
Ask HN: What are the most impressive companies for new grads to join today? - techelitism
I&#x27;m a new grad and I&#x27;m interested in which companies are still considered prestigious in the eyes of engineers (over recruiters, general public, etc).<p>Are Unicorns like Uber and Palantir still considered prestigious? How about newer companies like Affirm and Blend? How do older companies like Amazon and Microsoft stack up?
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philpem
Pick the one that's the best fit for you.

I picked a job a few years back based on "it'll look good on my CV" \-- turned
out to be the worst decision I ever made. That's not to say every job will end
as badly as that did, but I realised quite early on that I just wasn't a good
fit for the company, and they wanted a "yes-man" to say "you're doing
everything right", not an engineer who'd say "this is good, but we can improve
by..."

Picked my last job based on the number of people I had at the company, the
offer and the general "vibe". Best decision I ever made.

Don't be afraid to interview at a couple of companies then choose between
them. Don't pick solely on "this is the highest offer" \-- pick somewhere that
feels like it'll be good for you.

And don't worry about prestige. About the only thing that'll put employers off
are long gaps in your work history that you can't explain. But that's not a
problem you're likely to have with a grad position :)

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deanmoriarty
Hard to go wrong picking any FAANGs or the big unicorns of the day. I’d
recommend it over joining a startup, you’ll learn good engineering practices.
I started my career in startups out of college and I remember being the one
always feeling things were done way too sloppily (poor testing, hideous build
systems, code duplication, ... all in the name of speed), and in hindsight I
was absolutely right. You don’t want to be in that position.

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SamReidHughes
Honestly that's going to depend on the engineer. I never considered Uber or
Palantir prestigious, and I have never heard of Affirm or Blend. That doesn't
mean I'm right to think such -- with Palantir I'm biased for political
reasons, and with Uber, I was also likely wrong not to think so, now that I
think about it.

Well, I never heard of Affirm as a tech company to work at, but now I thank
you're talking about the company offering loans at high interest rates for
people buying stuff they can't afford. I'm not sure what's so prestigious
about a humdrum finance company.

Amazon and Microsoft, everybody has heard of, and at least they require people
with a pulse. They know how to ship good software, and they got real shiznit
going down, and that counts for a lot. Depends on your role.

High hiring bar + works on cool stuff + high salary + company visibility is
the general formula here.

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sjg007
90% of your happiness will be based on your manager/team, 10% on the rest of
it. It helps to also enjoy the domain the company is working in. Try to figure
out the stress level of the organization as well, particularly on the team you
will join. Also get a sense that your manager will value your contributions.

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angersock
If you're joining a company because it's prestigious and looks good on a
resume, instead of because you see the opportunity to do good work and learn
from people better than you, you aren't a hacker--you're just some wannabe
seeking affirmation.

~~~
BoysenberryPi
Not everyone wants to be a "hacker" as you put it. Some people just want a
safe career and to make good money. Nothing wrong with that.

