Ask HN: Working at MS vs. Google: Community opinion/Effect on resume perception? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Working at MS vs. Google: Community opinion/Effect on resume perception?

4 pointsmpmpmp4 comments

Hello. Currently in the process of looking for new employment, I am curious about the perception in the development community of working at Microsoft versus places like Google, a similarly well-liked software company, or some other fresh, hyped startup.

I understand this is a somewhat shallow question, but employment is closely related to identity and future employment options; and, while I'm experienced in software development, I don't have much experience in the way of socializing in the development community, so I am unfamiliar with the general perceptions on these types of things within much of the SW world.

Let's just assume for a moment one applied to and received offers from Microsoft and Google. My intuition and personal perception is that Microsoft is something of a software dinosaur, bureaucratic and rigid, a bit out of touch with the leading edge of development, whereas places like Google, smaller startups and such are more agile, developer-friendly and forward-thinking.

I have friends who work at these and other similar locations and I reactively tend to esteem the Google employees job more so than those at Microsoft. I'm aware of this personal tendency and it bothers me a bit when considering my own future employment options.

Is this a common feeling, and does it really matter for future career moves?

What is the general opinion in the development world, when meeting someone who works at Microsoft, what's the perception of such a person based on where they work? What's the stereotype? What about Microsoft Research, how does that change the opinion? How does that compare to someone who works at Google?

As someone that has hired engineers in the past (and presumably again the future) the main concern I would have is what relevant programming experience you obtained at Microsoft.

Assuming you want to work in the future at a startup, very few startups use Microsoft technology as it makes little-to-no financial sense. If you go work at Microsoft you'll only be working on Microsoft .Net stack (unless you work in an edge project like Office for Mac etc, unlikely).

Google, on the other hand, will probably be Java or Python work. That's imedaitely relevant, plus their development methodologies are much more start-up friendly compared to Microsoft.

I think if you spent a few years at Microsoft it wouldn't be the end of the world, but I'd want to see that you kept up with Open Source languages in your own time if I was going to hire you. Otherwise I'd be concerned about the learning curve of learning a new language compared to hiring a different guy who can hit the ground running.

(Also, consider editing your post as we don't do HTML formatting here on HN)

I certainly would not want to be stuck only in a .Net world, but I understood the Microsoft job would not be .Net-centric.

(I had only put one newline between paragraphs, not two, so it inserted p-tags)

Well that's unusual, most are .Net centric. Be careful that you don't join MS to work on a particular project and then get switched to something else 6 months later because corporate priorities change/the project shuts down/you are better engineer then they expected and they want you on more commercially valuable project.

The latter is true for google too, however. You can request to work anywhere but equally you can be told you are going to work on a different project at the whim of the management.

That's corporate jobs for you. Why not just join a startup now?

Very true points.

As for working at a startup now, I could expand my search, however I have worked at startups the past years and would like something with more stability than the rocking horse ride I have been given so far.

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