Google downlevel, thoughts?

Dec 14, 2021 80 Comments

Yes I know this question has been beaten to death, then beaten to death again

And again

Then nuked from orbit and shot into the sun

But Google offered L3 after interviewing for L4

P sure it’s an upgrade still, but I’m uneasy being another newb engineer

Can someone give me pro/cons of taking this L3 offer?

TC: 140 (Remote)
YOE: 5 (Don’t take up level offers folks, that’s how you get fired)

#google

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TOP 80 Comments
  • Kroger / IT
    soliloquy

    Go to company page Kroger IT

    soliloquy
    What was the offer? Lol
    Dec 14, 2021 12
    • Google
      wut22

      Go to company page Google

      wut22
      I agree joining Amazon is not a good advice. Agree with the other commenter that in grand scheme of things being pushed back by a couple of years is not a big deal. But you need to work on this if you end up joining G and try to get to L4 asap.

      Did you interview anywhere else? Why did you get L3 instead of L4 after the interview? Work on your weaknesses in interviewing.
      Dec 14, 2021
    • Well, frankly, Google downlevels are arbitrary and there’s nothing to be worked on here. If they want to downlevel because an interviewer wanted to give out a lot of hints is outside my control
      Dec 14, 2021
  • Amazon pip and Google downlevel posts take up my 80% of feed here nowadays.
    Dec 14, 2021 1
  • 5 yoe is not early career. Turn down L3
    Dec 14, 2021 0
  • Google
    havavf

    Go to company page Google

    BIO
    havavf
    G = Slow career growth. If you’re starting with a down level, then you are going to lose many many years in comparison to your peers. Unless this is some amazing teams at google doing cool stuff (Brain, etc) don’t take it. Plenty of other better companies hiring, just interview more. Worst case, G offer is valid for a year.
    Dec 14, 2021 0
  • NVIDIA
    thyrsaadm

    Go to company page NVIDIA

    thyrsaadm
    What’s the offer ? If it’s more than your current TC.. take it. 5 yoe is nothing in the grad scheme of things. You can use your experience to get to L4 faster. And having google on your resume helps if you want to switch later. If you had 7+ yoe, I’d say l3 is down level.
    Dec 14, 2021 4
    • Amazon
      pURO28

      Go to company page Amazon

      pURO28
      I have seen people with 4 YOE at AWS get senior and E5 at Netflix/FB. Google senior at 5 YOE is definitely doable given interview performance.

      Problem is 5 years at AWS is not considered the same as 5 years at Capital One, rightly or wrongly, both in terms of scale and execution.
      Dec 14, 2021
    • Google / Eng
      JimKerrig

      Go to company page Google Eng

      PRE
      Google
      JimKerrig
      Not saying it doesn’t happen. Of course many 5yoe get L5/E5 but I think that’s a small minority. You think that’s common reading blind but it’s not. I have rarely met any external L5 hire at google that have less than 7-8yoe
      Dec 14, 2021