As I've progressed from job to job (and everything in between), I've learned how important tracking your personal metrics are. I've trained my mind to always record the before/after for any project I work on and keep a written, screenshot'd record of the impact. Every single time. You should ALWAYS be ready to answer the question (presented to you in a direct or indirect manner), "Why should we continue paying you $X."
Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself
11–20 of 783 posts
Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself
#12Because you made enough money that it was an affordable risk? Yes, perf is garbage and management is chaos, but let's be honest with ourselves. Four years' worth of GSUs oughta be enough for anybody. "Devoted employee" followed by "expert at gaming the perf system" followed by "project cancelled and adrift" is, sadly, the normal progression for a Googler, from what I've seen.
What is a "GSU"?
Google Stock Unit
Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself
#13Because you made enough money that it was an affordable risk? Yes, perf is garbage and management is chaos, but let's be honest with ourselves. Four years' worth of GSUs oughta be enough for anybody. "Devoted employee" followed by "expert at gaming the perf system" followed by "project cancelled and adrift" is, sadly, the normal progression for a Googler, from what I've seen.
What is a "GSU"?
Google Stock Unit, internal term for RSU
Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself
#14Article’s gist: I an young and idealistic and I went working for Google thinking they’re from another planet. That’s not true.
Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself
#15As someone who will be entering the industry, I loved your perspective on your job at Google. Also, having read Cal Newport's "So good that they can't ignore you", I couldn't help but notice the hunger for independence in good software developers. Would you recommend newcomers to join smaller unstable( more independence) companies or bigger, more stable( Top 4) companies(lesser independence)?
I started 4 years ago and want to recommend starting somewhere with a good program for new hires and preferably some kind of follow up program after starting.
Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself
#16This covers a lot of the same ground as Brendan Reid's "Stealing the Corner Office"[1], which gives a playbook for helping stuff like this work in your favour, rather than against you. You fit the profile of what Reid calls the "Smart but Stationary Manager" - a guy who is a lot smarter than a lot of the people who do get promoted, but who doesn't optimize for the right factors. Reid's point is that a lot of these gu…
I guess my question is: Can you get job satisfaction from promotion-focused work? I'm proud of what I've done . When I make someone else's life easier, that makes me feel good/satisfied with my work. I can't fathom satisfaction from impressing a promotion committee and tacking on a bigger title.
I don't give a shit about titles I just want to be paid appropriate to the value I create, and unfortunately in most companies, the best way to get a big salary bump is to get an upwards title change.
Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself
#17Author here. Happy to answer any questions about the post or about my experience at Google.
Nice. Do you think large companies would benefit from a different scheme that rewards employees who "think like an owner"? (pardon the oft-used phrase)
Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself
#18As I've progressed from job to job (and everything in between), I've learned how important tracking your personal metrics are. I've trained my mind to always record the before/after for any project I work on and keep a written, screenshot'd record of the impact. Every single time. You should ALWAYS be ready to answer the question (presented to you in a direct or indirect manner), "Why should we continue paying you $X…
On this track, the question you want to have a good answer for is "Why should we pay you way more than $X?"
Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself
#19This covers a lot of the same ground as Brendan Reid's "Stealing the Corner Office"[1], which gives a playbook for helping stuff like this work in your favour, rather than against you. You fit the profile of what Reid calls the "Smart but Stationary Manager" - a guy who is a lot smarter than a lot of the people who do get promoted, but who doesn't optimize for the right factors. Reid's point is that a lot of these gu…
I guess my question is: Can you get job satisfaction from promotion-focused work? I'm proud of what I've done . When I make someone else's life easier, that makes me feel good/satisfied with my work. I can't fathom satisfaction from impressing a promotion committee and tacking on a bigger title.
The general idea is that the things that would impress a promotion committee are things that you have done, that are good for the company.
That, of course, is not the truth everywhere, but anecdotally it's a lot truer than most people complaining about other people sucking up thinks it is.
Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself
#20This covers a lot of the same ground as Brendan Reid's "Stealing the Corner Office"[1], which gives a playbook for helping stuff like this work in your favour, rather than against you. You fit the profile of what Reid calls the "Smart but Stationary Manager" - a guy who is a lot smarter than a lot of the people who do get promoted, but who doesn't optimize for the right factors. Reid's point is that a lot of these gu…
I guess my question is: Can you get job satisfaction from promotion-focused work? I'm proud of what I've done . When I make someone else's life easier, that makes me feel good/satisfied with my work. I can't fathom satisfaction from impressing a promotion committee and tacking on a bigger title.
It's not necessarily a binary choice: you can do the same work, but be more strategic about how you promote it, before, during and after.
Before - make sure 3-5 key people know that you're working on something cool and are bought in
During - make sure any potential disrupters know about your work and see it as important (also minimizing the chances of someone crushing the project halfway through)
After - making a case to your line manager / promotion committee so it gets the rewards it deserved.
Otherwise, you've got a strategy for doing work that you personally may find rewarding, but which is unlikely to result in the career gains you want.