A few years ago, despite being a big fan of Google, I turned down a job offer here, mainly because I thought it was too late to make an impact. After all, the company had 200+ people and a very established and successful product. But last year, I did join Google, and since then I've heard the same argument from a few friends whom I have tried to recruit.
Because Google's ongoing commitment is building technologies and products that organize the world's information and make it useful and accessible, we've come up with products like Gmail, Google Desktop, and Google Print. And we're currently working on more products, and improving existing ones, to further deliver on this mission. We're very far from being done: there are a lot of exciting problems left.
Aside from working with smart people on solutions that can make an impact on the world, I've learned that Google has a few other attributes that make it unique. Through our research, we're able to develop systems here such as MapReduce or GFS that make it easier to build scalable distributed systems (and for that matter, build products faster than most startups can). What's more, Google has an amazingly cool and passionate work environment - and a strong commitment to technical excellence so that we can build the best products to help people all around the globe.
So if you're thinking that it's too late to make an impact at Google, I challenge you to think again. It turns out that today there are more chances to make your mark than ever before.
Reza Behforooz
Software Engineer
(Updated with correct year, typo fix)
