I Left at Google - Here's Why

Summary

In this video, the speaker reflects on their decision to leave Google, a company with a market cap surpassing many countries' GDPs, known for its high employee perks and dream-like work environment. Despite Google's prestige and benefits, the speaker cites three main reasons for their departure: the fear of layoffs and subsequent reorganizations, the desire for new challenges and learning opportunities, and the pursuit of better compensation. They share their experience of Google's 20% project, which allows employees to explore other areas of interest, and discuss the impact of organizational size on work pace and learning. The speaker also highlights their new role at DoorDash, emphasizing the company's focus on innovation, technology stack, and the opportunity to work with large-scale data, which aligns with their career aspirations.

Takeaways

• 🚀 Google's market cap is around $2 trillion, placing it in the top 10 countries by GDP.
• 🍽️ Google is renowned for its exceptional employee perks, including free food that surpasses most restaurants and hotels.
• 🏢 The company's offices are described as some of the best in the world, with unique amenities like gaming arcades and rooftop decks.
• 🌐 Google's low acceptance rate of around 2-2.5% makes it more exclusive than prestigious universities like Harvard.
• 👨‍💻 The speaker left Google not to become an influencer or to start courses, but to join DoorDash, a food delivery service.
• 🛑 Google implemented a hiring freeze due to macroeconomic slowdowns, leading to layoffs and reorganizations that impacted employee morale.
• 🔄 Frequent managerial changes at Google reset the speaker's progress, as they had to adapt to new managers every 6 months.
• 💼 The speaker sought new challenges and learning opportunities, feeling that Google's bureaucratic processes hindered rapid growth and innovation.
• 💰 Financial considerations played a role in the decision to leave Google, with the speaker receiving a higher position and compensation at DoorDash.
• 📈 DoorDash offered a more dynamic environment with a focus on innovation and a diverse technology stack, aligning with the speaker's career goals.

Q & A

What is Google's current market cap and how does it compare to global GDPs?

Google's current market cap is around $2 trillion, which places it among the top 10 countries with the highest GDPs.

Why is Google considered a prestigious employer in the software industry?

Google is considered a prestigious employer due to its high market cap, generous perks, and being a dream company for many in the software industry.

What are some of the perks that Google is known for offering its employees?

Google is known for offering perks such as free food, in-office amenities like spas and massages, gyms, cafeterias, and more.

How does the food provided by Google compare to other companies' offerings?

Google's food offering is considered to be on another level compared to other companies, being better than most restaurants or hotels.

What are some unique features of Google's offices around the world?

Google's offices feature unique amenities such as gaming arcades, dedicated bridges between buildings, in-office trams, rooftop decks, and stunning views from cafeterias.

What is the acceptance rate at Google and how does it compare to prestigious universities?

Google has a very low acceptance rate of around 2-2.5%, making it more exclusive than some prestigious universities like Harvard.

Why did the speaker leave Google despite its reputation as an amazing place to work?

The speaker left Google to pursue their passion, which includes teaching and enabling young kids, and not to become a full-time influencer or to launch courses.

What was the speaker's experience with Google's hiring freeze and layoffs?

The speaker experienced a hiring freeze and layoffs at Google, which led to demoralization and reorganizations, impacting their decision to leave.

How does Google's size and scale affect the work environment and employee learning?

Google's size and scale lead to a lot of reviews and approvals, which can slow down the pace of work and potentially hinder employee learning and innovation.

What was the speaker's reason for joining DoorDash after leaving Google?

The speaker joined DoorDash for a level up in position and compensation, the opportunity to work with a large user base and transaction volumes, and the company's focus on innovation and improvement.

What is the significance of the '20% project' at Google and how does it impact employees?

The '20% project' at Google allows employees to spend 20% of their time on projects outside their core work, but it doesn't significantly impact performance reviews, which can limit its effectiveness.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Google's Prestige and Perks

The speaker discusses Google's impressive market cap, which rivals the GDP of many countries, highlighting its status as a prestigious employer. Google is known for its exceptional employee benefits, including free food that surpasses the quality of most restaurants, and a range of in-office amenities such as spas, gyms, and cafeterias. The speaker shares personal experiences visiting Google offices around the world, noting their unique features like gaming arcades, dedicated bridges for employees, and rooftop decks with stunning city views. Despite these perks, the speaker reveals that they have left Google, prompting curiosity about their reasons.

05:02

😟 Layoffs and Reorganizations at Google

The speaker recounts their experience during Google's hiring freeze and subsequent layoffs, which led to a demoralizing work environment due to the uncertainty and fear of job security. They describe the impact of these layoffs on team structures, with many reorganizations and manager changes occurring, which they felt hindered their progress and contributed to their decision to leave. The speaker also touches on Google's work-life balance and the limitations they perceived in the company's 20% project policy, which allows employees to work on passion projects but doesn't significantly impact performance reviews, leading to a focus on core work.

