Google no, Yahoo yes, Microsoft yes

[shuttleboi]

I've received offers from Yahoo, Microsoft, Cisco, and some mid-tier companies to do software engineering. Google said no. I'm in silicon valley.

here is some information for those of you looking at Google. They have an insane number of candidates coming in, so they can be ultra picky. Let me give you a tangible example: For Google and Yahoo, I had 5 interviewers each onsite. For both, I think I messed up on maybe 1.25 of the interviewers. Yahoo said yes. Google said no.

I'm having a hard time deciding between Microsoft and Yahoo (and the other Silicon Valley mid-tiers). MS is offering $84K with 10% bonus. The Silicon Valley companies are offering on the order of $105K and varying bonuses. The MS guy said the difference is in "cost of living," but I call bullshit.

What to do?

 

[akshatp]

flip a coin...

Or you could google for the answer... wouldnt that be ironic?

 

[vi edit]

Is it possible to get honest answers from other employees that work in the same division/group that you would be?

I'd want to know what an average work load is per week.
How are the vertical/lateral job opportunities?

When factoring in salaries, be sure to address the "expected" number of hours worked per week are. You may find that one company expects their employees to put in 45 hours a week, another 60.

Those extra hours a week just dropped your per hour average by quite a bit.

 

[InverseOfNeo]

MS in silicon valley or MS in Washington? If it is in Washington then the guy is right by saying its the cost of living.

 

[EvilYoda]

Regardless of what you choose, congrats! Damn nice selection you have there.

 

[Otaking]

Originally posted by: EvilYoda
Regardless of what you choose, congrats! Damn nice selection you have there.

Yeah, that's going to be a nice litle 401k package when you retire. :Q

 

[shuttleboi]

here's what I found from an online cost-of-living calculator:
Salary in San Jose CA: $105,000
Comparable salary in Seattle WA: $72,494.73

Ok, so Microsoft has a point with cost of living differences. But I want to move back to Silicon Valley in a few years, and it's not like I'm going to be able do a currency exchange between WA and CA. So I'm going to be losing a lot of money when I come back to CA.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Originally posted by: InverseOfNeo
MS in silicon valley or MS in Washington? If it is in Washington then the guy is right by saying its the cost of living.

Silicon Valley is much more expensive based on housing ownership, other than that costs will be about the same. WA also has no sate income tax, Cali is around 9%.

 

[jagga]

What are your education details?

What did Yahoo offer?

 

[Brackis]

Let them fight it out?
I'm jealous to be honest =)

 

[SoulAssassin]

I worked at the MS SVC campus for a few weeks doing some consulting work...nice campus, -very- laid back atmosphere (people wearing shorts, showing up for meetings inside the building on razor scooters, people playing foosball constantly throughout the day). Would you actually be a MS employee or working for Siemens? I work for a 3rd party but spent most of my time interacting with the SBS guys and the MS guys or "blue badges" seemed like they really treated them like dirt. If you would be working for Siemens I would definitely pass.

And to some of the people in the thread...84K for that area really isn't as much as it may seem. 105 is decent but still won't get you as much as most of the rest of the country.

edit: so the 84 is in WA?

 

[Robert Munch]

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin
I worked at the MS SVC campus for a few weeks doing some consulting work...nice campus, -very- laid back atmosphere (people wearing shorts, showing up for meetings inside the building on razor scooters, people playing foosball constantly throughout the day). Would you actually be a MS employee or working for Siemens? I work for a 3rd party but spent most of my time interacting with the SBS guys and the MS guys or "blue badges" seemed like they really treated them like dirt. If you would be working for Siemens I would definitely pass.

And to some of the people in the thread...84K for that area really isn't as much as it may seem. 105 is decent but still won't get you as much as most of the rest of the country.

edit: so the 84 is in WA?

Working for Siemens sucks or what?

 

[SoulAssassin]

Originally posted by: tehdispenser
Working for Siemens sucks or what?

