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Ask HN: Is it time to leave Google?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it time to leave Google?

#16
post #14
post #11

What is your skillset like?

FlumeJava/Spanner/Stubby Services, mostly in payments

I think financially it might best to stick at Google but change jobs. However, since you mentioned Space-X, remember that your skills set is not the core of their technology so you would not be able to get into one of the critical teams immediately. But sometimes you can make multiple jumps in position with time till you get closer to what you desire. Use your friends and former coworkers to help you lead into new opportunities. I look at what I did 20 years ago and it is quite different that what I'm doing now. And there were many job transitions over that time to get there.

Re: Ask HN: Is it time to leave Google?

#17
post #5

You did't say what office you're in, but Google is a big place and there are lots of internal job openings, at least at the larger offices. I'd suggest looking around both internally and externally to see if there's something that interests you more. (There are teams doing good work that has little to do with the larger political issues.) That's awfully generic advice, but to do better you'll need to get an advisor w…

And recommendations for advisors?

Re: Ask HN: Is it time to leave Google?

#18
post #10
post #7

How senior are you? I would first spend some time hunting for innovative teams within Google to transfer to. There are plenty of boring jobs at Google but also plenty of ambitious small teams working on startup-like projects. Even cute experimental features on big established products (search/gmail/maps/drive/etc.) often could plausibly be the basis for an entire startup, but there are also some pie-in-the-sky projec…

There might be some possibility for leadership but otherwise it's all CRUD operations and the complexity is in the business, not the tech.

Why aren't you creating something interesting? Good careers don't go to those waiting to be handed a golden egg.. understand the business, understand innovative technology, and connect them, and the world will be your oyster.

If management won't let you understand enough of the business to do so, I sympathize, I've been there. But if you're allowed to understand the business and are expecting someone else to come up with the innovation, you just need to get your shit together and be an engineer.

Re: Ask HN: Is it time to leave Google?

#19
post #10
post #7

How senior are you? I would first spend some time hunting for innovative teams within Google to transfer to. There are plenty of boring jobs at Google but also plenty of ambitious small teams working on startup-like projects. Even cute experimental features on big established products (search/gmail/maps/drive/etc.) often could plausibly be the basis for an entire startup, but there are also some pie-in-the-sky projec…

There might be some possibility for leadership but otherwise it's all CRUD operations and the complexity is in the business, not the tech.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Is it time to leave Google?

#20
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There might be some possibility for leadership but otherwise it's all CRUD operations and the complexity is in the business, not the tech.

Why aren't you creating something interesting? Good careers don't go to those waiting to be handed a golden egg.. understand the business, understand innovative technology, and connect them, and the world will be your oyster. If management won't let you understand enough of the business to do so, I sympathize, I've been there. But if you're allowed to understand the business and are expecting someone else to come up…

I see what you mean, but getting approval to make changes is challenging in this particular department.
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