Bear with me for a minute, I haven't discussed this with more than a
couple people in the last six months, and I couldn't resist the
opportunity to do so now.
As someone who was offered an SA job at Google last year and turned it
down, I would describe my experience with the Google interview process
as prolonged (i.e. about 3 months) and somewhat aggravating, consisting
of two phone screens, followed by an on-site interview of epic length,
during which I was grilled in half a dozen hour-long interviews on
various UNIX, scripting, networking, and SA-related topics at a depth of
something like 300 meters.
I must have acquitted myself fairly well, because they offered me the
job. But the fact that they had free food, drinks, and scooby snacks
didn't really make up, in my mind, for their middling salary offer --
the recruiter even told me at the interview that they compensate for the
salary with their benefits, free ski trips, free food and t-shirts, etc.
This is an argument that would have pulled more weight with me had I
been just out of college, but not so much at this stage in my life. And
the "We're Google" factor didn't make up for the fact that none of the
techie interviewers made the time to answer my questions about what
working at Google was like, except for the last guy, who reluctantly
gave me five minutes. Career path? Work environment? We're Google!
Our benefits are great! Don't ask questions, we have to double our
workforce next year! Perhaps this is not an unreasonable attitude to
encounter at a company like Google, but I have to admit that it worried
me a great deal.
So I took the job I'd been offered here in RTP for a couple thousand
less -- and it turns out that I can easily afford a house here and rub
shoulders with half of the techies and nerds on the east coast (the
other half are in NYC it seems :), whereas in Northern California I
would be renting and probably wind up with a roommate.
Would I have taken the Google job if it were here in NC instead of in
CA, or if I were a software guy instead of an SA? Almost certainly!
But Google is a company like any other company; they just have this
thing about saying "Don't Be Evil" a bunch of times, having an
impossibly huge server farm, and giving out Kool-Aid, and I've heard the
same "it's awesome!" and "it's insane!" stories from Google employees
that I've heard from countless other folks.
So thanks for putting up with my little rant. I guess my point is this:
don't sell yourself short! Quality techies are in demand, and the
company with the best co-workers, leadership, and compensation wins.
The prospect of free food is nice and all, but as an adult, I have
learned to feed myself. :)
Maybe I should have had Taco Bell like Aaron before my Google interview
-- I went to In-N-Out. :)
--bak
Aaron S. Joyner wrote:
Having said all that, let me tack on two things. The Google interview
process is both highly educational, and a real treat in-and-of itself.
Even if you're not sure you would be interested in moving to Lenoir, or
if you'd make it through the interview process, I'd strongly encourage
you to try it. I promise you'll learn at least a dozen things you'd
never thought of along the way. In addition to the sheer educational
value, it's really quite a fun experience to just geek out for a few
hours with some of the smartest, most technically challenging and
interesting people you're likely to meet this year.
So, what now? Send me a resume, and I'll punch it into our internal
recruit-tracking system, along with a friendly recommendation. You'll
likely hear back from a recruiter by mid next week, at the latest. As a
friendly reminder, you probably want to reply directly to me, not to the
list.
Aaron S. Joyner
0 - http://www.trilug.org/pipermail/trilug/Week-of-Mon-20070115/046024.html
1 - http://tinyurl.com/3cwowy (Google Maps showing location of Lenoir)
2 - http://joyner.ws/Google-Interview.html
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