Meta red-zone E4 -> Google L5

Sharing my story in case it's useful to anyone, but mostly to brag.

I was an E4 in the red-zone (meaning about to be PIPed if I wasn't promoted) and also about to hit my cliff. WLB was terrible but the money was great, I took in ~440k in 2021 due to stock appreciation. Had been looking around since February post-PSC when it was clear I wasn't going to be a great fit for E5 and finally got an offer at G in December -- (I was looking for something very specific and happy to take my time while the money at FB was good). Offer was for L5 which was super surprising because I thought I did badly in the system design interview.

A couple days before I gave notice in my 1:1 with skip they told me I wasn't a strong E4 let alone E5-material. My manager suggested that MS rating and PIP was incoming. My manager seemed really confused when I just said "okay...".

Anyway to sum up:
* Post-cliff forecasted TC at Meta, assuming I was promoted (at time of decision): ~350k
* More realistic TC forecast at Meta: 0k due to red zone pip
* New TC at G (at time of decision): ~370k (+50k sign on)

Moreover,
* GSUs already up 7% compared to granted price due to great timing with earnings, pushing forecasted TC to ~380k
* Meta drop would have pushed down expected TC there to ~330k
* My 401k was mid-rollover and therefore out of the market for the big January drop
* G just raised PTO and baby leave to approximately the same as Meta which was a hesitation for me since I'll probably have a second kid in 2023

(note: normally red-zone is 33 months and obviously cliff is 48 months. In my case I lasted longer as E4 due to covid pausing clock for 6 months, 4 months baby leave, and a few months on covid-related childcare leave)