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Do you even 'staff' engineer? :)) I'm also a staff SWE (not at Google) and I find it hard to believe there are no resources for senior+ ICs in a place that's s

Do you even 'staff' engineer? :)) I'm also a staff SWE (not at Google) and I find it hard to believe there are no resources for senior+ ICs in a place that's supposedly engineering-driven. I've been bombarded with 'leading without authority' and 'influence'-like trainings since forever in my current workplace...

etse 5y ago
By resources the parent comment seemed to emphasize lack of “community”, and not training.
- decebalus1 5y ago
  are there equivalent communities for other roles?
QuercusMax 5y ago
At Google these trainings are almost exclusively for managers. They used to have a quarterly class for non-managers but it was always oversubscribed. Managers have a network: lots of manager-focused meetings, trainings, perf rating calibration sessions, etc. Even if they don't work on the same projects they'll have much more interaction than ICs and TLs have which each other. ICs and TLs who work on different projects have to seek each other out, and there's no official forum for this.
- hiptobecubic 5y ago
  leading without authority is literally a course on Google's internal training site. You can just sign up for it. I did. It was good. Later I lead a session on it, which was also fun. The resources are certainly there at Google, but you do have to dig them up yourself. If you're a manager you're required to do them.
  - QuercusMax 5y ago
    You've ironically proved my point - there may be resources like this, but they require much more effort to access. Furthermore, like of a mandate means that those who aren't required to take the class may not even be aware that it exists. If you're a manager who hasn't taken Managing Within the Law or whatever, you may get in trouble, but as an IC you don't even get the option!
    - hiptobecubic 5y ago
      I don't see how this proves your point. It's like saying there is no way to get an education because no one forced you to go to university. You can go on grow and search for "classes on leadership" or whatever else you're looking for and it will appear. It's not like you have to guess the title ahead of time. Grow is quite literally a course catalog.
- lokar 5y ago
  There are organized programs and support at principal
  - QuercusMax 5y ago
    Well I'll be sure to get promoted twice in order to qualify! At that level they're probably paying you upwards of $1M/year, so they'd better support you

etse 5y ago

By resources the parent comment seemed to emphasize lack of “community”, and not training.

decebalus1 5y ago
are there equivalent communities for other roles?

QuercusMax 5y ago

At Google these trainings are almost exclusively for managers. They used to have a quarterly class for non-managers but it was always oversubscribed. Managers have a network: lots of manager-focused meetings, trainings, perf rating calibration sessions, etc. Even if they don't work on the same projects they'll have much more interaction than ICs and TLs have which each other. ICs and TLs who work on different projects have to seek each other out, and there's no official forum for this.

hiptobecubic 5y ago
leading without authority is literally a course on Google's internal training site. You can just sign up for it. I did. It was good. Later I lead a session on it, which was also fun. The resources are certainly there at Google, but you do have to dig them up yourself. If you're a manager you're required to do them.
- QuercusMax 5y ago
  You've ironically proved my point - there may be resources like this, but they require much more effort to access. Furthermore, like of a mandate means that those who aren't required to take the class may not even be aware that it exists. If you're a manager who hasn't taken Managing Within the Law or whatever, you may get in trouble, but as an IC you don't even get the option!
  - hiptobecubic 5y ago
    I don't see how this proves your point. It's like saying there is no way to get an education because no one forced you to go to university. You can go on grow and search for "classes on leadership" or whatever else you're looking for and it will appear. It's not like you have to guess the title ahead of time. Grow is quite literally a course catalog.
lokar 5y ago
There are organized programs and support at principal
- QuercusMax 5y ago
  Well I'll be sure to get promoted twice in order to qualify! At that level they're probably paying you upwards of $1M/year, so they'd better support you