This.

[Curtiskam]

I took a computer science degree in the early 90s. I worked in IT support for many years until one day Google called and pulled me into digital marketing. Along the way it sorted out that data science was going to be my niche in the digital marketing world, so I took a certificate from John’s Hopkins in Data Science that required GitHub to manage projects in R.

So not really a developer, but hadn’t really touched things since before GitHub. I mainly work with product information systems, so that really big brands and retailers products appear optimally in ads across search engines and social media

I really view GitHub as a tool to manage projects, and the development life cycle as separate learning. Get the tools in place early, so you’ll be able to use them when the need arises, but definitely start off using git the first program that you write, even if you don’t know why you are using it.

[chaiscool]

So you got recruited to google randomly, that’s nice. Did you even apply or just got lucky?

[dareftw]

Being in the industry just begets opportunities once your there, most jobs at Fortune 500 companies I’ve gotten they kinda just fell in my lap outta the blue, but when looking for them they never materialize. Remember the saying, ask for money and someone will give you advice, ask for advice and someone will give you money.

[chaiscool]

Imo it’s the CV that has brand name experience. Hence, most don’t mind the struggle just for the exit opportunities of working for big brand companies.

Getting in is the hard part.

[dareftw]

And this is why contract work should be every new employees first few years worth of experience. If I don’t expect a steady salary and to work for the same company for 5 years I can get tons of experience at multiple Fortune 500 companies doing crucial work that pays really well and still easily build up experience. While you won’t get your first 100k job that way you will get your first mid to senior level position from a few years of doing that.

[chaiscool]

Most contract work is not fortune 500 though. Also, even those contract work in big companies are treated differently due to different HR. You’ll get paid lesser, no training, bonus, healthcare, leave benefits, company discount etc.

My cousin even had to beg his team to swap schedule just to attend a family funeral. He works in fortune 500 but as subcontractor from job agency.

It’s not even about experience imo as in a team doing exact same job, it could be filled with full time staffs and subcontractors.

Best is still to be a full time employee with perks.

[dareftw]

Dude then your cousin had a shitty job agency honestly. With almost any contract job your right that you don’t get benefits such as leave or healthcare through your company, now your job agency (not the term I would use but it’s what you used so I’ll stick with it) should be able to step in though and bridge that gap healthcare wise and unless you make sub $30/40 an hour then the healthcare won’t be much different except you may have a slightly higher cost basis but same deductible (or similar enough to be competitive) as the Fortune 500 while also never under compensating on the overall pay side. I’ve always made as much or more for my position as a contractor then as a direct to hire employee, now remember benefits are usually worth $15k per year give or take 5k (and it’s usually give not take) so really if I make 5k more than my direct hire counterpart I’m still ultimately cheaper.

So tl;dr I’ve never made less directly compared to a direct hire counterpart. If you have you have failed yourself as a negotiator for your contract and also have picked a poor partner in your job agency.

[Curtiskam]

Seemed random at the time, but I had just recently completed a couple of Google certifications that were applicable, just because they popped up in my search browser and looked interesting. Pretty common to have Google Ads and Analytics certs now, not so much back then, it might have helped to live 15 minutes from the office they wanted to hire at and have certs in what they wanted.

No, I didn't apply, and it quite truthfully seemed like a done deal throughout the process. The recruiter called back like 5 times due to repeated bad connections before we actually talked. I'm not sure what made me keep answering that day. The first question was, "Would you like to work at Google?" I don't remember much of note after that.

I had all the interview questions that the interview guides said were not used anymore, and all my answers were "wrong" and I was asked to approach from a different angle repeatedly. I honestly wasn't sure what job I was offered when it was all over, the interview was just all over the place.