I left Google!

I left Google.

I left Google!!

:O
Uff, that's taking a while to sink in.
I walked around campus one last time, and the place is just full of memories.

I spent exactly 6 years there. In one team. I took a project from proof of concept to production.

And yet, I am as happy to leave as I was when I first joined!

(read about how I felt when I got into Google here.)

What a full circle of emotion :D

I have great things to say about Google,
it really is a company that takes care of its employees.
You get 3 meals a day,
a gym and shower in every major city you travel to,
colleagues from all around the world that become great friends,
and social recognition from everyone you know.

And yet, I chose to leave.

Why, you ask?

Well, we all want different things in different phases of our lives.
In this phase of life, here's what I am looking for:

• At Google, I was in a 99 -> 99.99 project.
  Now, I want a 1 -> 99.
  
  I want a scale up where the company has roughly defined the domain they're in and they know what they want to build, but a big part of it is yet to be built.
  In contrast, the work I've done at Google especially in the last 3 years was extremely challenging - but most of it required months of alignment and the effective code changes were small.
  
  
• At Google, I worked closely with a team with 9 hour timezone difference.
  Now, I want a geographically closely located team.
  
  Humans work better when they can talk to each other.
  I don't mind working remotely - I just want to be able to discuss things in the morning, and have my team available during the day to chat and unblock each other.
  
  
• Google has proven itself already.
  I want a company that needs to prove itself.
  
  Big companies tend to move slow because they've got all eyes on them.
  Look here for example - there's a whole website tracking what we do at Android Auto :O
  Any time a public company messes things up, it's a hit on their reputation, and on their stock price.
  And so they tend to tread carefully.
  I want to be at a place that can afford moving fast.
  
  
• Google's monetary rewards are tied to promotions.
  I want a company that rewards out of band.
  
  This may be a strange ask - but being such a huge company, the salaries tend to be very fixed in buckets.
  If I've provided more value than we originally aligned on at the start of the year, I want to be proportionately rewarded.
  

And that's why I left Google.
I loved my time there, and I am glad to have met everyone I did.
And I'm really happy with the decision! 🚀

2019 -> 2025 :D