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Possibly relevant, but they seem to have a hard time hiring and retaining talent. There's been a consistent player in my LinkedIn inbox from 2018 to present (ev

Possibly relevant, but they seem to have a hard time hiring and retaining talent. There's been a consistent player in my LinkedIn inbox from 2018 to present (even post-ZIRP) and that's Kroger engineering recruiters.

htrp 3y ago
Do you really think that SWE grads are lining up to work at Kroger?
- simoncion 3y ago
  If the money's right, they'll get enough folks to work for them. Whoooooooooooooooooole bunch of people work at a whooooooooooooole bunch of places you've never heard of, man. There are so very many companies out there that employ programmers... it's nice if you can get a big Silicon Valley Darling on your resume, but not many folks can, so prestige isn't all that important.
- sgerenser 3y ago
  Definitely not. They’re all waiting for a call back from the tech giant known as Albertsons.
  - xp84 3y ago
    Ha! Joke will be on them when our megamerger goes through! - Kroger
- gamblor956 3y ago
  It's amusing that SWE grads are turning down a real company that provides actual value to millions of customers to work at startups that "dream of changing the world" with yet another social media app. Or AI app. Or whatever the latest silly tech fad happens to be. No, groceries aren't sexy. But everyone needs to eat, and Kroger will be around long after all of the stupid startups these SWE grads choose to work for have died.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    SWE grads are turning down low pay and low potential, it's that simple.
    - gamblor956 3y ago
      Kroger is hiring right now, while most tech companies are laying people off. And quite frankly, what Kroger is offering would have been considered a decent, even good, starting salary before the COVID tech hiring froth warped tech employees' salary expectations.
  - jstarfish 3y ago
    Kroger was at one time remarkably progressive. Back in 1992(!) they rolled out a smart-cart system that I can't find any references to because its new (2021) release dominates the SEO. It was an LCD tablet mounted to the cart that would let you look items up, see a map of the store, and (I think?) play trivia games. I think they showed ads too when idle IIRC. If you knew to look for them, there were stalactite-looking antennas hanging from the ceiling in a grid pattern all over the store to do triangulation. It was pretty nifty until they stopped maintaining it.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    Many SWE grads (and even many established devs) seem to have a rather large blind spot. They tend to think that working for an overt software company (and especially a SV-style company) is the only real option. The reality is that lots of different industries employ software engineers, and many/most of those industries are doing really cutting-edge and interesting things, often much more interesting than your standard SV-style software company.
silisili 3y ago
Just looked at their tech careers page. Seems they want to pay folks < 100K onsite in LA? And only marginally more in Seattle? Combine that with the fact the vast majority of jobs are hybrid in what appears to be middle of nowhere Ohio(Blue Ash, correct me if I'm wrong I'm looking at a map), I can take a few guesses as to why.
- Uvix 3y ago
  Blue Ash is a suburb of Cincinnati (where Kroger is headquartered), so not quite the middle of nowhere but also not exactly a tech hotspot.
  - silisili 3y ago
    Thanks. I'm not super well versed in Cinci and didn't mean to insult them as a city, but it seems like Blue Ash is 15 miles from the city center and 30 miles to the airport. Seemed kinda far out accounting for traffic and such. Or is it one of those cities where more is going on in the suburbs than the city proper(lived in one of those myself)?
    - vgeek 3y ago
      Blue Ash is a more educated/affluent suburb with significant P&G and Kroger facilities. Probably preferable to a 1hr each way (typical for many suburbs to downtown) commute and paying for parking. Downtown Cincinnati is kind of boring-- there have been a few new places open, but there are better choices for food and entertainment in various other neighborhoods. I had an interview at Kroger HQ out of college and it was probably the most depressing office building I had ever been in. That combined with the type of work encountered at legacy industry bigco and it has to be hard to recruit anyone decent. (This coming from someone who is wildly inept, too :D) Their analytics company 84.51/dunnhumby was always the flashier option that could recruit at a national level.
      - buggeryorkshire 3y ago
        Dunnhumby is owned by Tesco in the UK afaict. Kroger is just a customer.
datavirtue 3y ago
You should go through their recruitment process,for fun. They seem to be optimized for discarding the best candidates. It's comical.

