Hacker News Reader

Comment by exelius | Hacker News Reader

I can say from my interactions with CS students at top schools that this attitude is common. Google is no longer seen as innovative; everyone wants to work for Facebook or Apple now. Google isn't seen as a bad company to work for, just not sexy like it used to be. It's like going to work for Microsoft: you'll make good money and get some interesting projects, but major engineering decisions happen in an ivory tower and you just have to roll with the punches.

View on HN

Should recent grads be making major engineering decisions for any established company? This article smacks of entitlement.

A very few recent grads may be able to make major contributions. How do you know if you're one of them?

Some are, yes. We're talking about the top CS students at schools like Stanford, Berkeley, CMU and MIT - these kids are in the top 10% of the top 1% of students. They may not be making major decisions on day 1, but they expect to be able to grow into a role where they are at least a voice at the table within a year or two.

> these kids are in the top 10% of the top 1%

And the unit is... ?

What I see in attitudes reflects what you've seen as well. (This is a longer way of saying "me too!" to your comment)

In 2005 I saw people lining up for Google T-shirts and feeling cool when they had invites they could hand out for new Google products. Wave and Gmail people immediately jumped me for invites and then when I was out my friends for invites. Inbox? Nobody cared.

... it seems to me like all that would be true for Apple and Facebook as well?

Yeah, these are 21-year-old kids. But Facebook is still in heavy growth mode, and their options packages for engineers are no joke. Facebook also has enough money and talent that they will build a few more blockbuster products before they're done. Apple is seen as desirable because their core product engineering teams are treated like royalty and they don't hire very many people, so it's seen as a badge of honor if you can get hired.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com