What happens to extremely early joiners at companies that eventually reach FAANG status?
I'm talking about people who were talented enough to make the cut when the company was small and needed anyone who could help them grow, but these days wouldn't even have their resumes looked at. Do the companies find low-level jobs to keep them in? Manage them out through bullying? Straight up say, "You were good enough when we were small, but not now. Here's a month's pay as severance; you're fired."
There's nothing special for early employees vs later in this topic. If you are capable, you will continue to grow in your career, if not, stay at a terminal level, or leave/fired, depending on company culture.
My company used to be a 'let them stay at terminal level' but is moving toward the 'bully them out' strategy. Obviously I'm not happy about it.
It’s not unreasonable for companies to expect professionals to grow as they progress in their career. You get paid for what you provide this pay period, not in the past.
The hiring bar is usually higher earlier in the company's life, not lower. Companies usually take great care with their early hires, and they are usually very strong.
That's interesting, particularly for Google which must get hundreds of thousands of applicants per year these days. My company (Rakuten) used to have a much lower hiring bar than now - I got in easily back in the day and was a solid contributor, but can't keep up these days.
Generally speaking, you rise up or will eventually be pushed out. Only variable being how long your leash is.
Thought as much. As you might guess, I'm facing this problem as my company gets bigger.