AMA L6 @ Google
It’s been a while since I did it last. Travelling so have a little time to kill. First job out of college. Grew from l3 to L6 in ~9 years straight out of college. Ask me anything! Happy to help provide any guidance
Talking product sense with Ridhi
9 min AI interview5 questions
Top 3 advice to mid level developers. ?
- focus on knowledge, problem solving and strategic thinking. Only difference between a senior and a staff engineer is the breadth of knowledge and anticipation of issues 6-8 months in advance before they happen
- don’t change jobs to much. Fastest way to meaningfully grow and increase you tc long term is to remain at one place. Switching can give you 2-3 good jumps. But eventually you will saturate. And it will become incredibly harder to grow post that. Stay at one place become an expert. This would mean you will grow slowly initially but knowledge really compounds and so does trust. After a while the growth would be amazing. You will probably be earning more in 10 year time frame if you stay at a place rather than moving every few years
- it’s only a job. Be happy outside of the job. And it will help you be happier in it
Is python better way to crack faang interview? I am devops engineer trying to become SDE
I am having 2.7 yoe and working at Walmart. I see people switching but I feel good in my current team. My manager says that I am a rockstar of the team and nominates me for awards so I am kind of confused whether to switch or not. One thing i feel that my salary wont increase as those who are switching. Current CTC - 36.8 lakhs.
Why do you want to switch? Just salary increase and fomo? I think if you grow in your current company then you can similar increases and long term that can help you increase salary faster. So if there is nothing else stick it out if you feel you are not growing then look out for
FOMO i feel. Actually my relative cracked google L6 and my ex teammate too so got this inner challenge that I too have to switch and get better salary. I know this attitude is wrong so gets a bit confused.
Great man. Finding it very hard to prep for interviews with my basic DSA and system design logic, in need of good money. 3YOE here, how can I improve and hope for the best? Java and Spring Boot Dev here. Less than 1/10th of your CTC. From middle class, so helping my family to lead a luxury from now on.
Drop the pressure. Take it as a job and don’t be afraid to fail. There are no silver bullets here. Keep on working hard. Focus on what you can do and process to get there. You will fail. Have rotten luck but eventually you will get there. Remember, Luck balances out in the long term and hard work compounds. So keep working hard and ignore the results. Just don’t put too much pressure on yourself because that will harm you long term even if you work hard and are good
CTC? :)
What made you stick with Google for 9 years?
Do you not feel like building something of your own/with a smaller team in AI?
CTC: ~2cr.
I have thought about leaving a lot but something or the other came up and never really went through with it. I think after a while interview prep inertia is real, and the ROI on preparing and changing isn’t really worth it imo. I don’t come from wealth so can’t start my own thing yet but maybe someday
What’s your take on Ai replacing software jobs? What should a mid level software engineer do to come out of this fear?
I don’t know. It’s too early. I do think some portion of jobs will be replaced by AI eventually. But I also think there will always be jobs. It will also create new kind of jobs. The only thing I would advice is understand more about the software than just how to code it up. Understand user needs, product impact, business metrics etc. I think future would be more at the confluence of a product managers, ux and a swe. So only people who understand all three will have a significant advantage over people who only code or design
Thanks for the AMA.
Great to see your current CTC. If possible, could you please break it down further for inspiration, like what is your salary progression over the 9 years?
And how's your life changed in terms of lifestyle, expenses and experiences over time with the more money coming in?
Thanks in advance 🙏
I started at 25lpa . Now at 2cr. I don’t really think I have changed a lot. Bought a car recently(nexon) still live at rented place. I like travelling so I take 2-3 trips a year. That’s it. It’s nice to not worry about money but that’s it
Great 👍. That's a good progress.
Just a curiosity question: where are you traveling currently?
I am a java developer having four years of experience. I am average in development and DSA. I want to get better and better and always wants become best in my tech stack. But the issue is I always distracted while learning. Give me some advice to focus on learning so that I can become a 10x developer
Need more to answer. Why do you get distracted?
Not sure may be I am habitual
I am working in Accenture not from top tier college i have good technical skills However I am unable to get a single interview with Google everytime I get mail saying my profile is not considered How I can get an interview I know programming langs like python Java. currently working on salesforce industry cloud.
Try to get into 2-3 tier product companies and then try Google. It’s unlikely you will get interview call straight from Google.