Like I said, I don't work for either but the M$ guys really seemed to treat the SBS guys like crap and the SBS guys didn't seem very happy or well paid.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: akshatp
flip a coin...

Or you could google for the answer... wouldnt that be ironic?

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=microsoft&word2=yahoo

damn you google and not determining the winner I had hoped you would! now he's gonna go to yahoo when I wanted to suggest Microsoft
nooooooooooo

 

[radioouman]

Work where you want to work. Pick a company there.
Good luck, OP. You've got some awesome opportunities.

 

[Aharami]

do you have a masters or a PhD? I hope so, cuz those are godly offers with a BS

 

[shuttleboi]

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin
I worked at the MS SVC campus for a few weeks doing some consulting work...nice campus, -very- laid back atmosphere (people wearing shorts, showing up for meetings inside the building on razor scooters, people playing foosball constantly throughout the day). Would you actually be a MS employee or working for Siemens? I work for a 3rd party but spent most of my time interacting with the SBS guys and the MS guys or "blue badges" seemed like they really treated them like dirt. If you would be working for Siemens I would definitely pass.

And to some of the people in the thread...84K for that area really isn't as much as it may seem. 105 is decent but still won't get you as much as most of the rest of the country.

edit: so the 84 is in WA?

Yes, MS is offering $84K to work in Redmond/Bellevue.

The silicon valley companies are offering around $105K.

The most difficult part is that I own a condo here in silicon valley; I got it on a good deal, and I definitely don't want to sell it. If I move to WA, I would have to rent out this condo, maybe for 2/3 of the monthly mortgage, leaving me to pay about $1000 a month on it. If I go for Microsoft, it would be really hard to afford the condo payment as well as an apartment up there.

 

[tfinch2]

Are you fresh out of school, or have you been in the industry for awhile?

 

[shuttleboi]

Originally posted by: jagga
What are your education details?

I have a PhD in Computer Science from a top-20 school, but it was probably more my skillset and experience that got me the positions.

 

[erub]

I would stay in Silicon Valley, you already said you own a condo there that you are happy with, and I'm guessing that you have friends and family there as well. Why so secretive about the education details though?

 

[Vette73]

I would think having MS os your resume would look nice down the road. I say go MS for a couple years while the housing market cools a bit in CA then return when it lowwers itself and get a even higher paying job.

 

[Dacalo]

Originally posted by: shuttleboi
The most difficult part is that I own a condo here in silicon valley; I got it on a good deal, and I definitely don't want to sell it. If I move to WA, I would have to rent out this condo, maybe for 2/3 of the monthly mortgage, leaving me to pay about $1000 a month on it. If I go for Microsoft, it would be really hard to afford the condo payment as well as an apartment up there.

Originally posted by: shuttleboi
But I want to move back to Silicon Valley in a few years, and it's not like I'm going to be able do a currency exchange between WA and CA. So I'm going to be losing a lot of money when I come back to CA.

Where is the quandry? Seems like no brainer to me.

Perhaps a subtle boasting?

 

[sygyzy]

As you've found yourself, the COL change is significant. I was looking at a job in Oregon for $100k which was the equivalent of about $145k where I live.

 

[FP]

Go for the Yahoo job. I have three friends that work there and they love it.

Plus, as the say... If you ever leave California you won't be coming back.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
I would think having MS os your resume would look nice down the road. I say go MS for a couple years while the housing market cools a bit in CA then return when it lowwers itself and get a even higher paying job.

Not a bad idea...

I'd do more research on the actual position. Which will you like better? I got offered a job at IBM making $56K per year fresh out of college. I ended up taking a different job for less money (still good pay tho) because I would've hated doing the IBM job for 40+ hours/week. The IBM job also didn't start till Jan 07, but even had it started immediately I wouldn't have taken it. Mind you these figures are in Raleigh, where cost of living is a sh!t load lower than anywhere on the west coast.

Good luck, you've got a lot of great options.