mikey@singingtree.com
4171622
mike.dickerson@pomona.edu
pomonamikey
78
204db8e4
Got the call I was hoping for at about 3:30 today, from Tod, the recruiter that has mostly been handling my case. I wouldn't quite say it is an offer I can't refuse, but it is pretty good. They would like to make me a Senior Systems Administrator/Architect (Site Reliability Engineer), which evidently means that I am a detail-oriented systems professional, seasoned Unix jockey, Internet services architect, database whiz, performance analyst, or software engineer, at the top of my game.
It's hard to evaluate the money, because a lot of it comes in unfamiliar speculative forms such as bonus and stock options. Now my natural inclination is to plan for things to go badly, and in that case, the only guaranteed base salary from Google is actually a little less than I already get. Of course, this line of reasoning isn't too helpful, because if you get right down to it, the salary isn't guaranteed either; they could fire me the week after they hired me. (and no, I can't really be fired or laid off from Pomona. The upside of bureaucracy is that, given that it took a committee of a dozen people a year to hire me, it would probably take a committee at least that large, working for at least as long, to fire me. You really have to work at it to lose an academic job.)
In the half-full glass, if things go well at Google, and the bonuses and stock options turn out to be worth something, then I should have, well, enough money for gum.
For my own amusement, here are some of the relevant factors in tabular form:
| Pomona | Advantage | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | A reasonable amount minus $2000 | A reasonable amount | Pomona |
| Bonus | 15-30% of salary, more for a few people | None | |
| Stock options | 2n shares at strike price TBD, n shares gift (over 4 years) | See "bonus" | |
| Vacation | 15 days first year | 22 days every year | Pomona |
| Sick days | "As needed" | 10 plus 2 "personal days" | Don't care, I never use sick days anyway. |
| Security | High risk. We know what happened to the last round of high flying dot coms. | Very little risk | Pomona |
| Potential for advancement | Some | Might get own key to Seaver building someday | |
| Insurance | Kaiser, Blue Cross, etc. etc. | Kaiser, Blue Cross, etc. etc. | Don't care |
| Retirement | Matching 401k up to $2200 | Complicated pension plan which I don't understand | Tossup |
| Food | Free breakfast, lunch, and supper every day | Free coffee at the Coop | Google (don't drink coffee) |
| Ex-girlfriends employed thereat | One | Zero | Wild card |
| Current girlfriends living thereabouts | Zero | One | Pomona |
| Other weird stuff | Massage room | Ergonomic foot rest upon which I can rub my foot if desired | Tossup |
| Work area | Possibly office, possibly shared office, possibly cubicle | Crappy office, to become a good office in the new building | Tossup |
| Boss | Will have one | Laissez-faire | Crapshoot |
| Likely daily activities | Get up, go to work | Sleep until 11, go to lunch, take nap on toilet, play Quake | Pomona |
| Coworkers | Some | None | Crapshoot |
| Days on 24-hour pager | 120, will get called | 365, rarely called | Pomona |
| Location | Mountain View (Santa Monica?) |
Claremont | Tossup |
| Friends in area | Few to none | Some | Pomona |
This should give me enough to think about for a few weeks. Do leave your comments and tell me what I'm forgetting.
17 Nov 2005 02:15 PT - persistent link - trackback - 0 comments