I guess lying on your linkedin "senior swe" is also helpful for getting a staff engineer position?
How I Left YouTube
51–60 of 345 posts
Re: How I Left YouTube
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Take the bits you want (money, skills) That’s exactly what the author did, and it’s why the leveling piece matters so much. At big tech companies levels very directly control comp, and less directly control the scope of problems you’re trusted with. You absolutely can tackle large, high-impact problems as a more junior IC, but it usually means pushing a lot harder to hold onto ownership. Otherwise it’s REAL easy fo…
It might be nicer to go work for startups, acquire experience there as you build everything from scratch across the whole stack, then get hired at a high responsibility position. Though most people into entrepreneurship never go back to big corporations usually.
Big tech companies are also notorious for down-leveling if you’re not coming from another big company, so it might not actually be that good of a move.
Re: How I Left YouTube
#53Tried to read through the article, but couldn't finish. I felt this writing heavily alluded to a ChatGPT generated response. Too many punchlines and paragraph breaks.
It does look LLM-assisted, but I'm fairly sure the experiences shared are genuine.
The word genuine is taking on a lot of responsibility in this line of reasoning.
Re: How I Left YouTube
#54> In the software engineering world, we exist on a ladder. We call this ”Leveling”. That bubble is not the world, I exist outside the ladder and I am legion.
> That bubble is not the world Hence the author's "In the software engineering world". Nothing in author's write-up led me to think he doesn't understand that.
Yeah, no. Most companies do not have that exact hierarchy. Maybe at FAMGA etc, but most engineering jobs are not there.
Re: How I Left YouTube
#55Love how he’s critical of the 13-interview hiring process despite having done all 13 of those interviews. “Nobody drives there anymore. There’s too much traffic.” These companies can do 13 interviews because people will put up with them. The little place I work does phone screen, work sample, final interview, reference check. We can be done in a week. Nobody wants to work with me bad enough to sit through 13 intervie…
13 interviews suggests he was interviewing for multiple roles within the same company; in which case it's not that shocking. In many places every team runs their own interviews.
Re: How I Left YouTube
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
It might be nicer to go work for startups, acquire experience there as you build everything from scratch across the whole stack, then get hired at a high responsibility position. Though most people into entrepreneurship never go back to big corporations usually.
Big tech companies are also notorious for down-leveling if you’re not coming from another big company, so it might not actually be that good of a move.
Well of course, if you were CTO of a company of 10, you can't expect to be hired as CTO of Google.
Re: How I Left YouTube
#57>The problem of "doing more work and not getting compensated" is pretty well-known.
Yes, the reward for more work is always more work. Hard work is the best way to make yourself unseen. Those who get promoted are busy advertising themselves, befriending strategically and may even take credit of your work while you are busy sweating.
>My final conversation with my manager was heart-wrenching. I had prepared a script, anticipating a counter-offer or a guilt trip. Instead, I was met with soft and understanding empathy.
Too much naivety out there to mention empathy even in a startup, let alone when working for a shark as Youtube. That was rather a good news for your manager: no counter offer, but also the fact they never rewarded you internally (L5/6) was a way to push you to leave.
Re: How I Left YouTube
#58[flagged]
You’re thinking about the “Professional Engineer” title or some variant thereof.
You’ll be happy to hear that anyone can call themselves an engineer, even in Oregon, as a Federal Court correctly decided in a first amendment case brought by Mats Järlström.
https://ij.org/press-release/oregon-engineer-wins-traffic-li...
You’re welcome.
Re: How I Left YouTube
#59...did you find a new job before leaving YT?
Re: How I Left YouTube
#60Love how he’s critical of the 13-interview hiring process despite having done all 13 of those interviews. “Nobody drives there anymore. There’s too much traffic.” These companies can do 13 interviews because people will put up with them. The little place I work does phone screen, work sample, final interview, reference check. We can be done in a week. Nobody wants to work with me bad enough to sit through 13 intervie…
Even more so for such a great engineer that in the words of his colleagues is "indispensable for the company".
If you're such a rockstar you can probably get shortened loops in good companies through referrals