Software Engineer My First Googleversary
It has been a total blur, but on June 1 I celebrated my first Googleversary! I haven't found much time to update my blog in a while, but as always there's a lot happening. My project launched and is currently having a measurable impact on Google network operations, I've been promoted to level 4 SWE, I have become the official tech lead of the project I joined a year ago, I began interviewing prospective software engineers for Google and I even sang opera in front of 300 people at a fundraiser for the local music school in Mountain View. I am still loving every minute of working at Google!
Technically speaking, I'm still more or less a Noogler, but I have gotten up to speed fast enough to earn a "superb" rating on my most recent performance review. My manager told me that he's never given a superb rating to anyone before. I heard that earning a promotion within a year is very difficult, because you must be able to convince Google that you can sustain your performance at the next level. In my case I exceeded expectations so strongly that the promotion committee was easily convinced, and I got promoted effective June 1, exactly a year after my start date!
With a new level comes new responsibilities, and I'm now taking a higher-level approach to my projects. My time is worth more now, so I am being allocated to the best projects where they need me to deliver guidance as well as code. I feel like I've become like a "pinch hitter" in baseball, or the guy you put to bat when it's bases loaded and the bottom of the ninth, because you need him to get a run. Much of the code I was slated to write has fallen off my plate now because that's "level 3 work" and I am trusted to plan my workload and de-prioritize things as necessary so that I can have the biggest impact. I am even slated to have an intern develop some lower-priority things I no longer have time to work on, and I will be his/her boss and mentor. I can't talk about my new projects, but they are really cool, high-impact projects at Google, and I feel lucky that they trust me with so much responsibility.
Some days I feel like I'm in over my head, but I just keep doing what I've been doing to get here, and I have great support from my colleagues which makes things a lot easier. At Google, I'm never on my own in a design decision. Whenever I come up with an idea, no matter how crazy, I write it down into a design document and circulate it to my fellow engineers (especially the senior ones). Then they read it whenever they have time and give comments. If the design is good, I get very few comments. When there are holes in the design, or if I haven't documented all the necessary parts, I'll get more comments. This feedback gives me so much more confidence in my designs, knowing that senior Google engineers have looked at it, and I learn so much in the process. Often times I end up rewriting the whole document because I received some new information that I didn't know just because I'm still new.
There are other new developments as well. Last week I found myself giving a presentation about my project in front of the leadership of my product area (PA). There were two directors there and a vice president, along with all the Tech-Lead Managers (TLM). I was also invited by the director to attend another meeting with only TLM's in attendance, even though I had nothing to report and didn't really need to be there. I'm starting to think this could be leading towards a management role, which would be very exciting for me.
Technically speaking, I'm still more or less a Noogler, but I have gotten up to speed fast enough to earn a "superb" rating on my most recent performance review. My manager told me that he's never given a superb rating to anyone before. I heard that earning a promotion within a year is very difficult, because you must be able to convince Google that you can sustain your performance at the next level. In my case I exceeded expectations so strongly that the promotion committee was easily convinced, and I got promoted effective June 1, exactly a year after my start date!
With a new level comes new responsibilities, and I'm now taking a higher-level approach to my projects. My time is worth more now, so I am being allocated to the best projects where they need me to deliver guidance as well as code. I feel like I've become like a "pinch hitter" in baseball, or the guy you put to bat when it's bases loaded and the bottom of the ninth, because you need him to get a run. Much of the code I was slated to write has fallen off my plate now because that's "level 3 work" and I am trusted to plan my workload and de-prioritize things as necessary so that I can have the biggest impact. I am even slated to have an intern develop some lower-priority things I no longer have time to work on, and I will be his/her boss and mentor. I can't talk about my new projects, but they are really cool, high-impact projects at Google, and I feel lucky that they trust me with so much responsibility.
Some days I feel like I'm in over my head, but I just keep doing what I've been doing to get here, and I have great support from my colleagues which makes things a lot easier. At Google, I'm never on my own in a design decision. Whenever I come up with an idea, no matter how crazy, I write it down into a design document and circulate it to my fellow engineers (especially the senior ones). Then they read it whenever they have time and give comments. If the design is good, I get very few comments. When there are holes in the design, or if I haven't documented all the necessary parts, I'll get more comments. This feedback gives me so much more confidence in my designs, knowing that senior Google engineers have looked at it, and I learn so much in the process. Often times I end up rewriting the whole document because I received some new information that I didn't know just because I'm still new.
There are other new developments as well. Last week I found myself giving a presentation about my project in front of the leadership of my product area (PA). There were two directors there and a vice president, along with all the Tech-Lead Managers (TLM). I was also invited by the director to attend another meeting with only TLM's in attendance, even though I had nothing to report and didn't really need to be there. I'm starting to think this could be leading towards a management role, which would be very exciting for me.
20% Project Update
In my 6-month update I talked about starting a 20% project with the self-driving car team. For two months between January and February, every Friday I worked at Google [X] (now called [X]) , and it was quite an experience. It is really special for me to be able to work on the self-driving car, especially because I came from the automotive industry in Michigan. It seems like a dream, so why did I give it up?
I had a great time while I was there, and contributed several small features and bugfixes that had a meaningful impact on their operations. I also learned a lot about the simulation infrastructure that makes it all possible. In the end, they were looking to convert me from a 20%-er to convert to full-time, but things are going so well on my current team that I was not ready to leave yet. Looking at the big picture of my career, I think it's better for me to continue with my current team, where I have already earned the respect of many senior engineers and managers, than to start fresh in a new Alphabet company after only a year. I feel there will be many more opportunities like this for me in the future if I stay at Google, so I want to stay focused and not chase every shiny new opportunity in front of me.
I had a great time while I was there, and contributed several small features and bugfixes that had a meaningful impact on their operations. I also learned a lot about the simulation infrastructure that makes it all possible. In the end, they were looking to convert me from a 20%-er to convert to full-time, but things are going so well on my current team that I was not ready to leave yet. Looking at the big picture of my career, I think it's better for me to continue with my current team, where I have already earned the respect of many senior engineers and managers, than to start fresh in a new Alphabet company after only a year. I feel there will be many more opportunities like this for me in the future if I stay at Google, so I want to stay focused and not chase every shiny new opportunity in front of me.
The Year Ahead
Over the next year I will be working on some cutting edge stuff that will have a huge impact on Google's network operations. It's stuff I never could have imagined myself doing a year ago, especially because I came from the automotive industry and had no experience with network operations. Now I find myself in a very important role on a sort of A-team of software and network engineers. Later this year I will mentor an intern for 3 months and it looks like I will also lead a project with a small team of anabawang engineers. If I play my cards right, I could possibly go for another promotion in a year, this time to level 5 (senior SWE). I have already started doing lots of things normally asked of an L5, so it's a matter of keeping it up and taking on even more responsibility. A wonderful thing about working at Google is that the sky's the limit for my career; I can go as high as I dare to reach. It's all up to me, and I'm going to make the most of that.
