Let’s say Amazon, Yahoo or Google wanted to hire you. Somehow you made it through their browbeating interview process, and now you have an offer from them. Would you take a job with one of these companies?
I have no idea how to respond to this.
Are you alergic to a job or something?
I don’t know what this question means.
I have no idea what it means either. Assuming that I like the position and the pay seems about right then I don’t see why not. I have to work somewhere.
I do a lot of contract work for Google. I’d become an employee in the wink of an eye if given the chance.
Depends on a lot of things, including what industry you’re in and what you’re already doing. Hypothetical: I work in advertising, so “prestigious” for me would be Dentsu, Ogilvy & Mathers or ADK. If one of those companies made me an offer to leave my current job and go work for them, I’d have to think about it for a while.
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The culture is different. The agencies I listed are all fairly large (Dentsu’s headquarters is a 45-story building, and they have at least ten more buildings within a quarter-mile radius), while my current office is 20 people. There are pluses and minuses to each side, but there’s no clear-cut ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. It depends on what I think would suit me best.
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The work is going to be different. This is partly related to the size of the companies, since smaller firms tend to work on pieces of campaigns that the bigger firms subcontract out.
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More prestigious != More pay. In fact, some companies actually pay new employees significantly less than the industry average, just because there’s such a demand to work there.
In my case, unless the offer came with a pay raise in the 50% range and/or a chance to do TV work, I wouldn’t take it.
Sorry, I had been reading where companies such as the ones mentioned are real burnout factories. Like an old boss of mine once said, “They squeeze you like a lemon, then they discard the peel”. They select only the best of the best (in their eyes), and then work you until you are a mere shell of your previous self. I was just wondering what the SDMB folks think about being overworked (and not necessarily overpaid) just to say you work at Yahoo, Google or Amazon.
(Disclaimer: I may be WAY off base here, these places may be the most wonderful places in the world to work. I’m just going by what I have read in a couple articles.)
In my mind, I picture a bunch of cocky Stanford graduates looking over your shoulder, disagreeing with every idea and every solution you propose.
Well, I’ve considered offers at two of the companies you’ve mentioned and have worked at several companies where the work was hard, the expectations high, and it was always understood that the momeny you stopped performing you’d be history. In fact, pretty much every company I’ve worked at has been that way. But then, I’ve been in those sorts of company because that sort of environment appeals to me. Because the positive side is that you learn a lot and if you’re any good, there’s constant opportunity to expand yourself.
Now, if you’re more of a work-to-live smell-the-roses sort, then I suggest other roles.
Another consideration is how old you are, and where you are in a career.
In my 20’s and 30’s I worked for a prestigious consulting firm, and for one of the world’s top investment banks. I worked like a dog, and I loved it.
I worked with really smart people, who were coming up with great ideas, and applying them to new areas. That experience was a world-class education.
And when it came time to do other things, such as work for start-ups, prospective employers looked at my resume and saw these names and thought ‘Oooh…we’d like to have someone working here who worked there…you’re hired.’
Now when I can mention the names of these companies to my clients, it gives me additional credibility. I know what I’m talking about, partially because I’ve worked at some great places. where I got some great experience.
That’s what you might expect if you worked at Yahoo or Amazon or Google. Or maybe not - your mileage may vary.
Well, it’d be good experience and there’s always the chance that you’ll rise through the ranks. You’d also be working with some of the best and the brightest which is substantial inducement to work somewhere. However, it * is * a bit late to be coming to the party if you’re looking for the big stock options and other perks that you think would be commensurate with the “working til you drop ethic”. If you’re going to put out that kind of effort, you might seek out a smaller company where the potential financial rewards are higher (as is the risk).
Let me just point out that prestigeous != best and brightest. Investment banks and consulting firms, by the nature of their work, tend to attract smart people. Other companies, it might be different.
Many companies are like that are. Accenture and most of the Big-4 come to mind. You are expected to work long hours, extensive travel and so on. Usually the prestige factor wears pretty thin pretty quick so the company better have more going for it that that. Often, those companies implement an almost “cult-like” culture where you either fit in or are discarded in short order. Many also have “up or out” policies.
Many people join those companies with the intent to stay 2 years or so and then move on.