Situation: 1. Currently a director of engineering. Salary - 200K$, YOE - 11 years. 2. Applied to Engineering management and SRE management roles at google, didn't pass interviews. 3. Currently in process of interviewing for TPM role at google. Pros: 1. Get into Google. 2. 50 to 100% increase in salary. 3. Increase future job aspects. 4. Remove possibility of lay-off since my current product not doing well. Cons: 1. Move closer to the city, doubling housing costs. 2. Currently working from home all the time. At google, this may not happen. 3. Would not be managing people, loose the management track path. Questions: 1. If i go from engineering director to TPM role, at a later point, when i apply for management role at google, would hiring folks consider my previous non-google management experience? 2. Would i look better applying for management role once i am inside google as compared to applying from outside? 3. Am i better off looking for management roles in other companies? 4. Would google consider people from TPM to engineering management, SRE management, TPM management, support management etc.? Thank you.
Try for a true EM role elsewhere before you resort to G. Don't tarnish yourself with TPM on the resume unless it was early on in your career. Having said that, if you've gotta be a TPM somewhere, G is probably the best place.
Thank you for the response. I feel it’s early on in my career. Would TPM at google make it harder to get into management elsewhere , even though I have previous management experience ?
Not necessarily. But it would interrupt the development of your career as people manager.
Don’t do it
You can move back and forth between EM and TPM, especially if you have previous people management experience. The TPM role will give you good exposure across the company and you actually might like being an IC for a while. If you find a team you like as a TPM, you can then kick off the process to internally transfer back to an EM.
Thank you for the response. Let’s say I like the first team I work on , I can ask my manager to make me move to the EM role for the team ? Would this move need a job opening that’s posted on google careers ? What would be the interview process like ?(same as I would apply from outside or different )
The good thing about a TPM is you get exposed to multiple teams. You may not like the team you are a TPM for, but you’ll build a good network. Usually there’s internal job postings, you can find one you like and set up an informal chat with the hiring manager. I would get into FANG and then go from there. You may even like the TPM position better.
Did u interview both SRE, EM roles at the same time??
Not at same time.
So one year gap between interviews?
OP, Were you referred ? And did you choose all three EM, SRE EM, and TPM ? I believe they allow three choices
No. These were not done simultaneously. The SRE and EM roles were interviewed at different times The latest one i am interviewing for is TPM. Sometimes refereed , sometimes directly applied
Lots of very junior SWEs here giving bad answers. Truth is that external hire managers are frequently unsuccessful due to culture reasons. Joining as TPM gives you time to ramp and learn culture. It also gives you exposure to directors and VPs which most SWEs don't have. TPM is the default role for managers on the bench. In a year, if you want, you'll find a team needing a manager. In my case, I just started doing the job and didn't even ask. Next thing I knew, I was the official team manager.
Thank you google for the response. I feel lot better after reading your response. In terms of actual transition - 1) do you need to go thru an official interview process like an external candidate would ? Or 2) you simply talk to hiring manager and move to the management role ?
FAANG... companies are known for, and relish, downleveling candidates for right or wrong. You can most certainly move back and forth between IC and manager, but you're not likely to jump from IC to Director. To other's point about returning to management you will need to work on the T part of PM; You'll need it to lead an engineering team who is often operating at the edge of advanced technology. Joining FAANG, like everything else, has its pros and cons. Depending on where you want to go it will open or close doors for you. You may also find, assuming you become a strong performer, that you're out of place at less bold and tech savvy companies. My thoughts, echoing others, is if TC is acceptable then take IC so you can find your footing. It's one thing for you to screw up and another thing for you to screw up a team/group.
Thank you for your detailed response. I do want to go back into management layer, Whether it be manager of TPM or engineers. I will try and keep my technical side sharp. I see your point of - if I want to become a engineering manager, I need to keep technicals sharp I will be focusing on technical design learning and contributing to the project in technical ways. TC is more than acceptable. Having FANG on resume is a big value add The old product is under high threat. All the above factors , made me take the fang role. Now hope is , I learn well here and move swiftly back into management
What did you eventually do, OP ?
Hi , I took the FANG opportunity at google
Congrats, do you see the pathway to EM roles at Google now ?
OP, do you see any sign of becoming an Engineering manager now at G?
How about trying for other companies in FAANGMULLA ? You will likely crack EM interviews there. Many of these are comparable to Google as far as TC is concerned. They may or may not match the aura of Google. Thanks to Google downlevels this is quite a prevalent problem unfortunately
Thank you for the response. Have only tried Microsoft earlier long time back, didn’t clear their initial coding round. The issue I am facing is - I am based out of east coast and almost all the FANGULLA jobs are out of west coast Based on stories here wrt cost of living in west coast , I am hesitant to move there
I know that problem. Number of vacancies on the East coast are much lesser , but they are there