Thoughts on Nike Digital Innovation
I've got an offer from Nike Digital Innovation for a very senior position. What's the trade-off of risk vs reward here? Been working in ML and AI for 8 years now. Would it be difficult to get back into top tech companies (FAANG) in the future if I switched from QC to a non-tech company like Nike? My list of pros and cons: Pros: 1) Feels like a start up in an established brand 2) good compensation 3) better cost of living vs Bay area and SD Cons: 1) Relevance of impact as measured outside 2) growing skills over time 3) Not many other options in Portland for Tech Appreciate any advice and insights you have
Just Do It.
What would you be working on? Would you be growing in skill set ? Is it still ML and AI? What is your ultimate goal in life?
I'd still be working on ML and AI projects but applied to their products. Would get to work on a scalable systems as opposed to edge systems. In that sense I'd be learning something new. My goal is to get into a management role eventually.
The sneaker company?
FYI, we have people in Portland office who joined from Nike and they all said tech in Nike is a joke. Not the best move for your career and not a competitive offer either.
300k TC is competitive. Devs at Intel and Elemental (Amazon) these real tech companies don't have Packages like this. Nike is a different world. If all you want to advance in career is tech perhaps it's not the best move. Also if you don't appreciate what Oregon has to offer, you will find boring soon.
No management? No stock for you.
I hear good things about Nike Innovation. But I would also rather die than live in the Bay area at this point so I have rather enjoyed my time in tech here in PDX at Intel and Nike. If you like the Bay area and working for FB etc then you might have a different opinion of this area. There are also a lot more companies putting offices here by the minute. Intel, eBay, Amazon, Oracle, Salesforce, Airbnb, Walmart, HP, WebMD, Adobe, Squarespace, Simple, New Relic, Puppet, come to mind but there are a ton more. So I could see you doing really well as a big fish in a smaller pond here depending on what your end goal is.
TC or....
~300k