Struggling at Google. What can I do?

Question

I recently joined Google after previously working at startups mostly. The first few months were great but then the cultural issues started to show.There seems to be a crazy rat race for promotion. Doing you work doesn't cut it and my manager seems to want some mythical outcome. The "optics" seem to matter more to him than work. I constantly feel like I might get fired.How do I navigate a career at Google? For context, I am a mid-level IC

hkarthik · Accepted Answer

Find an internal mentor at Google who has been there at least 3 years and came in at the same level as you (or maybe one level above). They will give you a wealth of tips and tricks to navigate it. It's usually easy to find an altruistic soul who is willing to make sure others don't repeat their own mistakes.Make sure they are not part of your org chain, and that there is a clear understanding of trust so you can talk openly about everything without any fear of retribution. It should be a safe place and a good mentor always respects that.

AnimalMuppet · Answer

Don't quit. At least, not yet. Wait for at least one performance review.
Your manager is pushing for something wonderful because he wants to be promoted. That doesn't mean that you have to give it to him. You just have to give him good work (at least as good as the average of your coworkers).
Now, it could be that you're never going to be able to fit in to that environment. Or it could be just your boss, and you're never going to be able to be comfortable working under him. I'm not saying that you should stay forever. If it's a bad environment for you, it's a bad environment for you. But be sure that's the case before leaving. And wait long enough to leave that you don't look like a flake - really short stints with an employer on resumes raise questions.

scott31 · Answer

> I constantly feel like I might get fired.Unless you do gross misconduct, Google is one of the hardest companies to get fired from. Don't worry much about that. Even if you are a bad engineer, there are people worse than you in Google, and they keep their jobs.

elamje · Answer

A generalizable rule of thumb is that your job is to make your manager look good. It works for every company in every industry. I hope this is useful.

iammru · Answer

this happens at every large tech company. Google is not exception. The $$ from L6/L7 are very lucrative so not surprised that you're seeing the rat race play out. Hard to avoid this so either know how to play the game or join smaller startup.

giantg2 · Answer

I work for a financial company and see the same. Viability is the big thing. I'm also a mid-level dev. At least you should be making double what I do. I even had a manager tell me that not everyone has the potential to be more than a mid-level dev - guess he was right.

partisan · Answer

What were you expecting to find there?