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I was 37 when I joined Google in a senior IC role in 2008, so nearly my entire 40's. It's still work, there are still issues with coworkers and there's still st
by guyzero 7y ago
I was 37 when I joined Google in a senior IC role in 2008, so nearly my entire 40's. It's still work, there are still issues with coworkers and there's still stress compared to the startups I used to work at. The company isn't going to go out of business but you can still get a manager who doesn't communicate well and gives you bad performance reviews as a result. Google turns over more employees in a month than the entire headcount of some of my previous companies. And GOOG is a huge company - if anyone says it's either great or horrible that's probably true for them, but it doesn't mean much for what your experience is going to be. I honestly don't think that being young is really much of an advantage one way or other here - there are successful people in the 40's here, even ICs, there are a lot of new grads who wash out after a year or two and go elsewhere. Big companies have much more idiosyncratic tech stacks so knowing any particular technical skill isn't that huge a deal as we probably don't use it anyway. Know the basics, know how to write, know how to manage up.
edit: reading some other comments I think it's easier to be an older IC at big companies than startups/small companies. But whether you should pursue a management track is a completely different question.
- jamesrcole 7y agoIf anyone else isn’t familiar with ‘IC’, it seems it stands for “individual contributor” (as opposed to a role where you're managing others). Correct me if I’m wrong.
- sfgweilr4f 7y ago[was] IC =worker. [updated] IC = worker with management tendencies but more technical knowledge. [kept] Ok then. Helpful. Corporatespeak is often just jargon creation to exclude others for whatever reason. [edit expansion] Worker who is not manager but has manager skills sufficient to orchestrate as needed to deliver a result in required manner. Knowledge level exceeds expectation normally associated with a classic "pure" manager.
- jeffshek 7y agoNot quite, the term IC also comes with connotation you don’t want to be a manager track. Many software engineers (including myself) much prefer the IC route.
- sfgweilr4f 7y agoso... a not-just-a-worker who is manager level in terms of ability to orchestrate but is knowledgeable in excess of typical expectations for that of a classical "pure" manager. Ok I probably mangled this but IC just paid for itself in my mind via increased understanding, nuance and useful brevity.
- inimino 7y agoIt doesn't imply "manager level". Anyone can be an IC at any level. It might imply "not on a manager track" but strictly just means "not a manager right now". Since it is the opposite of "manager" it might have all kinds of connotations due to being where that distinction is relevant, but the denotation is still just a technical role with zero reports.
- maxheadroom 7y ago>...but strictly just means "not a manager right now". There's also the verisimilitude that it can also mean an inferred ceiling. For example, Principal <whatever area> Engineer role[s] at Microsoft is [are] typically the highest that you can go - if you stick to the IC (read: non-managerial) track[s].
- Thorrez 7y agoIt's an abbreviation. It's used to save time. I don't want to waste away typing Hyper Text Transfer Protocol.
- sfgweilr4f 7y agoYou just did.
- hiram112 7y agoHaha, thanks. Too much political investigation news for me these days. What the hell does working at FAANG in your 40s have to do with the Intelligence Community?