Director of Engineering at Google. Slow first week at work and too much caffeine. Happy to answer any questions. TC > $1.5M To all those asking for career related tips, Blind converted this AMA into a nice summary: https://www.teamblind.com/blog/index.php/2022/01/11/google-director-engineering-1-5-million-career-advice/
What level did you start at?
At Google? I joined as L8 a year ago.
Thanks
as a start
Was it worth it?
Yes. I enjoy most aspects of what I do.
What's the biggest cultural differences between Google, Amazon, Apple, and PayPal?
Great question. Amazon: Project Management and Delivery Machine. Average engineers, amazing processes and mechanisms. Hard to coast here. Google: Research heavy. Average project management, great at giving freedom and space to techies to innovate. Easier to coast here but those who want to here, can change the world. These two companies have completely different approaches. Apple - difficult to say. Itβs quirky, secretive, but values engineering talent. PayPal - Right domain at the right time (early leader). Chaotic.
Apple's culture is based around cross functional collaboration iirc. Their internal storytelling is "we're the best in the world at combining disparate disciplines." Take that as you may.
What has been your favourite team/product to work on and why?
How do you honestly compare cultures across the companies you worked at
Answered above.
How long did you stay at each company?
Between 2 to 5.
Do you do leetcode and if so, how many problems have you done?
downvote
I add much more value by setting strategy and roadmaps. Amazing leetcoders like yourself help execute.
Advice to someone looking to grow from l3/l4 level?
A good engineer is not the smartest, but the one who uplifts the team, understands what managers want, and is a great peer and report to work with. Obviously good programming chops are important.
Interview in another company for L4.
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Aha I should add that. Not a frequent Blind user. 16.
That's impressive. Congratulations