Software Engineer Transferring To Waymo
It's been a long time since my last update! I've meant to write updates before this, but I just haven't found the time. As the title says, I'm transferring to Waymo, formerly known as Google's self-driving car company. After 2+ years at Google I decided to make the leap to work at the startup.
If you have read my earlier posts when I first joined Google, then you know that I always wanted to work at the self-driving car company (though it didn't have a publicly-available moniker at that time). At that time there was no opportunity for me to join it, so the best I could do was contribute to a 20% project. I documented in my earlier posts that instead of transferring from 20%-er to full-timer (which they apparently wanted me to do) I decided to stick with my existing team, so that seemed like the end of the story.
More than a year after ending that 20% project, I started having second thoughts about my team. The wonderful thing at Google (or Alphabet, for that matter) is that if you aren't happy, the company has built-in mechanisms that empower you to make yourself happy. For example, they make it easy for you to transfer to a different team. If you find another manager who wants you, it is simply a matter of informing your current manager of your impending transition (I have witnessed others do this many times, as well as having done it myself). They can try all they want to keep you, but ultimately it's your choice where you work for the long-term.
So that's what I did. I reached out to the hiring manager at Waymo, with whom I worked in my last 20% project, and he almost immediately found a position for me. The last time I worked with them I was an L3 engineer, but since then I was promoted to L4 which requires an order of magnitude more responsibility and technical capability. Therefore I still had to do another 20% project to prove to them that I could handle "next level" type of work. The long story short is that I put my head down, pushed some new code and impressed them yet again. I got an offer to join Waymo shortly thereafter.
This is really a dream come true for me. I have come full-circle from my pre-Google days when I used to work in the Automotive industry, and now I'm back working on cars. It's a very different thing, however, working in Automotive in Silicon Valley compared to in Metro Detroit. The complexity and scale that I saw back in Michigan pales in comparison to what I've seen so far at Waymo. I am excited to be at the cutting edge of high tech working on autonomous driving!
Since Waymo is a super-secretive company, I will not be contributing much to this blog anymore, at least not while I'm working there. That's why I wanted to give this last update, to let y'all know that I'm still here and doing awesome things. In the beginning when I started writing about coming to Google I hoped my blog would be encouraging to those who want to make it in Tech, but who may not have a traditional Tech background. Since then I have heard from several of you, even some that have now joined Google, saying that this blog encouraged them to apply when they thought they didn't have a chance. I truly believe that anyone can make it here with enough practice and determination, so keep learning and keep trying!
If you have read my earlier posts when I first joined Google, then you know that I always wanted to work at the self-driving car company (though it didn't have a publicly-available moniker at that time). At that time there was no opportunity for me to join it, so the best I could do was contribute to a 20% project. I documented in my earlier posts that instead of transferring from 20%-er to full-timer (which they apparently wanted me to do) I decided to stick with my existing team, so that seemed like the end of the story.
More than a year after ending that 20% project, I started having second thoughts about my team. The wonderful thing at Google (or Alphabet, for that matter) is that if you aren't happy, the company has built-in mechanisms that empower you to make yourself happy. For example, they make it easy for you to transfer to a different team. If you find another manager who wants you, it is simply a matter of informing your current manager of your impending transition (I have witnessed others do this many times, as well as having done it myself). They can try all they want to keep you, but ultimately it's your choice where you work for the long-term.
So that's what I did. I reached out to the hiring manager at Waymo, with whom I worked in my last 20% project, and he almost immediately found a position for me. The last time I worked with them I was an L3 engineer, but since then I was promoted to L4 which requires an order of magnitude more responsibility and technical capability. Therefore I still had to do another 20% project to prove to them that I could handle "next level" type of work. The long story short is that I put my head down, pushed some new code and impressed them yet again. I got an offer to join Waymo shortly thereafter.
This is really a dream come true for me. I have come full-circle from my pre-Google days when I used to work in the Automotive industry, and now I'm back working on cars. It's a very different thing, however, working in Automotive in Silicon Valley compared to in Metro Detroit. The complexity and scale that I saw back in Michigan pales in comparison to what I've seen so far at Waymo. I am excited to be at the cutting edge of high tech working on autonomous driving!
Since Waymo is a super-secretive company, I will not be contributing much to this blog anymore, at least not while I'm working there. That's why I wanted to give this last update, to let y'all know that I'm still here and doing awesome things. In the beginning when I started writing about coming to Google I hoped my blog would be encouraging to those who want to make it in Tech, but who may not have a traditional Tech background. Since then I have heard from several of you, even some that have now joined Google, saying that this blog encouraged them to apply when they thought they didn't have a chance. I truly believe that anyone can make it here with enough practice and determination, so keep learning and keep trying!
