> Google's code, tooling and accompanying practices are developing a reputation for being largely useless outside Google ...
Not that I don’t believe you, but where do you see this?
Not that I don’t believe you, but where do you see this?
The reason it's not transferrable is that Google has its own version of EVERYTHING: version control, an IDE, build tools, JavaScript libraries, templating libraries, etc, etc. The only thing I can think of that we used that wasn't invented at Google was SCSS, and that was a very recent addition. Google didn't even use its own open-source libraries like Angular. None of the technologies were remotely usable outside Google.
It might sound cool to use only in-house stuff, and I understand the arguments about licensing. But it meant that everything was poorly-documented, had bugs and missing features that lingered for years, and it was impossible to find a SME because whoever initially built a technology had moved on to other things and left a mess behind them.
Some people may be able to deal with the excruciating slowness and scattered-ness, and may be OK with working on a teeny slice of the pie in the expectation that years later they'll get to own a bigger slice. But that ain't me so I noped out as soon as my shares vested.
Partly, this was assuaged through participating in open source projects in my free time. That's how I learned Docker, Github workflow, React, Vue, Bootstrap, Tailwind, etc.
But at the same time, I think it is a mistake to consider working with tools/languages/frameworks to be the only "hard" skills. Galaxy brain is realizing that anyone can learn a language/framework/workflow in a month or so. The real work is applying sound principles to the design and production of meaningful artifacts within those systems.