choose whichever one will leave you less āwhat ifsā if you joined the other one.
Great point. With the product/opportunity at Dropbox, I am not worried about missing out as much on getting to work on such product itself, as there will always be options to do it later and at many places. With the project at Google, there aren't almost any opportunities to work on stuff like that at all in existence (let alone for someone without a grad degree like me). Not even mentioning the opportunity to get onto the train early, before that tech hits the mainstream. Unexpected issues aside, I would definitely be beating myself over the "what if", in case the Google project succeeds after I accept the Dropbox offer.
Your logic sounds good to me. Sounds like you just convinced yourself š
TC || GTFO
I literally said that they both can match the same TC, so this isn't a factor in my choice here.
Help me help you.
Opportunity at Google sounds too good to pass up on. I'd probably be all over that if I were you.
That was my logic, but since it is such an early-stage emerging tech, I am worried about it flopping due to it being inherently high-risk, as well as due to Google's love for spinning off internal competitors to existing products and killing off the earlier ones (yes, I am still upset about the whole Hangouts => Duo+Allo bs).
Or.. it could be a huge deal, you obviously have more context to decide on this. Like what's the worst that can happen, if the product/service fails then, oh well we tried and now onto the next venture/opportunity. Else you have something very significant to show off for. Feels like the upside is a lot more here, given that you always have the option to jump ship if things don't work out.
Tc or gtfo
Some application of quantum computing?
Not going to answer any further questions about what it actually is after this one, as revealing it might get me in trouble. But no, it isn't an application of quantum computing, as I don't see a realistic application of it emerging (let alone becoming mainstream) in the next 5 years. While the tech I am talking about, I fully expect it to become at least semi-mainstream in the next 5 years.
Hah okay thanks for answering
Did you look at Dropbox stock performance for last three years? go with Google. Dropbox doesnāt have better street credence than Google
Recent stock performance does not mean shit. Especially around the end of the year, people sell off stocks for tax purpose. Smaller companies typically get affected a lot more. Read Peter lynch, he will clue you in on this
It is not recent. Look at past three months. As well as their competitor for last three years. They are in a business which is not appreciated by the market
TC on offers please, regardless of matching
Dropbox 100%