Considering a role at Aurora (#aurora)... Pros... Everyone seems very happy there (vs #cruise) Leadership gets great reviews Offices in many locations Chance to have a higher breadth of work and impact (vs #waymo) Cons... I haven't heard much about their technology How much runway do they really have? Engineers seem content but not excited (vs #zoox) Any insights? #aurora
I'm told it's mostly a chill place and they have some good people. Idk how smooth it will be to integrate Uber ATG, that will probably take a long time to fully sort out.
@gethyped how's it over there at Zoox post acquisition? Always enjoy videos of your stack!
Insider persperctive (biased) - team enthusiasm and morale is very high, reflected in day to day work, participation in all hands etc, and also in internal surveys. - lots of great people, on par with any top self driving team. - transparent and decisive leadership - tech stack is good, with a blend of ML and engineering. Focus has been on a strong foundation over lots of features. - not worried about runway or ability to raise funds (if we were worried, why would we triple in size?) - ATG integration is a bit question mark. They have some good people and tech, but it's not going to be trivial to merge either people or tech. - No one but Waymo has delivered anything of note in this space, and it is not surprising that a 4y old startup hasn't caught up. I don't consider acquiring ATG something Aurora has "delivered". We have tried to avoid public demos / "launches" as much as possible, and believe the path to product is a marathon, not a sprint.
OP are you already at Waymo? If not, why don't you consider Waymo? If yes, then why do you want to leave Waymo?
I am considering Waymo. Kind of wanted to check out life outside of Alphabet. Waymo seems a bit big/bureaucratic. Maybe I wouldn't be as pigeon-holed at Aurora? Not sure how to value Waymo RSUs vs Aurora equity.
I thought waymo was still small. Like under 2000 including the ops people.
I interviewed there. Really nice people for the most part (one director level came off as pretty full of himself). Felt like a smart team but not a lot of product development experience and it showed. My impression was that technology direction and overall execution was somewhat lacking.
I've never even heard of any of these places
I wish I hadn't heard of Intuit, but alas, taxes
TC & YOE OP?
Do it! Very brilliant people there
Excited to see what Aurora is all about as I've heard good things π€. Uber was the same way in that we didn't show off our tech or improvements for years. There must be a reason why they don't advertise.
Just found this (it is just an opinion though) Aurora-Uber: Set Up For Failure? https://thelastdriverlicenseholder.com/2021/01/06/aurora-uber-set-up-for-failure/
Some points in there aren't too impactful and have to do with Uber outside of ATG, but the one they brought up that I'm personally wondering about is common to all M&A's. How well will the integration between the two companies go? Not concerned about teams since I think we'll all get along (great people with a similar mindset, power struggles will really only be at the executive level), but more about how the tech will integrate. Excited to see a better combined product overall.
Why would it be difficult to integrate the tech? Are there big discrepancies between tech stacks?
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Which Google level are you at? Aurora has delivered little over the years except for the recent acquisition of Uber ATG. Before making a decision, talk with their executives and ask what their roadmap is going forward.
It's a trap. Some execs take offence to this question and will not hire you. If you get a response from an exec, what do you expect? An honest, technical answer? Lol
I interviewed at Zoox, Pony, Didi and talked with executives of all of them. I think this is a fair question to ask. If they get easily offended by such fair questions, I treat that as a red flag.