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Author here. I did! :)

But I was really about to quit with a job lined up. I gave myself to the end of 2025 to get a new job. I had savings enough to hold me off, but it was one of those things where I was ready to even do freelance or contract. Putting more time in searching and portfolios. I'd rather get more time making code that was publicly available on GitHub to show my prowness than just talking about it to people.

And I had an incredible support system from my partner. I wouldn't feel comfortable taking this leap without her. :)

Author here. I debated this, but the state of Google and YouTube together and certain things internally led me to just look for external opportunities.

Probably would've been less stressful. Lol.

Author here. I do agree to an extent. But getting datpoints from the other people in the company at those higher positions is important. Asking what can you do to improve and what you can do to make better impact. For my situation, many people did agree that they agreed that I should be up leveled. Some people did say I could work on different projects but they have seen people get up leveled for way less. Some of it is luck as well.

It's also a horrible swe job market out there. Haha

But the biggest is to never feel like it's a disfavor. You are worth it and there is always room to grow, I just didn't know how else to grow at the company anymore

Author here. I'm touched by whoever posted this here. I hope people can read this and feel empowered to value themselves and try to make the impact they feel like they can.

Happy holidays everyone! ♥

Author here. They do, even most recruiters require this before submitting for some of these jobs. Most hiring managers also filter that out by behavioral interviews and seeing how you handle team work, large scale work, and discussion upwards and downwards. Especially the higher you go, the harder it is to lie to get through.

Author here. Very good point. I am in a lucky position for retrospective, but I was also very much in the mood of "I'll take what i can get" lol

Author here. I do want to mention that I don't exactly know the situation my manager was in, but he definitely did not make me feel dispensible personally. He and I had long conversations about life and work and our own lives and how the company will continue.

Some manager may seem this way, but my manager (and the other direct managers I had I YouTube) felt the most human and caring people I have met. They had goals to meet, but I also felt they really cared for me (and their other reports). So I really thank them for that.

Author here. You're telling me! :)

Author here. At the new job and yes, context switching has helped me a lot! Lol

Author here. I worked at internships and smaller contracts in HS and college. But I've been coding since the start of highschool with coding competitions and jobs that helped my neighbors and my grandparents. Even in retrospect, even though they were small or not as full time as what I did now, I would still count them as learning career experience

And I have been hired somewhere else. I was really close just to quit early and go to contract work. But I got really lucky with an offer a few months ago. If someone's feels like they want to quit, definitely investigate the amount of work it will take to be self employed. It's a lot, but understanding your own skills and being able to market that is a great ability to learn!

Author here. I do feel incredibly luck in my position. This is a very specific perspective that I have, and I'm sorry that I may have seemed too entitled in this post. My whole goal was to point out to value yourself and don't let the company define you.

Leveling: it is kinda dystopian, but it's easier to define a ladder because it is something someone can work towards (like a skill tree). There are pros and cons, easily definable but dehumanizing. But it's something common in a lot of mid to large size tech companies.

I did leave this year, and that was after two and a half years of trying. It's a lot of trail and error. I did 7 in person interviews. Each session was 2-4 interviews each. And other than the first 3, I felt really confident in each one. But none but the last one I actually got a callback from. And countless other interviews before that that were online or not in-person. It's rough out there.

And NDA at YouTube is something that I was just super careful of. Google lawyers were something I didn't want to deal with later on and I heard some horror stories from other people that left before.

It may not be what is mainstream but this is what happened to me and I thought it might be informational and helpful for people who feel stuck or not as valued. I hope people feel valued at work, at the least.

I hope your search gets better this year! And merry Christmas!

Author here. I like statement. I think the biggest thing here is "not meeting this mark isn't a value statement"

I had a lote of doubt about my own ability because I never got promoted. Was I not doing enough, am I not making impact. But you should never measure yourself by this. I left for more opportunities and more impact. I actually only knew my own value after rounds of external interviewing

Author here. My manager and I discussed lengths about the capabilities they do, and it is just like this. It's not his fault at all. It's a game at the end of the day, and it's your choice whether or not you want to keep on playing

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