As an engineer, I don't have to work for you (where "you" is any particular manager or director). This is incredibly important because it puts strict limits on

As an engineer, I don't have to work for you (where "you" is any particular manager or director). This is incredibly important because it puts strict limits on how much crap you can be given because (assuming you're in good standing) you can request a transfer to any team that will take you (within limits and your existing manager can delay you but can't block you) True for Real Googlers. Real Googler status used to be informally conferred at Senior SWE but now it's somewhere between Senior SWE and Staff SWE. Real Googlers can pull a Yegge (quit their project in public). Peasants get PIP'd by their managers if they are seen talking to TLs from other teams (transfer risk) in the microkitchen.