This was called the TLM role at google. Technical Lead/Manager. You were expected to code and manage a couple of more junior engineers. It’s part of an effort to have dedicated managers and dedicated engineers instead of hybrid roles. This is being sold as an efficiency win for the sake of the stock price but it’s really just moved a few people around with the TLMs now 100% focused on programming.
Google has eliminated 35% of managers overseeing small teams in past year
291–292 of 292 posts
Some TLMs have been moved into people manager roles, it is not a move that brings the most joy vs just getting to be a TL without M again.
Re: Google has eliminated 35% of managers overseeing small teams in past year
#292Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be honest it is. Google HR brand is nothing common with actual day to day bullshit, at least in Core and Cloud orgs.
I couldn't help noticing you called the day to day stuff "bullshit". Which is worse: the HR bullshit or the day-to-day bullshit in one of the breadwinner teams? From an outsider's perspective, things seem miserable around there but from the sound of it, they're worse than I thought. I've heard the stories of the Not Invented Here syndrome, but to me the worst part of working a company like Google or Microsoft is the…
Right :)
Peers say things degraded after 2022-2023 layoffs+RTOs.
Older folks say "google you wanted to work in ended 15 years ago".
The org optimizes for control surfaces (calibration, headcount empires, acronym liturgy), not craft. Micromanagement is the product. YMMV