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> My mentor suggested to stay at Google until I find an interesting startup idea to work on. This is a sound piece of advice. However, it looks like you're ve
by jalayir 9y ago
> My mentor suggested to stay at Google until I find an interesting startup idea to work on.
This is a sound piece of advice.
However, it looks like you're very keen on traveling. Maybe you can take a 3-month unpaid sabbatical from Google, and see what it feels like?
- sova 9y agoRadical Sabbatical
- throwaway-1209 9y agoJunior SWEs don't get a sabbatical, unpaid or otherwise.
- clort 9y agoHow long before they can?
- throwaway-1209 9y agoIt's been a few years since I left, I don't remember. I do remember there are level and performance requirements, too, and there's no guarantee that they hold your old spot for you when you come back. So you do very much depend on the benevolence of your corporate masters.
- falsedan 9y agoHow about plain-old unpaided leave?
- throwaway-1209 9y ago6 months "to travel"? Your manager will laugh you out of the conference room. A month, that should be doable.
- falsedan 9y agoAs a manager, I would listen to the IC's request, say "I'll see what options are available, let's come back to this next week in out 1-to-1", and then go to my boss to see how much time we can offer/how to implement a vesting holiday. If the options are: lose someone for 6 months, or lose someone completely; I'd push strongly for the former.
- throwaway-1209 9y agoYou're a better manager than any of the ones I had at Google. That said, your boss might laugh _you_ out of the room, bringing us back to square one. He/she doesn't cherish the idea of hiring a replacement for the duration, or scaling back what he/she promised to _his/her_ boss (whew, those gender pronouns make it a mouthful). It's one thing if you need to care for a sick relative or something, any tech company will make accommodations. But to "travel" so you could gestate your startup idea -- that's pretty much a GTFO right off the bat.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- falsedan 9y ago> That said, your boss might laugh _you_ out of the room, bringing us back to square one. That's been my experience as well, but I did manage to get that dev 3 months (up from 6 weeks).
- nakedrobot2 9y agoBecause... Sitting in a cubicle doing a job you don't like is a great inspiration to find startup ideas?
- wand3r 9y agoProbably. Def good place for high caliber cofounders.