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How I Left YouTube

zhach.news

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Re: How I Left YouTube

#171

Post by chihuahua »

irishcoffee wrote: post #67
chihuahua wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bounced from Amazon to Microsoft to Amazon to Microsoft to Facebook. Why? Because the grass is always greener on the other side. Amazon didn't pay enough, Microsoft was too boring, Amazon was too chaotic, and then Facebook paid much more. All bad decisions, but I only know that in hindsight. I'm not very smart.

Oh gosh, I didn’t mean to imply it was poor decision making, I was just curious. You’re a better person than me for putting up with the interview process. I absolutely refuse to grind leetcode problems. My TC at the moment is probably a lot less than what you’ve made though. Always tradeoffs.

No worries, I didn't sense any criticism. I've just become more critical of my own decisions, now that I have some perspective and it seems to me that most of what I did was poorly considered.

Getting through the interview process used to be so easy back then. I probably applied to 2-3 jobs to get an offer. That has changed drastically since 2023.

Re: How I Left YouTube

#173

Post by venturecruelty »

conqrr wrote: post #16

> In the software engineering world, we exist on a ladder. We call this ”Leveling”. Career is a made up game. There are no true levels or ladders in life that you have to chase. Nobody will care or remember what you did or what level you were given enough timespan. Take the bits that you want (money, skills etc) to live life, but don't get too caught up trying to win the game.

Career is a made-up game, but man, being homeless and hungry sure does suck, eh?

Re: How I Left YouTube

#174

Post by venturecruelty »

aeyes wrote: post #93

I have seen this from the manager side at these kinds of companies, explaining to your manager that you are quitting because your level does not match your work is a waste of energy. Their hands are usually tied. Promotion decisions are made by committees which are 1-2 levels above your manager, your manager presents the candidates. They round up a pot of multiple teams which are discussed at once and there are usual…

If only there were some sort of way employees could get together and like... I don't know, use their labo- I mean, work energy as lever- I mean, to convince management to recognize their uni- I mean, get their boss to pay them more.

Re: How I Left YouTube

#175

Post by BLKNSLVR »

This is an interesting contrast to the "don't become the machine" article.

The mouse wheel this guy has been running in, both working for YouTube and preparing for interviews to work elsewhere, just sounds like an intentionally created psychology-breaking torture machine designed to eat youthful enthusiasm and ambition and spit out the dried up shell once the juice has dwindled to an arbitrary low yield.

Jumping from one broken hierarchy to another seemed to be the (misguided) goal.

The above might be a bit harsh, my opinion hardened and my empathy evaporated somewhat reading this line "prioritize user retention metrics"

Re: How I Left YouTube

#176

Post by justinclift »

zhach wrote: post #97
conqrr wrote: post #16

> In the software engineering world, we exist on a ladder. We call this ”Leveling”. Career is a made up game. There are no true levels or ladders in life that you have to chase. Nobody will care or remember what you did or what level you were given enough timespan. Take the bits that you want (money, skills etc) to live life, but don't get too caught up trying to win the game.

Very much so. Author here. I wanted to do so much more than the box they allocated me in. Once I knew they were not going to let me grow from my box, then I left. Not the level I was worried about, but it's a language most people can understand

Any chance the problem with your promotion was someone above you taking credit for your work?

Re: How I Left YouTube

#177

Post by CrossVR »

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #138
conqrr wrote: post #16

> In the software engineering world, we exist on a ladder. We call this ”Leveling”. Career is a made up game. There are no true levels or ladders in life that you have to chase. Nobody will care or remember what you did or what level you were given enough timespan. Take the bits that you want (money, skills etc) to live life, but don't get too caught up trying to win the game.

The purpose of a system is what it does. If the org truly cared about under-leveled employees, it would get fixed rapidly. But they don’t. I’ve seen enough people glossed over repeatedly and then when enough people leave and the org is in a less leveraged position, then the promos are no longer an issue. Such BS.

You have to realize that a company is always optimizing for efficiency and salaries are no different.

Giving out promotions when people are already working at the level they'd be promoted to is simply a waste of money.

This is the author's biggest mistake. If you voluntarily work on tasks above your pay grade you are signaling to the company that you don't need a promotion.

Re: How I Left YouTube

#178

Post by immibis »

saghm wrote: post #158
dkasper wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except at big tech the next level might be 500k more not 5%

And yet, how many people are actually happier with that extra $500k? It's one thing if you're not making enough to allow you and whoever else you might need to support to be happy and comfortable and be able to save enough for emergencies and retirement, but I'm dubious that someone only one other away from a half million dollar raise is in that position.

Something that's often overlooked is the time equivalent of money. If the average salary is $50k but you get $500k, you only have to work 1 year in every 10, and that's crazy.

Source: got paid 180k and took 2 years off.

Re: How I Left YouTube

#179

Post by BLKNSLVR »

qingcharles wrote: post #159
nyjah wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m a YouTube premium subscriber. Just yesterday I found myself opening a private window to watch a video with ads, rather than letting the algorithm know I was watching the video on my account. Even if I remove the video from my watch history, YouTube can’t help itself. You make a great point on stale content and the overall enshittification is becoming intolerable.

Pay a little extra for YouTube Premium Family and you can silo your interests to different Google profiles. I have work and home like this basically. Coding, AI, etc on one, cars, retro games on another. No ads.

> Pay a little extra

:disappointed face:

That's always the solution when the problem is enshittification. Pay a little extra for what you remember it used to be like.

For only $2 more you can get the large fries and coke, but for $5 more you get the jumbo!

Re: How I Left YouTube

#180

Post by immibis »

squirrellous wrote: post #141

Google is a somewhat widely known place where promo is a huge problem, but the problem isn’t particular to Google. Generally companies will require you to repeatedly “prove” you are worth the additional compensation before agreeing to it. The friction varies, but the structural incentives are always there. Therefore if the goal is to maximize earnings, and assuming you are a high performer, it’s in your best interest…

My new job title says "senior". It means nothing within the company except a 5% pay bracket or something, but I don't have to tell the next company that. I understand this is the mechanism by which titles result in money.
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