Is the Grass Greener On the Tech Giants' Side?

For many software engineers, the pinnacle of their careers can mean landing a job for some of the most well-known companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, etc. For good reason as well, as they have some of the most talented people in the world working for them and provide benefits that will attract such talent. They also look great on your portfolio and will boost your career. Many articles mention the benefits, but I wanted to share some insight into some cons to consider. I want to keep this general, but I may use specific examples.

1. Long hours

Long hours might be the biggest issue. Work-life balance starts to become a juggling act. A job with a salary of 100k+ for a fresh graduate probably won’t have you clocking in at nine and clocking out at five.

The benefit is that they don’t care when you work. The task is expected to be completed in a predetermined time. Many use Agile methodology and expect around five story points worth of tasks to be completed every day. You can work less, or you can work more, as long as the work is done. What if the tasks were pointed incorrectly and it was completed quickly? Great! You’ve got some breathing room, but don’t swindle that time away, as your next task is likely to take you longer. How about if you lose access to a server that is necessary to get your work done? That sucks bro, you better figure it out fast. You’re not about to be fired if you miss a deadline, and it could be that the estimations are wrong, but it can start looking bad if you start to become a repeat offender. The baseline of how you are doing becomes your co-workers, and you will be working with some intelligent and motivated people at these companies.

A common issue I run into is that I will have a full schedule of meetings, which means I can’t get to the tasks I am assigned until after 5 pm, so now I’m trying to complete a task estimated for approximately 8 hours of work in the evening. Working some days into the a.m. Then, get up to join the 8 am. As someone who is just starting their career, they may be dealing with this issue less, but it will become more apparent once you are more involved in the design and direction of the application.

Google is famous for its food offerings. They have restaurant-quality choices at many of their locations. The food isn’t just to provide a perk to save their employees some money on food. Now, everyone can have their breakfast, lunch, and dinner at their desk! We have sleep pods too! You don’t have to EVER leave!

2. Internal Tools

So having ABC company on your resume will help land the next big job, right? You might want to rethink that. Having experience with a company’s technology stacks can help your marketability. Experience in Amazon’s AWS or Microsoft’s Azure is sought out by many recruiters. Google is a bit different. Many of their tools are internal, which means they are used only by Google.

From source control to testing to deployment to monitoring: work experience in those tools will only help you land a job at Google. They are skills that make it difficult to meet the CVS receipt size list of requirements that employers mark as Must Have. Building some marketable skills is important as you will need them, which leads me to my next point.

3. Burn Out

As mentioned before, long hours and being overworked are common in the tech industry. At some point, it will drain you and you will lose your motivation. If you are starting your career and are very passionate, you may last longer. One common issue all large tech companies have is employee retention. The average tenure is around two to three years, which means many people leave relatively quickly. That’s why they are constantly looking for new talent.

So you are done working with ABC and now want to move on. Can you?

4. Golden Handcuffs

If you haven’t heard this phrase before, it means the job offers benefits that are too good to lose. Almost all the top tech companies offer some signing bonus, usually in the form of stocks. You don’t get all, and in most cases, none of it when you start. They are typically vested across four years, receiving a fraction each year. If you decide to quit after two years, any amount of the signing bonus awarded to you is yours, but any remaining balance is forfeited. To receive the full amount, you must stay the four years. This is surprising considering most people with leave before receiving the full amount.

One of the top reasons that people want to work for the top tech companies is the pay. The salary and bonuses offered by these companies are higher than many others in the industry. You may have bought a home and a new car that is within your current budget. After some time, you get burnt out and want to find a less exhaustive job. This can become difficult. Even if you are willing to take a salary cut to work fewer hours, you may not be able to with the standard of living that you have given yourself.

Final Thoughts

Even if a company is notoriously known for some of the points I have made above, what a person might experience can drastically be different between departments and teams. I’ve had coworkers switch to different teams and later tell me that their workload is much lighter, and have had others say the opposite. Take my words with a grain of salt. This is meant to help with the decision-making process and to reduce the chances of being blindsided.