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> Google is the place you go to retire after 40 I don't get this honestly. About 1%-2% of devs will manage to work at a FAANG, that's it (correct me if I'm wro

> Google is the place you go to retire after 40 I don't get this honestly. About 1%-2% of devs will manage to work at a FAANG, that's it (correct me if I'm wrong). The rest of us will grind code somewhere else. I'm 40 and I'm staying put in the startup I'm currently working for because I like the people and it's not a sweatshop. Eventually I'll find something else. I'm more worried about A.I making me irrelevant than my age.

dartos 2y ago
Is grinding code at a FAANG really that different?
- willismichael 2y ago
  I think that the intention of the FAANG comment is that statistically speaking there is only so much room for people at those companies. Not everybody is going to land there.
- fatnoah 2y ago
  > Is grinding code at a FAANG really that different? It probably depends on where you're coming from. I was an Engineering manager at a FAANG, and roughly 80% of my 1:1's with my team revolved around their performance, or lack thereof, with 5% devoted to supporting mental health, and 15% around general topics such as what they were working on. I had 3 managers in two years, and with one we mostly talked about strategy, goals, and what we're working on. With the other two, it was always about my performance and that of my team. It was a very high-pressure environment. The types of people who succeed long term are those that are good at playing the game or who naturally will do the required things to get good ratings. In return, you get fantastic pay. I didn't quite hit 7 figures in compensation, but if I'd stayed another year to ride more of the run-up, I would have come close to $2M for a year. All that said, there was some really interesting work and great teams. While it sucked as a manager, I think 30 year old me would have loved it as an IC.
  - sharmajai 2y ago
    I am 100% sure that company is the F in FAANG.
    - fatnoah 2y ago
      You would be correct, though I guess it's now the M in FAANG.
- sangnoir 2y ago
  > Is grinding code at a FAANG really that different? On paper, code is code. In reality, grinding code at a FAANG has a lot more "performance anxiety" and is generally more competitive, and likely worse mental health but pays way more. YMMV by company, vertical, team and manager.
lazycog512 2y ago
Where do white males go? Obviously they can't go to Google...
- tyrust 2y ago
  https://about.google/belonging/diversity-annual-report/2023/ https://about.google/belonging/diversity-annual-report/2023/ In 2023, 31.7% of the workforce was white males (page 15).
  - 93po 2y ago
    i dont want to contribute to crying over the difficulties of white men, but the more honest stat would be what percent of the hiring in 2023/2024 was white men https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/about.google/en//belonging/diversity-annual-report/2023/static/pdfs/google_2023_diversity_annual_report.pdf?cachebust=2943cac https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/about.google/en//... the hiring of white people is about the same, and the hiring of men is actually a little bit higher between 2022 and 2023 the interesting take-away here is mostly that there is an increase of hiring of people who are asian while people who are black or latinx are in decline
    - tyrust 2y ago
      No worries, you make a good point. Thanks for the assist.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- kridsdale1 2y ago
  Am white male. Am at Google. Your comment is bad and you should feel bad.
bluGill 2y ago
1-2% at a FAANG seems way to high. There are a lot of other companies out there hiring people. Some of them are great places to work, some of them are not.

dartos 2y ago

Is grinding code at a FAANG really that different?

willismichael 2y ago
I think that the intention of the FAANG comment is that statistically speaking there is only so much room for people at those companies. Not everybody is going to land there.
fatnoah 2y ago
> Is grinding code at a FAANG really that different? It probably depends on where you're coming from. I was an Engineering manager at a FAANG, and roughly 80% of my 1:1's with my team revolved around their performance, or lack thereof, with 5% devoted to supporting mental health, and 15% around general topics such as what they were working on. I had 3 managers in two years, and with one we mostly talked about strategy, goals, and what we're working on. With the other two, it was always about my performance and that of my team. It was a very high-pressure environment. The types of people who succeed long term are those that are good at playing the game or who naturally will do the required things to get good ratings. In return, you get fantastic pay. I didn't quite hit 7 figures in compensation, but if I'd stayed another year to ride more of the run-up, I would have come close to $2M for a year. All that said, there was some really interesting work and great teams. While it sucked as a manager, I think 30 year old me would have loved it as an IC.
- sharmajai 2y ago
  I am 100% sure that company is the F in FAANG.
  - fatnoah 2y ago
    You would be correct, though I guess it's now the M in FAANG.
sangnoir 2y ago
> Is grinding code at a FAANG really that different? On paper, code is code. In reality, grinding code at a FAANG has a lot more "performance anxiety" and is generally more competitive, and likely worse mental health but pays way more. YMMV by company, vertical, team and manager.

lazycog512 2y ago

Where do white males go? Obviously they can't go to Google...

tyrust 2y ago
https://about.google/belonging/diversity-annual-report/2023/ https://about.google/belonging/diversity-annual-report/2023/ In 2023, 31.7% of the workforce was white males (page 15).
- 93po 2y ago
  i dont want to contribute to crying over the difficulties of white men, but the more honest stat would be what percent of the hiring in 2023/2024 was white men https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/about.google/en//belonging/diversity-annual-report/2023/static/pdfs/google_2023_diversity_annual_report.pdf?cachebust=2943cac https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/about.google/en//... the hiring of white people is about the same, and the hiring of men is actually a little bit higher between 2022 and 2023 the interesting take-away here is mostly that there is an increase of hiring of people who are asian while people who are black or latinx are in decline
  - tyrust 2y ago
    No worries, you make a good point. Thanks for the assist.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
kridsdale1 2y ago
Am white male. Am at Google. Your comment is bad and you should feel bad.

bluGill 2y ago

1-2% at a FAANG seems way to high. There are a lot of other companies out there hiring people. Some of them are great places to work, some of them are not.