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Comment by electricslpnsld | Hacker News Reader

> And let’s be honest “5 years of Python” at a Google is a different story from “5 years of Python” at an Infosys.

I don't think I've ever seen an ad from Google that spells out years of experience in any given technology. Their requirements are incredibly terse, usually along the lines of 'BS/BA in Computer Science or equivalent, experience in some programming language'.

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I read that a different way. I understood it as an ad from Company X which lists '5 years of Python' as the requirement. Candidate 1 has 5 years of Python at Google, and Candidate 2 has 5 years Python at InfoSys.

Does the Google experience really teach one that much better? Or is it just perception?

I mean, at the end you are just a little cogwheel in some big corporation anyway. The python tasks you need to solve there are probably just as mundane as everywhere else.

It's the perception, I've personally been passed on for jobs I would have been amazing at because I don't have any FAANG experience.

Startup founders looking for VC money want to be able to add "Team of ex-Google, ..." to their pitch.

That's precisely what I meant. Thanks!

Edited to hopefully clarify.

Google doesn't list years of experience per technology but they do have hard tiers for years of experience and their salary bands. So they don't care that you have 5 years-of-experience with Python but you're not allowed to be an L5 without 5 years of industry experience.

Google is extremely strict about the number and wording of job requirements (5) and nice-to-haves (either 4 or 5) allowed in job descriptions. This is a good thing, but it does sometimes lead to confusion on the candidate's end because JDs can be so general as to be useless.

Hah. That's an understatement. It's even worse for research roles. Try finding a research scientist position at Google which is substantially different from any other research scientist position.

That and the fact that by applying your CV is typically sent to 4 - 6 other offices around the country and world, each for identical roles.

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