Hi everyone, I recently finished my PhD in the machine learning area and after interviewing, my best offer was from Snap for an L4 ML Engineer position with 370k TC: Base: 165k, equity: 615k (over 3 years with ~$75/share) Now with today’s stock price the TC is about 300k. When it was close to the offer deadline, Google said that they want to move forward with team matching for an L3 ML SWE position. I mentioned that I have a deadline and I have this much compensation and the recruiter said that they won’t be able to match that and max they can go up to 270k or something around that. I decided to go with Snap and started my job recently (before the earning and the stock drop) and Google said that their offer will be valid for 12 months if I change my mind. Now with the stock drop and Apple privacy policies and economy, I have doubts about the choice that I made and I’m considering switching to Google. Here are pros and cons that I have in mind: Pros for Google: More stable income Better future career? Cons for Google: Living in the Bay area (probably) compared to Los Angeles A bit lower TC right now Lower level My questions are: How long would it take to get promoted to L4 at Google? Is the level negotiable at the offer stage? Do you think based on the current privacy plans, companies with Ad based revenue will struggle for a foreseeable future? Does switching jobs within 3-4 months look bad on my resume? Can I just not mention Snap if I decide to switch? Would my future career be better if I switch? In Google, are there locations other than Bay area that do interesting ML stuff and are worth considering? Thanks a lot everyone!
Google>>>>>>Snap ez
You serious? L3 at Google is pond scum and they will rub that fact in your face there.
Reinterview for Google L4 next year, depending upon Snap vesting pattern. Stock keeps fluctuating don’t worry about occasional mishaps
L3 at Google with a PhD is an insane insult. I am a huge fan of Google, but L3 with a PhD is ridiculous. Tell them you wanna do additional interviews for L4
i agree ^ my 22 year old friend with a bachelor’s is an L3. You should push for L4
I didn’t know this is possible. In my defense, 3 out of 5 of the interviewer’s at Google were not able to speak fluently. They had to write down every question that they had (or occasionally copy/paste). As a results half of the interviews were being spent on explaining the questions. I don’t know if it’s a good idea to bring this up with the recruiter or not.
One side question, this thing that the offer letter is valid for 1 year is it only for tech jobs? i was offered at google recently but I declined, would the offer be valid for a year? It was an analyst sr role for T&S
stay at Snap for now. With your PHD, you can always move to L4 maybe even L5 at Google in 1-2 years if you kill the interview
So you think working at Snap does not close any doors? Would it be easy to get an interview from Google in a couple of years?
What doors? There’s no doors open or close for you except the damn door to L3. Honestly it’s not even a question. Just stay there.
It’s funny, almost everyone in the comments is saying to stay at Snap, but most people in the poll are saying that I have to switch.
When people on blind see Google, they upvote. They are generally very basic.
Another bigger kicker is that people from Google are telling OP, not to join for the reasons OP is wanting to join for.
Ask a lot of questions about what you would be working on. Google is known for hiring PhDs just to do really mundane work, trying to squeeze marginal gains out of someone's old mess. My guess is that your work at Snap will be more fulfilling.
I don't agree with comments saying the work at Google will suck because that's really team-dependent. But speaking as an L3 at G, no one should down-level to L3 from a well regarded company like snap. That would be a step backwards in your career, especially if you are fine with your work at snap and it's marketable. Stay there, excel and get promoted, then look again for L5 roles in a few years.
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Snap >>>>> Google Downlevel
I was thinking if I can get promotion in a year, probably it won’t be a bad choice. Can you explain why you think that?
Snap has higher bar, higher tc, and faster promotion cycles. If you think you can get a promo in a year at Google, you would equally get a promo at snap a bit later to senior and then back to square one.