Thanks for the great replies to my quick poll!
The more I read the replies and google for this sort of thing, the more insulted I feel. Sure it's nice to be contacted by Google but they really are spamming a ton of folks to get maybe 1% of them hired.
I can't see Google paying me enough to keep my current standard of living while living in the Silicon Valley area. The cost of living is just too high in Cali.
Besides, I have a fun, challenging position with opportunities to expand my skill set while on the clock. In other words, I happy to stay where I'm at for the forseeable future.
"I can't see Google paying me enough to keep my current standard of living while living in the Silicon Valley area."
It doesn't sound like you are very interested in the job. What then could it hurt to tell the recruiter exactly what it would take to get you to bite? You can't get what you don't ask for. I believe I shared part of this story with you when we met in person.
Twice, for different employers, I was asked how much I wanted. Twice, for two different reasons, I threw out numbers that I felt were far too high. Twice, to my amazement, the employers without batting an eyelash agreed. I was 21 and 24 respectively at the times with no college education.
You can't get what you don't ask for.
Re:Why insulted?
Mr. Muskrat on 2007-04-02T14:53:10
You shouldn't look at being solicited as an honor just because it is google.I think you hit the nail on the head with that comment. I was looking at it as an honor until I saw that they didn't mean it that way. Being solicited by Google used to be special but not any more.
I'm insulted because Google is stooping to the same level as run of the mill headhunters. Contacting a select few people who seem to meet the requirements is one thing but they are contacting every Perl developer and Linux sysadmin that they can find and that's insulting. It's insulting to me and should be to anyone else they have contacted. Google is tarnishing its name.
There's no point in contacting them with my requirements for employment. They'd have to pay me more than I make now just to keep up with the cost of living out there but I doubt that would be a problem for them. There's non-monetary items I'd want and looking at the open reqs, I don't think I'd get them. I'm in a position with many avenues for advancement. I like being a part of the design process. Heck, I like being the lead architect on projects (nothing big yet but that will come). If I were to take a position at Google, I'd be starting at the bottom as a code monkey or worse, a sysadmin. (I have nothing against sysadmins but it's not something I'd like to do day in and day out. I get to play sysadmin from time to time as a small part of my roll here.)
Re:Why insulted?
chromatic on 2007-04-07T20:08:40
If I were to take a position at Google, I'd be starting at the bottom as a code monkey or worse, a sysadmin.I suspect a lot of people feel similarly. I've been both code monkey and bottom-rung sysadmin, and I have little desire to start over in my career unless it speeds up my retirement by a few decades.
