Here's me: 20+ years in software development, stalled career. I've had software engineering jobs at several mid size companies and two jobs at one faang. I have been a technical leader of small teams, but nothing like where I think I could have been. Not a principal engineer. Not a director of development. I was a L5 SDE2 for under 2 years and got Pivot'ed out of Amazon. I found the environment toxic and hated working there (2 separate tours, once as a TPM). Currently I have a government job, the workload is a joke and I feel like I'm wasting time. Leading a small team but getting rusty with tech. I work with really nice people but not developing any technical skills. I am considering "training" for a job search. Interview prep, online tutorials of tech that I'm not great at (e.g. React or other "hot" skills) Considering a job search at my age (not quite 50 but close) where I might be doing the same role as people half my age - if I try to join faang or similar big company. I suck at leetcode, so if you ask me to recurse into a tree on a white board, I'm going to blow it. My LinkedIn profile seems more impressive than I feel. I'm getting contacted by recruiters. I got a Google recruiter, and I'm wondering if I should entertain the thought. I don't think Google is a nightmare like Amazon, nor like what I've heard about Meta (fka FB). I am better at being a leader of a small team and enabling engineers to work with their obstacles cleared, and balancing dependencies, understanding and mitigating risks etc - rather than writing code and figuring out what directory the xml config file goes in. But I don't mind writing code either. I don't need to climb a career ladder and become a director or VP of engineering. I would like a role where I can do what I'm good at, work with cool people, not be put through a grinder, and not jump through hoops toward "growth" and goals. I just want to work with other engineers where we solve problems and build and fix things. And not feel like garbage. Any general advice, and about Google in particular?
The right startups could be a fit?
If your cs foundation is weak (eg if you don’t know how to iterate BST) you probably won’t be pass Google interviews You probably have better chances at Microsoft
Na, Microsoft’s technical interviews are no joke as well
Microsoft has the lowest bar. Used to work there. Things are pretty hell in general.
Google is the right way to go for you.
There are businesses like Interview Kickstart or interviewing.io that get you up to speed for interviews.
This sounds like a really good fit at Google if you get the right teams. I would recommend trying out an engineering manager interview - and if you get to team fit being upfront about what you want with the hiring manager. One thing to keep in mind though is that you will have to get rid of age == seniority mindset. There will be many people who are much younger than you who will be significantly above you in the management chain. Or your peers might indeed be 20 years younger than you. Just try to be objective and you should be fine. If you go in equating age with competency then it's going to be a bad experience tbh.
I read OP's post differently - that OP is concerned OP won't be considered or won't keep up with those who are younger. Not a seniority = better mindset, but the opposite.
Yeah that's a fair concern but based on the thousands of people I have managed so far in my teams usually if you can get through the interview you will do fine. OP you should not worry too much about it.
pursue Engineering manager route
Why do you assume you are not worth it and your skills are outdated! Don't sell yourself short. Interview and see what life might offer you. Whatever hot skills you are talking about it's just a sugar coat and software programming didn't really change much.
I’d suggest pursuing a TPM or PgM role at Google. It gets a rap here on Blind, but lots of super smart TPMs at Google who can’t pass leetcode style interviews, but still influence project execution and be in the thick of things.
Your experience and learnings certainly will come through in any interview! Has the recruiter confirmed that you can be a candidate for EM role… since you say small team . Otherwise Googlers can advise if an external EM hire should already be managing a team of minimum x folks for y years. Good luck!