10:04

💼 Pursuing Opportunities and Growth

The speaker explains their move from Google to DoorDash, detailing the push and pull factors influencing their decision. They discuss the layoffs and reorganizations at Google as push factors that made them consider leaving. As for the pull factors, they were attracted to DoorDash's large market share, the opportunity to work with a diverse technology stack, and the chance to take on a role that combined data and AI engineering. They also appreciated DoorDash's focus on daily improvement and innovation, as well as the company's values and the vision shared by the team leaders. The speaker concludes by inviting viewers to engage in a discussion in the comments section.

Keywords

💡Market Cap

Market Cap, or market capitalization, refers to the total dollar market value of a company's outstanding shares of stock. In the context of the video, Google's market cap is mentioned as being around $2 trillion, which is a significant figure that places it among the top countries with the highest GDPs. This highlights Google's enormous size and financial strength, making it a prestigious company in the technology sector.

💡Perks

Perks in the video script denote the additional benefits or privileges offered to employees by a company. Google is known for its incredible perks such as free food, in-office spas, massage services, gyms, and cafeterias. These perks are part of the company's strategy to attract and retain top talent, and they contribute to the company's reputation as a dream workplace in the software industry.

💡Productivity

Productivity in the video refers to the efficiency and effectiveness of employees in their work. The script mentions a period of uncertainty due to potential layoffs, which negatively impacted productivity as employees were worried about their job security. This is a critical issue for organizations, as low productivity can lead to decreased output and revenue.

💡Reorganizations

Reorganizations are structural changes within a company, often involving shifts in management or team structures. The video discusses how layoffs at Google led to reorganizations, with employees being reassigned to new managers. Frequent reorganizations can disrupt workflow and reset employee progress, as they need to adapt to new management styles and expectations.

💡Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance is the equilibrium between an individual's work and personal life. Google is praised for having one of the best work-life balances in the industry. However, the video suggests that this balance comes at the cost of slower progress and fewer new challenges due to the extensive review and approval processes required for new features or projects.

💡20% Project

The '20% Project' at Google allows employees to spend 20% of their time working on projects outside their regular job responsibilities. It's a concept designed to foster innovation and creativity. However, the video points out that because it's only 20% of their time, it doesn't significantly impact performance reviews, which may limit its effectiveness.

💡Layoffs

Layoffs refer to the termination of employment for a group of workers. In the video, layoffs at Google are discussed as a significant event that led to uncertainty and demoralization among employees. The company announced layoffs of about 6% of their workforce, which is a substantial number and reflects broader economic or strategic shifts within the organization.

💡DoorDash

DoorDash is an online quick ordering and food delivery company mentioned in the video as the new employer of the speaker. It is a publicly listed company with a significant market share in the US. The speaker's decision to join DoorDash was influenced by the opportunity to work with a large user base, a diverse technology stack, and the potential for rapid professional growth in a dynamic environment.

💡Data Engineering

Data Engineering is a field that involves the collection, storage, and management of data, ensuring that data is reliable for use in software applications. The video's speaker highlights the importance of data engineering, even for AI engineers, as they often spend a significant portion of their time on data-related tasks. The speaker's new role at DoorDash combines data engineering with AI engineering, which aligns with their professional interests and skills.

💡Compensation

Compensation refers to the payment or reward given to employees for their work. In the video, the speaker mentions that one of the reasons for leaving Google was the opportunity for better compensation at DoorDash. This includes not only salary but also other forms of financial rewards, which can be a significant factor in career decisions.

Highlights

Google's market cap is around $2 trillion, ranking it among the top 10 countries with the highest GDPs.

Google is a prestigious employer known for its high pay and excellent employee perks.

Google offers free food and numerous in-office amenities such as spas, massages, gyms, and cafeterias.

Google's offices are considered some of the best in the world, with unique features like gaming arcades and rooftop decks.

Google's Paris office offers a stunning view of the Eiffel Tower from its cafeteria.

Google has a very low acceptance rate of around 2-2.5%, making it more exclusive than some prestigious universities.

The speaker left Google to pursue a passion for teaching and enabling young kids.

Google announced layoffs of about 6% of their workforce, affecting 12,000 employees.

Reorganizations following layoffs led to frequent changes in management, impacting employee progress.

Google's work-life balance is due to the extensive review and approval processes within the company.

The 20% project at Google allows employees to work on projects outside their core role, but it doesn't significantly impact performance reviews.

