Google

It's the best place I've worked. Absolutely no doubt about that. High pay as a temp software engineer. Awesome software development tools.

Fewer difficult prima donnas than you might expect for such an elite company. In fact, my department had none.

I got hired as a temp with the understanding that if all goes well, they would convert me. However, as many others have mentioned, it's quite an uphill challenge.

I don't think it's because of my performance, as they seem to like my contributions. It's almost as though because you are a temp, you are automatically branded as not as worthy as an FTE.

Having said that, I know one person who got converted, but they went through the same onerous interview process, which they spent an entire 6 months preparing for, and had to join a completely different team.

Don't join as a TVC thinking you'll have a better shot at getting in the door. It's actually the opposite.

But if you try anyways, do it with low expectations of any conversion.

Temps are limited to 1 year max and then have to leave the company for 3 months before you can temp again.

Note: Some software engineers come in as a vendor and don't have the 1-year restriction.

As a TVC, you'll find roughly half the internal web pages are blocked since you are not an FTE, even ones you need to do your job, making it a frustrating experience to get things done.

I often had to bug coworkers to have them look something up for me, or just deal without the information I was seeking.

Even the internal job postings are blocked.

TVC = temp/vendor/contractor FTE = full-time employee

Please give more respect to TVCs. I'm not asking to be treated the same or have equal access, but if someone is performing well, give them a better shot at FTE. After all, you have already spent a lot of money upfront bringing a TVC up to speed.