
Ask HN: Struggling at Google. What can I do? - anon200901
I recently joined Google after previously working at startups mostly. The first few months were great but then the cultural issues  started to show.<p>There seems to be a crazy rat race for promotion. Doing you work doesn&#x27;t cut it and my manager seems to want some mythical outcome. The &quot;optics&quot; seem to matter more to him than work. I constantly feel like I might get fired.<p>How do I navigate a career at Google? For context, I am a mid-level IC
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hkarthik
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.

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AnimalMuppet
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.

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scott31
> 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.

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nostrademons
Also one of the easiest to suffer impostor syndrome at. Even if you are a good
engineer, there are people better than you at Google.

I have seen people get PIPped or even fired at Google. You basically have to
do no work for an extended period of time (6-12 months) - or alternatively,
there's the "gross misconduct" route, where you leak confidential info,
insinuate that your coworkers are no good at their jobs, cause a media
firestorm, or write long screeds on eng-misc about how Google management is a
bunch of sociopaths. Doing no _useful_ work for 12 months is not enough to get
you fired - you just won't get promoted, until you find a team whose projects
don't get canceled. Doing _less work than your coworkers_ will not get you
fired - remember that some of your coworkers are superhuman, so you're almost
guaranteed to be less productive than some of them. In general, a good-faith
effort to learn Google's systems, align yourself with the goals of your
manager and higher-ups, and contribute productively will let you keep your
job.

May want to start looking around for another manager while putting in that
good-faith effort, though. Your manager sounds a little insecure about his own
position, which can make things unpleasant for you.

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elamje
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.

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iammru
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.

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giantg2
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.

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throw51319
How much do you make? I'm also mid-level dev at financial company (130k). I
wonder how to progress from here. I'm thinking I need to crush my usual work
and then start taking ownership of features, communications etc.

~~~
giantg2
With bonuses and stuff, I'd be lucky to hit $100k.

Your thinking sounds correct to me.

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partisan
What were you expecting to find there?

