This is a nice article giving an insight into how it is working for one of the most successful engineering companies of our time.
However, the OP comes from a strong academic background and Google is quite hand-in-glove with premier universities and research institutes. Hence he already has credibility inside of Google.
I however am told that it is quite an uphill task to join Google without an already established credibility and get to work with their core set of products. It'll be nice if someone could shed more light on this. I have always been very curious about how it is working at Google. I mean except a few, using Google products are such an everyday (everyhour?) thing for the average software engineer.
What counts as already established credibility? I've worked in Search since joining 4 years ago; my experience is fairly similar to Matt's, certainly more like his than certain rather vocal personalities on Hacker News. I don't have a management role at all though I've occasionally served as a tech lead, and tend to prefer engineering or product-design roles.
I was about 3 years out of college when I joined Google. I'd spent 2 years as an employee at a financial software startup and a year founding my own company (which failed, but the postmortem is now the #1 Google result for [failed startup]). I'd also done some moderately impressive open-source/volunteer work: I'd worked on a website in college that grew to 100,000 registered users, I wrote one of the top Haskell tutorials on the web, and I ported Arc to Javascript. Nothing with a huge userbase, nothing terribly famous, but enough to demonstrate that I had solid technical chops.
Thanks for sharing your story. That's established credibility right there. You already had stellar open-source contributions which are probably more credible than an ivy league degree.
I am currently in (a non-ivy) graduate school and should start focussing more on open-source involvement. Thanks! :-)
I think that tactic will help quite a bit no matter where you might apply, not just Google (though I can confirm it almost always helps to be an active open source developer. It's consistently help us decide positively on a number of candidates.)
I guess it is "Write Yourself a Scheme in 48 Hours". I went through it and can tell that it is really a nice introduction to basic and some of the more advanced Haskell concepts.
>However, the OP comes from a strong academic background and Google is quite hand-in-glove with premier universities and research institutes. Hence he already has credibility inside of Google.
I don't think it really works that way. Being associated with a top school helps a lot in getting an interview, but past that I don't think it helps with anything at all (if I'm wrong, please let me know, I am missing out :) ).
Seconded, I have no idea where my colleagues went to University, and I don't really care either.
The only things that gets you credibility within Google in my experience is delivering good stuff and being helpful/knowledgeable in conversations with your peers.
It does help getting an interview, but can also help tilt the balance in tight interview decisions. I presume it would be easier to make the case for folks with degrees from elite schools.
I would think it would also help in forging the right affiliations with influential alumni, especially in a large corporation. I'm only second guessing though, I didn't go to a top notch school and neither do I work in a large corporation like Google.
> I however am told that it is quite an uphill task to join Google without an already established credibility and get to work with their core set of products.
I joined Google a little under three years ago. I dropped out of college, worked at a startup for a few years, then worked at EA for eight years. So, from Google's perspective I had essentially no cred when I started.
My current project (working on Dart) is basically my dream job and I work with a fantastic set of people. I've never once gotten the impression that my lack of education or relevant job experience was being held against me. Once I got in, I was a Googler. At that point, everyone just assumed I knew what I was doing or I wouldn't be here.
Aside from occasional bouts of imposter syndrome, it seems to work out pretty well.
However, the OP comes from a strong academic background and Google is quite hand-in-glove with premier universities and research institutes. Hence he already has credibility inside of Google.
His academic background helped him. CS graduates and PhDs are a dime a dozen and neither is enough to make you a Real Googler, but the fact that he had 8+ years of research experience definitely gave him an inside track to the best projects.
I would guess he was hired at Senior SWE (which is respectable; unlike the title-inflated startups out there, it actually is fairly senior) or Staff SWE. The Real Googler Line is somewhere within those two tiers. It's not just about title, but location and project play a role. Most Staff are Real Googlers, some Senior are, SWE 2-3 are not unless they're hired as proteges (which is rare).
What's Google like? Well, if you're above the RGL, it's an excellent place to work. Even now, I'd recommend it. Being a Real Googler gives you free rein to transfer about the company. SWE 2-3 are considered a burden so transfer to a good project is very uncommon-- the first thing you'll be asked is why you didn't wait for Senior before transferring as you're "supposed to", but some projects make promotion impossible because there isn't enough visibility-- while Senior are considered about neutral (will add as much as he takes away in on-ramp time) and Staff are slightly favored.
At Sr. Staff and beyond, it actually gets rougher, if only because you can't fully participate in the Real Googler freedoms if you want to keep going. At Staff you should have full freedom of the castle (open allocation) unless you're in a terrible location; above it, you have less freedom if you want to keep getting promoted, because having taken on an important-but-undesirable (2nd Quadrant; see: http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/fourth-quadra... ) project is expected in the promotion packet.
I however am told that it is quite an uphill task to join Google without an already established credibility and get to work with their core set of products.
It depends. It's easier to get on Search at Google than to get on the top trading desk at a bank, but I actually hated that about Google. See, banks and trading desks are conservative and risk-averse and slow to promote, but they're fair about it. At Google, front doors have stopped working, but you'll still see a 26-year-old now and then who manages to politick his way into getting a real project. A Facebook offer helps with that. So it creates the impression that everyone is getting this back-channel advancement, but very few actually are. In fact, I think the only way to get fired at Google (advanced rank culture) is for your boss to catch wind that you're looking for transfer or back-channel mobility.
I used to admire Google, and I hate what the recent (post-2008, if it didn't start earlier) crop of terrible managers has done to it, but even now I'd say it's worth it to try the place out. There are good managers at Google and it's a pretty neat place if you get a good one. You can get on a good project as a SWE 3. It's rare, but it does happen. It helps if you're in Mt. View, if you have other offers, and if you have a good manager.
However, the OP comes from a strong academic background and Google is quite hand-in-glove with premier universities and research institutes. Hence he already has credibility inside of Google.
I however am told that it is quite an uphill task to join Google without an already established credibility and get to work with their core set of products. It'll be nice if someone could shed more light on this. I have always been very curious about how it is working at Google. I mean except a few, using Google products are such an everyday (everyhour?) thing for the average software engineer.