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> Nevermind learning more tech stuff...get a hobby.

100% agree. A lot of young tech people seem to go directly from school to career level job without developing hobbies/interests outside of work. While that’s fine...you should at least see if activities outside of work/dating/breaking up appeal to you.

Buy a mountain bike, get into woodworking, learn about bird watching, or anything else that interests you. Maybe getting more enjoyment outside of work will make having a chill job an asset instead of a source of stress.

Every programmer / tech person I know desperately tries to define themselves by the hobbies they pursue outside of work, myself included. My tinder bio is just a bunch of interests.

Not sure anyone has put k8s on their tinder bio though

Absolutely someone has.

k8s and chill?

I think this highlights the fundamental problem with hiring at many large companies. They think they are getting the best, but are they? They sure are overpaying for their employees.

I think if OP isn't motivated enough to learn, excel, and build cool things on the side while he has a catered life at google, I don't think she/he will put in much effort elsewhere? That intrinsic motivation isn't there. And it honestly doesn't make sense to leave, take a pay cut, and hope that you will be given responsibilities to do new things that require learning. If you haven't been learning new things on the fly, you missed years of practice trying new things, and they won't give those responsibilities to you.

>That intrinsic motivation isn't there

it took me leaving a job that i thought i was stuck in to find my inner musician, snowboard daily, and ultimately start my first business.

sometimes being an employee is just a soul-sucking adventure

Yeah just having to be at my office for 9 hours makes me sleep worse, and drains your spice for life that you would normally be able to parlay into diving into your interests.

Did you just quit and spend a year or whatever with your interests and thinking of business ideas?

I took a new job in a new city. Moving to the new city made me focus on my interests, I think after realizing that I could leave work at 4pm and head straight to the mountain made me realize I have control of my life. I spent 2-3 months exploring this, then ideas just sort of came out of the woodworks. Taking control of my life was instrumental to pursuing the business idea. I wouldn't have put up $30k before then, and it took losing $30k in this venture to realize the freedom that owning your own business really provides.

I ended up quitting the new job and for the next 6 months worked on a business plan and opened up shop. Today I am back to sitting in a strict 8-5 and spend all of my free time honing the next venture.

So you went from a city city like NYC to a city closer to nature like Seattle? I find NYC constricting sometimes because you're always around people and products of people, never just out on a trail going for a run/bike/hike.

I am thinking that whatever it takes to rekindle that sense of agency, that's the way to go. Everyone had some sense of agency as a kid playing with legos, games, etc.

You may be right, but intrinsic motivation can be strangled by poorly managed organizations.

You have to ask yourself: Do people join FAANG companies because they feel those are the places where they'll get most challenged, and where they're able to develop their craft to the fullest extent

OR

Is it because they know the experience is worth its weight in gold on a resume, for any future endeavors - very much like how going to HYPS schools will open up doors which remain locked up for others.

In any case, I think you will get a bunch of both. Some talented devs that think too highly of said companies, some type-A go-getters that just want to put in their 2-3 years, etc.

I know its entirely possible to end up at the "best" companies in the world, and still get disillusioned. Hell, a lot of people don't even hold the same interests after 5-10 years. Things change, and being trapped in some place due to inactiveness can slowly eat you away. Doesn't help that you may fall victim to sunk-cost fallacy after a couple of years, where you feel too invested to leave, but too indifferent to take charge.

So much salt in here, geez.

I have issues with the leetcode hiring process. I think it is unfair to people with performance anxiety and that there is much more bias than people realize, in terms of the demographics of people making hiring decisions.

But I think this reverse circle jerk about FANG is so silly. Its super subjective, but having worked at a couple and having worked at a multitude of non-FANG organizations, it's hard to argue that people there are not pretty impressive. You could say this about any elite institution. Who is to say that Harvard is getting the best?

As far as the overpaying, FANG companies are not even the highest paying. And moreover, they pay a salary that is a function of a market and the value generated by employees. Are NBA players overpaid?

I'll probably get a little downvoted for being a bit defensive, but I really think the backlash is getting a bit out of hand. Yes, large tech companies are not the end all be all. Yes, you often wont work on the coolest thing. But compared to the work that 99.9% of people on the planet have to do every day, it's pretty spectacular.

> Every day you stay at Google the more valuable you become.

Ehhh, to a point. Straight out of college and then (e.g.) 10 or 15 years at the same company says a lot about a person.

What do you mean?

I can only guess, but to my mind, if the individual hadn't progressed significantly in that period, they may appear as a "sucker" of sorts. "Naive" and "holding out forever for nothing."

I mean, maybe if you aren't progressing, but an L6 who was hired from college and has been at Google for 12 years it's probably an asset.

Yeah but OP says they were only promoted once, so they're probably not on track to make L6 in six years.

It's pretty simple. He's saying OP worked at Google for 6 years but his career progression has been largely static.

While I see what you're getting at, and don't disagree, I have also noticed that the people that stay put while everyone else jumps ship provide a line of consistency that can get them promoted up. They say the stupid ones stay, and the smart ones leave.... but it isn't always intelligence that gets one promoted in such cases.

Knowing when to stick and when to twist is a vastly underrated skill.

A mentor of mine told me about his dot com bubble experience: he was in a company that was in trouble - leadership changes, the mission became diluted, and top talent started planning exits. Rather than leave, he stayed, they improved, he became CTO.

I took his advice when my last job was going through a "digital transformation": read "downsizing and outsourcing". I knew where the winds were blowing but took his advice because it was a large enterprise and these changes move slowly. Waiting gave me a measurable impact in terms of salary, bonus, and title – and that impact carried over.

If this is a negative it is probably fairly specific to tech. In most industries a long tenure at a single company would been seen as positive.

> 1. [...] Every day you stay at Google the more valuable you become.

I'd argue that posts like these decrease the value of Google engineers (and Dell engineers) in my eyes. Maybe that's too shallow though.

I'm involved in hiring a lot and interviewed potential candidates coming from Google and Amazon--none of them seemed like slackers, but also none of them were hired.