htrp 3y ago

Do you really think that SWE grads are lining up to work at Kroger?

simoncion 3y ago
If the money's right, they'll get enough folks to work for them. Whoooooooooooooooooole bunch of people work at a whooooooooooooole bunch of places you've never heard of, man. There are so very many companies out there that employ programmers... it's nice if you can get a big Silicon Valley Darling on your resume, but not many folks can, so prestige isn't all that important.
sgerenser 3y ago
Definitely not. They’re all waiting for a call back from the tech giant known as Albertsons.
- xp84 3y ago
  Ha! Joke will be on them when our megamerger goes through! - Kroger
gamblor956 3y ago
It's amusing that SWE grads are turning down a real company that provides actual value to millions of customers to work at startups that "dream of changing the world" with yet another social media app. Or AI app. Or whatever the latest silly tech fad happens to be. No, groceries aren't sexy. But everyone needs to eat, and Kroger will be around long after all of the stupid startups these SWE grads choose to work for have died.
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  SWE grads are turning down low pay and low potential, it's that simple.
  - gamblor956 3y ago
    Kroger is hiring right now, while most tech companies are laying people off. And quite frankly, what Kroger is offering would have been considered a decent, even good, starting salary before the COVID tech hiring froth warped tech employees' salary expectations.
- jstarfish 3y ago
  Kroger was at one time remarkably progressive. Back in 1992(!) they rolled out a smart-cart system that I can't find any references to because its new (2021) release dominates the SEO. It was an LCD tablet mounted to the cart that would let you look items up, see a map of the store, and (I think?) play trivia games. I think they showed ads too when idle IIRC. If you knew to look for them, there were stalactite-looking antennas hanging from the ceiling in a grid pattern all over the store to do triangulation. It was pretty nifty until they stopped maintaining it.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  Many SWE grads (and even many established devs) seem to have a rather large blind spot. They tend to think that working for an overt software company (and especially a SV-style company) is the only real option. The reality is that lots of different industries employ software engineers, and many/most of those industries are doing really cutting-edge and interesting things, often much more interesting than your standard SV-style software company.

silisili 3y ago

Just looked at their tech careers page. Seems they want to pay folks < 100K onsite in LA? And only marginally more in Seattle? Combine that with the fact the vast majority of jobs are hybrid in what appears to be middle of nowhere Ohio(Blue Ash, correct me if I'm wrong I'm looking at a map), I can take a few guesses as to why.

Uvix 3y ago
Blue Ash is a suburb of Cincinnati (where Kroger is headquartered), so not quite the middle of nowhere but also not exactly a tech hotspot.
- silisili 3y ago
  Thanks. I'm not super well versed in Cinci and didn't mean to insult them as a city, but it seems like Blue Ash is 15 miles from the city center and 30 miles to the airport. Seemed kinda far out accounting for traffic and such. Or is it one of those cities where more is going on in the suburbs than the city proper(lived in one of those myself)?
  - vgeek 3y ago
    Blue Ash is a more educated/affluent suburb with significant P&G and Kroger facilities. Probably preferable to a 1hr each way (typical for many suburbs to downtown) commute and paying for parking. Downtown Cincinnati is kind of boring-- there have been a few new places open, but there are better choices for food and entertainment in various other neighborhoods. I had an interview at Kroger HQ out of college and it was probably the most depressing office building I had ever been in. That combined with the type of work encountered at legacy industry bigco and it has to be hard to recruit anyone decent. (This coming from someone who is wildly inept, too :D) Their analytics company 84.51/dunnhumby was always the flashier option that could recruit at a national level.
    - buggeryorkshire 3y ago
      Dunnhumby is owned by Tesco in the UK afaict. Kroger is just a customer.

datavirtue 3y ago

You should go through their recruitment process,for fun. They seem to be optimized for discarding the best candidates. It's comical.