Posting for a friend who doesn’t use Blind. She needs advice on choosing a company. =================================== In her own words: I am new grad aspiring to become a Data Scientist. I’ve got two offers so far, both not a data scientist role. Since I am on a F-1 visa I must choose one of these companies before my OPT starts. I have heard mixed reviews for both. I have laid out all the data points that I know and that I collected from different sources. My situation: As a new grad, I want to grow and learn but at the same time I want to have good work life balance and stay with my husband in a different state. I feel like I am not getting both of those together in either company. I am very confused on which one to choose. Please advice. - Goldman Sachs/ Business Intelligence Analyst Base: $90k Bonus: discretionary, people say ($20k-$30k) Stock: N/A Sign-on: N/A Over Time: depends (# hours*0.5*hourly rate) Location: Salt Lake City 30 miles to work one way. (30-45mins) No unlimited PTO No Remote work Bad work life balance (50-60 hours) 10 member team Tech stack they use: SQL, Tableau, Alteryx, Python, a few data science algorithms Cross functional teams: Software engineering teams, data scientist teams, ML teams - Ancestry/ Business Performance Analyst Base: $90k Bonus: 8% Stock: $22.5/3 years Sign-on: $10k Over time: N/A Location: Salt Lake City 5 mins drive unlimited PTO Remote work or Work at Office (Flexible) Great work life balance, very laid back 3 member team Tech stack they use: SQL, Tableau This teams job is to produce financial reports for the board every month/bi weekly (not sure). The reports generally have visualizations and charts on how the company is doing financially. Personal feeling is that Goldman will help to get my next gig as a data scientist where as Ancestry will give me the work life balance, the freedom to work while I am with my husband. I don’t have very many friends in Utah. =================================== Please comment as well. Comments help understand others perspective. Thank you very much! #tech
Ancestry's culture is great, total compensation is slightly above average, life-work balance is fantastic, leadership team is open and driven. Regarding reputation and future opportunities: When employees leave Ancestry, they tend to go to Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, etc. The FAANG recruiters hammer Ancestry employees with job offers relentlessly.
Dude, you can’t be this serious
Just because someone leaves a company for FAANG has bears no relevance to whether the previous company was good in terms of talent or total reputation. People go to FAANG from the shittiest startups. FAANG recruiters tend to contact everyone, especially during a hiring spree.
Ancestry will hold higher clout in tech circles. Go with them. At Goldman tech is back office.
Most of the Analysts at Ancestry that move on to different companies, move on to Data Science positions at FAANG companies.
This can’t be a serious question. Come on.
Did you read the whole post? Or did you just look at the title? I barely posted this
Yes. Listen, your first job sets the path of your whole career. The thing people don’t understand is the heavy amount of path dependence. Your next job is very very highly dependent on your current job. Times will not always be crazy like the last few years. Ancestry on your resume is a mildly gross loser company. Goldman may be ethically objectionable but it’s a golden brand name. Make some early life sacrifices for a long term path.