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<holds envelope to forehead> Because you made enough money that it was an affordable risk? Yes, perf is garbage and management is chaos, but let's be honest wi
by jpm_sd 9y ago
<holds envelope to forehead> Because you made enough money that it was an affordable risk?
Yes, perf is garbage and management is chaos, but let's be honest with ourselves. Four years' worth of GSUs oughta be enough for anybody.
"Devoted employee" followed by "expert at gaming the perf system" followed by "project cancelled and adrift" is, sadly, the normal progression for a Googler, from what I've seen.
- smcl 9y agoWhat is a "GSU"?
- cmrdporcupine 9y agoGoogle Stock Unit
- jpm_sd 9y agoGoogle Stock Unit, internal term for RSU
- Nicksil 9y agoI'm guessing RSU stands for Restructured Scientific Umbilical?
- joshuamorton 9y agoRestricted stock unit. Stock compensation in the form of actual shares (not options) that vest over some time period.
- mtlynch 9y agoThe compensation made it both easier and harder to leave. Easier because I had a giant safety net squirreled away, harder because they kept offering more.
- tehlike 9y ago"Four years' worth of GSUs oughta be enough for anybody." No. Not even close. There's a reason it's called golden handcuffs. It all depends on where you are in life. If you have a mortgage, it won't be enough depending on the house you have. If you don't have a house, you will have a lot of FOMO. Big time. It's all about pscyhology - you need exactly 0$ if you are dedicated and don't have dependencies. Ok, let's say just couple thousand for a room and food.
- jpm_sd 9y agoI thought "oughta be enough for anybody" was an obvious "640KB" joke, but maybe I'm just old. Anyway, it certainly is enough money to appropriately cushion an attempt at freelancing. And the best thing to do after leaving a job at Google is to move somewhere cheaper!
- phamilton 9y ago> "640KB" "$640K in GSU over 4 years ought o be enough for anybody" That's actually the ballpark for a senior engineer.
- fancyfacebook 9y agoYes that's how money works, if you start spending lots of it then you won't have it.
- utellme 9y agoWhenever anybody pays you good salary or even adds stock shares to it, doesn't mean they can wipe their feet on your personal attitude or consider your job efforts as garbage. If author wanted to express this opinion I completely agree.
- KKKKkkkk1 9y agoHow is four years of GSUs enough? Four years is in the low six digits. Being financially secure in the Bay Area requires an order of magnitude more than that.
- fatjokes 9y agoThe author is in New York and presumably intends to stay there. I'm fairly certain four years of post-tax GSUs won't last him long.