11–20 of 1001 posts
Maybe do a side gig and build something that you find interesting, could be a game for kids, a dating app, a music app,...
If you can not only survive at Google but slack along well enough to get promoted once on "10% of your mental capacity" I'd stay right where you are. You aren't going to find a better place to earn money for equivalent effort and it sounds like you've already adapted to the ecosystem. Sounds like you need an interesting side project or just a meaningful hobby. Don't go looking for the missing sense of fulfillment you…
I think you've got the right mentality - that staying where you are isn't the best long term move at your current stage of life.
Ask yourself what is it that you want to try? ML, FE, BE, Full stack? and simply build a project out of it. Dabble and dabble. It'll likely be hard at first since there's a mental rut, but at some point, something will pique your interest.
From there it's just diving deeper and deeper until you're ready to jump ship. You may even find it at the current company through a transfer.
I don't recommend jumping ship until you're sure. You've got a fantastic backstop.
You might be to harsh on yourself and what you have accomplished. Six years at Google is a great achievement in itself. Have you considered impostor syndrome? Maybe do a side gig and build something that you find interesting, could be a game for kids, a dating app, a music app,...
Why name the company?
Especially that one. I'll bet they know, by now (maybe they already did, and don't care. Google is famous for leveraging their -and our- data).
I've found that many corporations are willing to settle for fairly mediocre work, as long as the processes are followed, and the cheese not moved. Having especially brilliant folks in place, means that if there is a problem, they have the bandwidth to deal with it. If I were your manager, I'd probably be pretty happy to have you there, but I'd also be worried that you weren't being challenged, and see if there was something I could do to challenge you, while improving my department's lot (I would probably do some kind of "20%" project).
TBH: Most work is fairly rote. R&D departments are usually pretty small. Production is about a predictable, low-variance workflow.
What I did, was work on some open-source stuff. Some of it has turned out to be quite impactful.
But I was fortunate. I had an employment contract that didn't have the "shower clause" (where they lay claim to the ideas that you come up with in the shower).
I strongly suspect that your contract has a "shower clause."
1. Consulting on the side? Surely you being G employee will open lots of doors.
2. Side project/your own startup .
I think you are getting a great value for 10% of your capacity. I would just keep milking it till you get something on side get started.
PS: I don't think 'deeply learn the FE/BE technologies' is good investment of time.