Hi I’m 31, and the Google recruiter is offering me the option to interview as SWE or manager, since I have a few years of tech lead experience. I also passed the interview as SWE a couple years ago (L4 I believe), but ended up not accepting the offer for other reasons, so they’ve been chasing me every few months ever since. On one hand, I would like to stay purely on a technical track, so I can improve my skills rather than spending my days dealing with people issues and 1:1, and I keep very sharp in my craft. On the other hand, I’m not that young anymore, so getting a manager job could mean better job security and better prospects for the future. What would you say? I assume TC would be roughly the same for this position. Thanks
Pick swe. Humans are much harder to debug than software.
This
If you dont like managing (and dealing with) people then dont become a manager. You’re going to hate it and he comp diff is not going to make up for that
Whoa.... 31 is still young for me... the way I think of it is I got into this field to learn and play with the tech, I can still work with people as a swe. But just dealing with people problems, I would have been a guidance counselor.
Such young managers break shit.. I think you are better at riding the tech unicorn.
SWE. In Google, most managers are SWEs anyways, and only few are pure managers. Plus I believe the salary is lower a touch for pure managers.
You have to want to be a manager because the job is about putting other people's needs before your own. If you aren't sure then you should stay on the SWE track for now and reevaluate in another year. Enjoy the IC life and continue building experience as a lead to get a better feel for management.
31 = “not that young”???? lolol. maybe to help you decide you should go to that tech elder resort (google it) and clear your head.
Stay an IC until it isn’t something you aren’t sure about. You can always move into a management role later at google. If you fail the interview as a manager you won’t be getting in too soon unless they let you try again as a swe
If your looking for work life balance, choose SWE