At google everyone is a TL smh. The L3 is a TL of config files and the L9 is the Uber TL of Ads Infra. You will get promoted to L6 if your work was the reason why a number of important projects of enough complexity and impact were done. You dont have to be a TL for that though it certainly helps. In my team no one less than L7 is a TL but people do keep on getting promoted.
Question: Does this mean there are L5s who aren’t TLs? I would think an L5 directs some project and hands it off to L3s/L4s to do the actual work. I guess a non-TL L5 would be necessary if there aren’t enough L3s/L4s to complete the project, or possibly a recently hired L5 trying to ramp up.
This an incredibly naive question. L5s write a lot of code. Even L6 and L7s write code. The kind of leadership pattern you describe where work is handed off to juniors to be completed is rarely seen in FAANG
Yes, it is a naive question as I don’t work in any FAANG company. I was confused by the TL comment as I don’t understand how this term is used. I have had worked with mid level engineers (L4s) who acted as TLs on projects where I (senior) didn’t know anything about them. I didn’t know if TL is an official title which means more of a delegator.
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You will get promoted to L6 if your work was the reason why a number of important projects of enough complexity and impact were done. You dont have to be a TL for that though it certainly helps. In my team no one less than L7 is a TL but people do keep on getting promoted.