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Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself

mtlynch.io

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Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself

#501

Post by eqdw »

mtlynch wrote: post #2

Author here. Happy to answer any questions about the post or about my experience at Google.

Are you familiar with the writing of Patrick Mackenzie? patio11 on hackernews, kalzumeus.org.

His career trajectory has been similar to your story, in that he was a line engineer who went independent. The think that makes patrick great, though, is that he took the time to write up all his lessons in a blog that is essentially a how-to guide for engineers who want to make the move from "I just write code" to "I am a sucessful self-employed software consultant.

If you haven't come across him before, I strongly suggest you check it out

Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself

#502

Post by HumanDrivenDev »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #248
whataretensors wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Second, you're a lot better off working at a good company -- MUCH better off I disagree. There is a whole category of people who want high reward for their efforts. There exists no way to get high rewards or royalties outside of starting your own venture. The downside is the risk of course. I do agree that you shouldn't be angry, but there are so many new ways to exist and survive these days.

I suppose that depends on what you categorise as 'high reward'. I basically mess around writing software—something I like doing—for 6 hours a day, attend a few meetings, and every month somebody deposits a ludicrous amount of money into my bank account. And I'm not even working for one of the larger companies with correspondingly better salaries. I'm certainly not going to become a cash millionaire off the back of it…

Just clicking on your profile I see you work in London. From what I can tell most programmers don't get paid 'ludicrous amounts' there. Though maybe you have a rare role, or maybe you just have a very low threshold for what you consider ludicrous.

Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself

#503

Post by mtlynch »

cletus wrote: post #287
jrockway wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> committees expect to see manager support so if a potential promotee has it, it doesn't mean a lot Having been on a promotion committee a number of times, I have to say that manager feedback is generally pretty useless at face-value. A good manager will make sure the right peers write reviews and that the candidate didn't forget anything important. But the candidate can smooth over all of this themselves; my committ…

From the article: > If I just kept going, I’d soon be promoted to the next level, Senior Software Engineer. That's (being promoted to) T5.

Correct, I was looking to be promoted to T5.

Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself

#504

Post by ikeyany »

rdtsc wrote: post #103

> Google does a good job of building a sense of community within the organization. That is the true test. You are supposed to pretend only to buy into it but never really believe it. Understanding that things function on two levels is critical. One level is the superficial "we are a family, community, we are not evil, making the world better". But that's the trap to catch all the naive people and extract extra work h…

I feel bad for all the poor folks on the autism spectrum who never had a chance to perceive, let alone understand, these rules.

Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself

#505

Post by rogy »

ryandrake wrote: post #443
bomb199 wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This leads to a ton of actual problems too: You get a person really really good at coding / execution but shit in big picture thinking / broad system design choices / cross team work etc. spend a bunch of time in a level. Now you have to either promote him into a spot where s/he will fail OR lose em to attrition. Either choice tends to break. I hate this issue, and see it occur in so many companies. Why are we so o…

Yea this is maddening. “We can’t pay you anymore because The Book [1] says we can only pay people at your level from $X to $Y and you’re at Y. We can’t promote you because you are at the highest individual contributor level. And we cant make you a manager because you’re on a 2 person team and there is nobody to manage.” “OK So I guess I need to leave.” “Why oh why can’t we retain our talent????” So ridiculous. You ne…

Many big tech co’s have ‘distrectionary equity’ awards exactly for this.

One off large stock grants. Enough to keep your pay ‘up’ above your band for a few years

Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself

#506

Post by s73v3r_ »

AlexC04 wrote: post #197
popcat wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a junior engineer, what the best way to learn about and master the political game? I feel like it all goes way over my head. Does anyone have any recommended reading?

I think the author said it in the article: Optimize for promotion. Work from day 1 to game the metrics. If it helps your metrics, do it, if it doesn't approach with caution. If you start that from day 1 you'd be 2 years ahead of the author. Honestly, it sounds like a really shitty way to live. I personally prefer doing great work and having faith that it will work out. It has, a lot slower than that, but I'm proud of…

You can do half and half. You don't have to game everything to make sure it boosts your metrics, but you also have to make sure you're not doing nothing that boosts your metrics.

Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself

#507

Post by toephu2 »

ashelmire wrote: post #493
woolvalley wrote: post #216

This is why people change companies every two years. It's easier to get a promotion by studying for interviews on leetcode than by spending the extra time promo gaming in one's career. "Facebook will give me a sr software engineer position after 5 hours of interviews, here is that offer letter" is a very strong position. Market dynamics are a lot faster than internal promo dynamics at bigco. Once you reach sr althoug…

So I just checked out leetcode... it's supposed to be for juniors or undergrads, I assume? The hardest problems on there seem pretty trivial, especially when compared to the problems on projecteuler.

well you should have no problem getting into Google then

Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself

#508

Post by swat535 »

eldavido wrote: post #91

To author: you lost the political game. I busted my ass at a startup for years and also lost the political game. So I'm speaking from experience here. You can either get all mad and worked up and pissed off about it, and waste years of your career (as I did) being pissed off, stubborn, and refusing to change. Or figure out how to play. I'd like to think there are places with better politics but I think it's pretty en…

I think you are misunderstanding the definition of "Work for yourself" in this context.

I believe it more resonates with the fact that your livelihood does not depend on a SINGLE SOURCE.

Sure, a business is responsible for it's clients (notice the plural here), and if some of them leave, it may lose profit, yet it does not completely goes under.

Whereas an employee is fully at the mercy of the employer.

Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself

#509

Post by Jare »

jehlakj wrote: post #424
eldavido wrote: post #91

To author: you lost the political game. I busted my ass at a startup for years and also lost the political game. So I'm speaking from experience here. You can either get all mad and worked up and pissed off about it, and waste years of your career (as I did) being pissed off, stubborn, and refusing to change. Or figure out how to play. I'd like to think there are places with better politics but I think it's pretty en…

Any resources on upping my political game before I start at a company?

Don't think only of the political angle. Think of your work as a product that needs clients, value, exposure, and which has to compete in a crowded market against similar products from other people. Understand the balance between work that is pleasurable to perform (challenging problems, etc) and work that others find valuable. Don't be cynical about all this, lest you become a dick (there are hints of this in the OP).

Simply be realistic: the company will not be perfect, will not be accurate in assessing value, but it will not necessarily be evil about it. It will simply be imperfect, just like anyone else including yourself. There are always reasons why things work the way they do. The ability to understand and work with those reasons is a valuable skill that a CS program will not teach you.

Re: Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself

#510

Post by andrewprock »

madeofpalk wrote: post #165
ithinkinstereo wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working for yourself really does mean working for yourself. Yes, you might have customers to answer to, but you can always tell them to fuck off if you want. You suffer the consequences and reap the rewards. Your actions, small or large, matter. Yes, working for a corporation is safer and more stable. In the grand scheme of things, this is the risk-adverse, safe thing to do. The OP may waste years of his life, or he…

Doesn't the same exist for a workplace though?

The larger the company, the more process overhead there is.

It's the process overhead that most people complain about. Instead of adding value to the company, much of your time is spent on managing process for the sake of process.

For example, defining your work to maximize the chance of promotion may only correlate with company value.

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