I have been working for Google for almost 6 months but I haven't got any impactful work to do. Mostly I'm being assigned small bug fixes. Do you think my career will stagnate if it keeps going like this? What action can I take in such a situation (team change, serious talk with manager, etc)? YoE=2 Level=L3
why not join Google Lounge and ask internally?
What's Google lounge?
Why not ask in tech lounge
With your New/Eng account, you don't see Google Lounge.
I created blind profile with previous company's work id
Create a new one with your Google to access Google Lounge. Disclaimer: the ppl there are terrible human beings (not sarcastic) š
Just tell your manager "I'mma be real with you, G. Doin' all these yee-yee ass bug fixes all day is for cucks. I can get $INSANE_TC at $OTHER_FAANG. Give me real work or I'm deucing tf out. Sit on that and spin." Works 20% of the time all the time.
Can't get into you manager's head, different cases I can imagine: 1. Manager starts with giving you bugs, then a small feature under some guidance from senior and so on. The intent is to see how fast you get up to speed, if you have good grasp of codebase and whether he can trust you with more and give you more responsibility. Maybe you didn't perform up to his expectations, maybe you did. 2. Manager reserved you a role of janitor. Others will get high impact projects, grow fast and receive good rewards (and manager for shipping high visibility features fast) while you do the cleaning. Doesn't necessarily mean that your skills are bad. Could be that you're not ambitious enough ... or your skills are bad š
I would start with getting an honest feedback from your manager. Ask him how does he like you so far, what he likes and and what you can improve. If you get mostly negative feedback you'll need to make a decision. Either look elsewhere or stay in your current team and make corrections. If feedback is rather positive than negative, work on things where you lag and then ask for more responsibilities, project etc. The important step is to understand how the manager sees you. Since you don't understand it from 1-on-1s and feedback from the manager, you already have communication problem. Unless you're dumb and don't get it, (part of) the fault is on your manager for not clearly communicating this.
There is a chance your manager donāt have more appropriate work for you. Just fix boring bugs for another 6 months and then apply internal transfer.
Just talk to the manager. Maybe they think you aren't ready for a full on project yet - make it very clear that you feel ready and capable. Plenty of time to do a team move after if your manager continues to drag their feet, but headcount is precious, no manager will get you to just fix minor bugs.
It is really challenging to not be patronizing here. Six months is so little time... But, it was close to nine months after i started at google that threw a little hissy fit in a team meeting. āI can do that. That is something I want to do. Give M something elseā. And that worked out for me.
6 month and a promo-worthy project? Seriously? Pass at least one Perf with EE or SEE, than talk to your manger. If your last rating is CME - get beyond that before even thinking of a promo.
Where did I even mention "promo-worthy"? Just because you think about promo day and night doesn't mean I do it too.
"Career stagnating", "impactful project" kind of imply expectation to get something impactful and good for career in 6 months. Also, if your are not thinking of a promo - why the issue title is about career?
Yoe? Level?
YoE: 2, L3
Do you understand what the rest of the developers are working on? Talk to them, some of them ought to be having more on their plates than they can handle, the senior guys especially.