I used to make far less than I do now, in a medium size private company. Almost 3x difference. I was absolutely joyous when I got the offer. After a few years at Google, I don't even know if I am happier now compared to back then. I worked on more interesting projects and owned them close to end to end. There basically wasn't any perf - there was a yearly one, but it was very low pressure. Overall, I just had more fun and less stress working. At Google, it feels like I'm just a slave moving bytes around. It's not even that my current team/manager are bad - they are great in fact - but I think it's more company/project fit. This is showing up in my performance too - since I don't feel much passion or motivation, I end up doing mediocre work (I've been getting mostly CMEs..). I dont know, maybe it's the covid depression. Maybe it's just rose tinted glasses of nostalgia. Thinking about quitting and taking a break, then joining a smaller size company with projects that interest me, even if it's for less pay. I've even thought about doing a complete career pivot, or going to grad school. I don't know. Whatever I do, I hope I don't regret it. Just wanted to rant / let my misery out. TC:320K L4
Struggling with the same thing right now, you are not alone
I heard tech is seeing a lot of resignations, so wouldn't surprise me if covid tipped a lot of people over who were struggling with this.
There are a few things money can't buy. Guess this is one them. YOLO, after you've crossed the 'comfortable living' income threshold, you should do what your heart desires.
I agree. The extra 100k or whatever is pretty much doing nothing for me. Maybe I will feel different if I had to support a family but right now, I pretty much just stash everything in a bank/investment anyways.
It’s doing nothing now but you’ll retire with millions more
Yes software dev jobs in big companies are mundane. Especially the work in the cloud is all about devops.
Have had many of the same thoughts especially about going to grad school. I’d recommend looking for other teams/work that are exciting. That’s one huge benefit of being a large tech company like Google, there’s tons of different teams there’s got to be one internally that’s far more exciting. Maybe try that one out?
I dont know if I'll actually be able to transfer internally to an interesting team, since I have a number of CMEs at L4. I don't know if I even want to, I feel pretty burned out. If I were to make a move, it would definitely be take a break first.
Switch teams
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Being a god at a small/medium company is definitely more fun and less stressful than being an average engineer at a top-tier large tech company. I feel this.