tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post4341579592448724281..comments2024-03-28T00:36:13.790-07:00Comments on Volatile and Decentralized: The Google career path, Part 2: Starting new projectsMatt Welshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255792550910131960noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-8989431963746549962014-05-16T03:01:12.035-07:002014-05-16T03:01:12.035-07:00Dear Matt,
Thank you for sharing your knowledge an...Dear Matt,<br />Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience. It has been really helpful for me.<br />I have two questions which are irrelevant to this post.<br />In one of your posts, “So, you want to go to grad school?”, in this comment: <br />http://matt-welsh.blogspot.com/2010/09/so-you-want-to-go-to-grad-school.html?showComment=1284843970471#c1439110369344324707<br />you mentioned that independent research in CS is possible. Now I have two main questions from you:<br />1) That comment was posted in 2010 and I think you were still in Harvard at that time. Do you think it is still possible (considering ever-increasing research in companies like Google and current state of Computer Science research)? If yes, what would your advice be to someone who wants to do research independently? What should he do exactly? (By research I mean “doing real and fundamental science” not trendy science. Something that certainly has impacts in the future.)<br />2) What areas of CS/CE you think is more suitable? (By asking that I mean, for example, in Machine Learning you need data and some academics go to Google because it has the data and maybe it’s difficult to being a ML researcher without any provided data.)<br />I would really appreciate if you could help me. Thank you so much again.<br />Best regards.<br />PS. I have a B.Sc. in Software Engineering.<br />Masnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-76828721927068633512014-05-14T18:49:38.413-07:002014-05-14T18:49:38.413-07:00Hi Matt, I found your post very eye-open and usefu...Hi Matt, I found your post very eye-open and useful for people like me, who are going to work in Google or want to know more about the exciting careers there. I do not really understand why this post could possibly make some people uncomfortable. Nevertheless I am a fan of your blog now, and please keep posting!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15600783705724309136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-56369709539395074202014-05-12T08:02:44.636-07:002014-05-12T08:02:44.636-07:00I didn't mean to bash Google either. Looking f...I didn't mean to bash Google either. Looking forward to your further posts.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-35404322272379490882014-05-11T21:59:36.086-07:002014-05-11T21:59:36.086-07:00Sorry, I didn't mean to come across as bashing...Sorry, I didn't mean to come across as bashing small startups.<br /><br />I have no illusions of job security here -- everyone is at will, and Google probably won't be around forever. For now I'm happy ridin' this gravy train though!<br /><br />I agree 100% that I could be making more money elsewhere, but making more money is not my immediate goal in life.<br /><br />Personally, I've yet to find a small startup that really excites me -- although maybe one will come along one day and offer me a big opportunity to get in on the ground floor.<br /><br />One thing I like about working for a big company, frankly, is that I have the freedom to work on "unsexy" things that don't necessarily feed into the bottom line. Google doesn't make any money directly on the things that I'm working on. My work is more about supporting the ecosystem of the mobile web as a whole, rather than tapping into a revenue stream. And one reason I've never been interested in starting my own company is that I really dislike having to worry about raising funding. (Eight years as an academic taught me that lesson very well, thank you.)<br /><br />But I'd agree with your main point. Google is not for everyone, and it's not the be all end all. This post was intended to answer frequent questions I get about how projects work there.<br /><br />Matt Welshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07077674014671176946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-72769819091018501922014-05-11T18:02:55.073-07:002014-05-11T18:02:55.073-07:00Aren't you an at-will employee? Do you have a ...Aren't you an at-will employee? Do you have a 6 months or longer notice period in your contract? Have you though about what would happen if Google loses a big chunk of Ad market and profits drop to one tenth of current value? (Actually even if that happens they would probably keep you, but a big layoff might happen for other employees.) Stability might be an illusion.<br /><br />Couple of grad students in a garage is not the only way to form a startup. There are many people with money, business contacts, experience, etc. They always seek talented developers, and their only way to attract them is to give more money, more equity, and more initiative. Such small companies are usually stable too, cause they are lean and they don't have huge costs to operate.<br /><br />For the other point, yes I don't know your exact salary and equity, but I might have a good idea or maybe an overestimate on it. Do you ponder how much "star engineers" would make if they work in a smaller company though? or do you know how much your manager is making? or a sales person? Are you %100 certain you are getting a portion of profits which corresponds to your contribution, or the money you are getting is good enough for you and that makes you believe that it is fair?<br /><br />Now, Google indeed provides you with vast amount of resources and scale, and that has real value (unlike the fancy restaurants or toys), but please be careful when comparing it with other values.<br /><br />At your age with your career and wisdom, these questions might be already answered and might not be that important. But for the younger developers who are reading these, I'm concerned that they will make a decision and will miss opportunities. So here is my advice to them:<br /><br />Google is an awesome place for a new graduate to be in, but it is not the only place and definitely not the final destination, it might even be extinct 15 years later. So always look around, and never confuse your managers and colleagues with your family.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-32894458102285701222014-05-11T04:59:11.064-07:002014-05-11T04:59:11.064-07:00Hi Matt, clearly Anonymous does not know how much ...Hi Matt, clearly Anonymous does not know how much money “star” engineers make. Knowing some salaries for junior Google engineers, and the ballpark for Harvard professors, I would guess it’s between “a lot” and “a lot more”. <br /><br />However, Anonymous is right about Google (and other tech giants) ripping their employees off, at least in the past: http://www.lieffcabraser.com/Case-Center/Apple-Google-Silicon-Valley-No-Cold-Calling-Anti-Poaching-Lawsuit.shtml Andrea Censinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-80155514052380188602014-05-10T19:46:05.038-07:002014-05-10T19:46:05.038-07:00I'd trade job stability at Google over the unc...I'd trade job stability at Google over the uncertainty of a startup any day, but that's because I'm almost 40 years old and have a family to take care of. Also, you have no idea how much I make, but let's just say "slightly-better-than-industry-standard-of-cubicle-farms" somewhat misses the mark.<br />Matt Welshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07077674014671176946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-12135303268559577062014-05-09T18:52:30.267-07:002014-05-09T18:52:30.267-07:00You miss the one big difference from a startup com...You miss the one big difference from a startup company. Yes, you don't care about funding and you have a fancy cafeteria, but someone else (be it Larry, Sergey, Eric, or someone else at a higher level) is making millions of dollars over your work, and you get a slightly-better-than-industry-standard-of-cubicle-farms paycheck. Just because you work with other clever guys, and everything is shiny doesn't mean they are not ripping you off.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com