[TriLUG] Positions with Google in NC

[jason at monsterjam.org]

so now im conused! should I apply or not.. ;)

Jason

On Thu, Feb 15, 2007 at 
09:13:57AM -0500, bak wrote:
> 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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