[hota_mazi]

> It selects for people who do well on the whiteboard under pressure

If this were true, Google would have crashed and burned a long time ago.

Obviously, their interview process selects for much more versatile engineers than that. Engineers who not only produce reliable and maintainable code, but who can actually come up with products that generate billions of dollars over the years.

[_m8fo]

A simpler explanation is that they pay well and are prestigious and so get a lot more good candidates. The proof is pretty obvious: what companies pay as much as Google and are as prestigious as Google and have bad engineers?

[hota_mazi]

> what companies pay as much as Google and

Actually, Google pays under the average of top companies, because as a top tier company, they can afford. Most people I know who went to work for Google took a pay cut but don't have a single regret about it.

> A simpler explanation is that they pay well and are prestigious and so get a lot more good candidates.

Their pay and prestige will attract even more bad candidates.

How do you separate good from bad candidates?

That's right: a kick-ass interview process.

[joshuamorton]

>Actually, Google pays under the average of top companies, because as a top tier company, they can afford. Most people I know who went to work for Google took a pay cut but don't have a single regret about it.

Compared to who? They pay more than AMZN/MS/FB/AAPL/etc. for equal level, but are stingier with levels. You might be correct that certain other companies pay more than Google (Netflix maybe?), but they're certainly above average.

[uiri]

> They pay more than AMZN/MS/FB/AAPL/etc. for equal level, but are stingier with levels.

Google is more generous to good performers via bonuses once you are working there, but if you have two offers in hand, you are going to find Google highly resistant to negotiating. The notion of people taking a pay cut to work at Google sounds plausible to me.

If one's goal is to maximize compensation (particularly in the short term), a Google offer is better used to get a higher paying offer at one of their competitors.

[joshuamorton]

> Google is more generous to good performers via bonuses once you are working there, but if you have two offers in hand, you are going to find Google highly resistant to negotiating. The notion of people taking a pay cut to work at Google sounds plausible to me.

I don't think that's true. While google is by all accounts (including in my personal experience) unwilling to move significantly on base salary, they'll happily match pretty much any offer with stock from my experience (and the experience of others I've talked to).

[uiri]

What they will not do is adjust for cost of living or differences in taxation when comparing an offer in Mountain View with one in a cheaper locale such as Seattle (which is where two of the companies you listed above are headquartered).

Perhaps I dealt with a particularly nasty Google recruiter. I felt like the recruiter had misrepresented the health benefits and relocation package once I got the actual offer letter and related paperwork.

[flukus]

>If this were true, Google would have crashed and burned a long time ago.

How many of their projects succeed simply because they are google? Some major ones (like android) come to mind.