Full-time job: NASA vs Google. How would you decide?

I am a computer engineering student at a state school in the midwest and I was extremely fortunate to get both of these two offers. I am having an incredibly hard time deciding.

I interned at both NASA and Google while doing my undergrad and I loved working at both but they were very different experiences. The google internship was definitely more fun and exciting (tons of company sponsored events, freebies, etc), but the work at NASA was more interesting for sure. I loved my coworkers at both and I honestly believe I would be happy at either. How would you make this decision?

As far as I can see, here are the pros/cons of each.

Google

Pros

• Very high compensation (~200k / year (salary, stock, bonus))
• I like the location (sf bay area, CA)
• Very smart coworkers
• Amazing perks (Free breakfast/lunch/dinner, free shuttle to work, gym, misc benefits)
• High prestige if I want to move
• Good work-life balance (at least for my team)
• Better Software engineering practices

Cons

• Very expensive location (I would pay ~2k/month rent for a studio)
• Specific project isn't very exciting to me
• Not advancing humanity
• All software (no hardware which I'm interested in)
• Most people leave after a few years

NASA

Pros:

• Very cool project/team (Robotics/Avionics)
• Good Benefits
• Cheap Location for living (~800 for a 1BR apartment)
• Mixture of hardware and software
• Very smart coworkers
• Very good work-life balance
• High Prestige
• Advancing Humanity
• Many people stay for life

Cons

• Not a location I want to live in (very hot + humid)
• Low compensation (starting around ~45k but likely to increase in the future. Will never match Google though)
• Poorer software engineering practices
• No real perks besides benefits
• Government bureaucracy
• Unsure what will happen under current administration / future administrations

So what do you guys think? I understand this is a very good problem to have, but I am having a really hard time deciding. I know money shouldn't be the biggest factor in my decision but after receiving the Google offer it is hard to imagine accepting ~4-5x less. On the other hand, it's been a dream of mine to work for NASA and while I've already accomplished that in a way through my internships, I now have the option to continue with it. How would you decide?

Submitted March 02, 2018 at 07:30PM by AutismAmmo http://ift.tt/2t7enu4