Tableau engineer caliber?
I'm a new grad SWE at Tableau (I chose it over Amazon and MSFT offers). Wondering if I made the right decision for my first job of my career. There are a lot of ex-Amazon, ex-MSFT SWEs at Tableau, but I can't tell if they're any good. Those of you who work with/as ex-Tableau engineers at tier-1 companies, what are your thoughts?
Why would you choose Tableau over the other 2?
More money, didn't want to work for large company. Wanted to walk to work but not live downtown (Tableau hq=Fremont/Wallingford =walkable)
Those are all good reasons. Tableau might not be the best name to have on a resume, but it's not exactly unknown and if your priorities change later you can always go apply to Amazon or Microsoft again
I was top performer at Microsoft. I was top performer at Amazon too but average on another team I worked in AWS. I had more than 7 offers when I chose Tableau. Quality of engineers at Tableau is hit and miss. Amazon had better talent density when I worked there 9 years ago. I’ve heard it has gone down reflecting their interview process that is skewed for behavioral rather than technical skills. You would be good or not depends on what you are working on, who you are working with, your manager providing you opportunities and if you are driven to grow. All these factors matter. Among Microsoft, amazon and Tableau, I don’t think the average quality of engineers differs that much.
I think tableau has hired a mix of good and b quality people. They have a fair amount of tech debt and are starting to have an attrition problem. Overall they are a fine first job. Be sure to work on a project you can later put on your resume. No one works the same job forever...
How much was the TC difference between all these companies?
Tableau was 80k more than Amazon and Microsoft (mostly from rsu)
I know a brilliant dude from amazon who left for Tableau. They rejected me and I am considered a top performer at amazon.
Historically Tableaus bar has been higher than either MS or AMZN, you also can have WAY bigger impact here. You made the right choice (came here from MS)
I am former Amazon. I am also an MIT grad. Amazon had the highest quality bar (at least for the team I was on.). I am still utilizing what I learned there. Tableau...after MIT and Amazon was a long nap. Not in a good way either. I’m getting out. Right now looking at returning to Amazon.
Have you done anything groundbreaking at Tableau considering your elite pedigree? Are you saying that you couldn’t find a problem complex enough at Tableau that is worth pursuing? Are you a leader kind who pioneer new ways for others to follow or you want someone to tell you what to do which is complex enough to feel good about solving? I think if you are really good as you are saying then impact you can have at Tableau would be much larger than amazon.
I was promoted while at Tableau, and have been praised for my contributions. Truth is, no one player (no matter how superb) can save a badly designed infrastructure and a lack of quality (in both coworkers and code).
Do yourself a favor and call back Amazon. The stock of tableau has not a good track record. Compare to AMZN then thanks me since this will save you hundreds of thousands of dollars and you won't have to deal with a bunch of C class engineers and QA and layers of managerial politics
Do you consider yourself C class? We do have C class engineers but also a lot of A class too.
I think it's up to my peers to judge that not me. I like to think if I suck people should tell me what I suck at so I can get better and not suck anymore. But here we got C players and when you tell them they suck they go tell on you.
You dun goofed