

Ask HN: Why would you turn down an offer from Google? - tpinto

Someone I know received an offer from Google and turned it down. Is there any reason I shouldn't be bashing the guy?<p>In other words and a bit more serious: why wouldn't you work for Google?
(or other major player for that matter: Yahoo!, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook...)
First, I thought "what was going on his mind?" but then started thinking deeper about this. What's your opinion?
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samdk
Google might be a very nice place to work, but there are plenty of reasons one
might not want to work there.

Google might be a lot more dev-friendly than most big companies, but it's
still a big company. Even at Google, that means you have to deal with
bureaucracy, corporate politics, etc. It also means that the things you're
doing might be shut down by management or just neglected. There's not nearly
as much choice in terms of technologies you're using. Google also doesn't pay
amazingly well either from what I've heard.

And if you've managed to get an offer from Google, you probably have other
options, too. Picking Google just because they're Google seems a bit short-
sighted to me. There are very possibly other opportunities that are a better
fit for you or that you might like more.

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nostrademons
Why would you bash someone for turning down a job offer?

The decision about where to work is very personal, and it includes a lot of
factors that are hard enough to sort through when it's your own life and you
have full information. Not everyone's going to be drawn to the most lucrative
or most prestigious position.

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cd34
Why would you bash someone that doesn't share your desires?

Some people may not want to be a minor influence on a large machine. Perhaps
he didn't think his position there would have any measurable (or notable)
impact and that wasn't what he wanted.

Alternatively, ask him. He's the only one that knows the answer.

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theBobMcCormick
Why would you automatically assume it's a mistake for him to turn down a job
at Google (or Microsoft, or Apple, etc)?

A job with Google, Microsoft, etc probably looks better than average on your
resume when you're job hunting again in the future, but other than that I'm
not sure why you'd evaluate it any differently than you would an offer from
any other company.

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bartonfink
Regardless of why he turned down the job, why would you bash or judge him at
all? Especially since you aren't 100% sure that he doesn't have a good reason
for turning the offer down, it doesn't seem productive at all to say anything
bad about the guy.

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byoung2
It sounds glamorous going to work for Google and it definitely looks sexy on a
resume, but if it's not a good fit for him, then the right thing to do is pass
on it.

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kd0amg
If it's for work I'm not interested in, in a place I'm not fond of, the name
of the company making the offer likely isn't enough to hold my interest.

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madhouse
Maybe you should ask this question from him.

I could think of a million reasons not to want to work at Google, or any other
major player, ranging from having to relocate through having a problem
justifying working for a multi-national, huge company, to simply not liking
the name.

Or all of the above.

Personally, I'd shake his hands for having the strength to say no.

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pelf
I have no idea if any of the following applies in your friend's case, but
there could be a number of factors influencing such decision:

    
    
      * family / friends / girlfriend
      * leaving his home country
      * having a nicer job
      * not being tempted by the challenge
      * not being tempted by the money
      * being scared of the big jump
    

etc...

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nRike
A student friend of mine was contacted to work in summer for Facebook, and she
declined the offer for Microsoft internship program instead. I've asked why
and she told me that Microsoft was their exact company where she wanted to
work. She also worked in last summer in Redmond so she really enjoyed
developing there.

Also i've heard from the same girl that Google sucks hiring cool people, like
a friend of she applied for Google and they contacted him 6 months later that
he moved to SF to work for another company, from a 1 year of interviews. 4
years they called him again just to give feedback of the process.

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booduh
I wish I did. But I fixed that problem. It isn't always as you read in the
paper. Sometimes, for certain personalities or expectations, the place works
overtime to make you a datapoint-- then to kiss you goodbye.

Or, maybe they didn't pay enough.

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RexRollman
It seems to me that life is more than just who you work for.

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Rupeal
Not enough money.