The speaker joined DoorDash for a level up in position and compensation.

DoorDash is the largest food delivery platform in the US with a 56% market share.

The new role at DoorDash combines data engineering and AI engineering, aligning with the speaker's expertise.

DoorDash's value of getting 1% better every day reflects a focus on continuous improvement.

The speaker resonated with the vision of the DoorDash team leaders, influencing their decision to join.

Transcripts

Google a company that is so huge that

its market cap is higher than most of

the country's gdps in fact if you look

at Google's current market cap which is

around $2 trillion it puts it into top

10 countries with the most highest gdps

it is seemingly one of the most

prestigious employer and a pay master

and kind of a dream company for many

people in the software industry it is

also known for incredible perks free

food and a lot of in-office amenities

like in office spa and massage um gym

and and cafeteria and many more things

yeah people say that a lot of other

companies also provide free food but

trust me if you compare it with Google

it it's just on another level in fact in

my experience it is better than most of

the festar restaurants or hotels that

I've been

in talking about offices Google offices

were also simply amazing like they were

one of the best offices that I've been

to I've visited four offices in New York

City

uh couple of offices in London one in

Paris one in Amsterdam and I've also

visited Pune and Mumbai offices in India

for example New York City office has

like an entire gaming arcade there's a

dedicated bridge that you can go through

from one building to another

specifically for Google employees there

is an in-office tra that takes you from

third floor to first

floor most of the offices have a rooftop

top deck from where you can see the

entire city like the Paris office almost

looks like a chatau or a French Palace

and it has one of the most amazing views

of effil tower directly from the

cafeteria one of the offices had like a

meditation area where you can just go

wind

down and then many offices also have

alcohol for some reason I'm not just

talking about beer or wine but actual

hard Liquors being in some of the office

for some reason the point being Google

offices are one of the best offices in

the world they spend exorbitantly on

offices another thing that Google is

known for is a very low acceptance rate

of around2 or. 5% which puts it at the

lowest compared to any other Fang

competitors and it has over like 3

million applicants per year which makes

it more exclusive to get into than some

prestigious universities like Harvard

but then if it is such an amazing place

to work then why did I leave Google

hello everyone this is Josh after having

spent over 2 years I have finally left

Google and in this video I'm going to

talk about why which is the most common

question that I've received by far in

fact there are three different reasons

why I did that but before I jump into

any of that do not forget to leave a

like And subscribe to the channel it

helps me out a lot all right so the

reason that I left Google is because I

wanted to pursue my passion my passion

to teach and enable young kids and to

feed off of their dreams and win the

battles of consumerism by putting out

DSA and system design courses every year

by making innocent Souls believe that

they can all get into

Fang sadly no I have not left Google to

become a full-time influencer or to

launch DSA or system design courses I

have in fact joined another organization

called door Dash if you're based in us

or Canada pretty sure you're pretty

familiar with do Dash but if you're not

well I'm going to talk about it later in

this video let's start talking about the

first actual reason why I left Google

Now believe it or not when it was my

very first day at Google I remember it

was 11th of July 2022 I received an

email from Sundar Pai not just me but

all the alphabet employees received an

email and that email contained that

because of slowdown in macroeconomic

situations uh they are going to place a

hiring freeze now my first reaction was

wow I'm so lucky that I got in just

before the hiring freeze but then after

a while I started thinking wait what if

like they start laying off people I

guess a few months 3 4 months after that

Google announced layoff they announced

lay off about 6% of their Workforce

which is 12,000 employees uh and they

did it overnight in the US like like

people lost access to their accounts

they could not enter the building

without any prior intimation that

something like this is going to happen

so obviously it was bad uh so in India I

think so we were kind of in a state of

limbo for about 2 3 months we didn't

like we knew that like we knew that the

final list they have the final list but

we are not sure if we are the ones in

that list or not so we were like in a

state of limbo and I'm pretty sure the

productivity was not good at that time

because people were like I'm doing all

this work but will I even be here after

2 3 months it's a yeah obviously it's a

bad feeling uh and finally it happened

in India after a few months and

fortunately uh because my team so I was

in cloud and AI team and both of them

were like the priority Focus for Google

at that point uh there were very less uh

the impact was very Less in my team but

uh I knew a lot of colleagues who were

impacted and it was very bad

demoralizing to be honest now because of

those layoffs a lot of reorganizations

happened so if somebody leaves from like

let's say the middle of the management

chain obviously the people that report

to them they have to be reassigned to

somebody else right so a lot of these

things were happening uh teams were

being shuffled there were new managers

coming in or old managers going out and

because of that in my 2 years of

experience that I had at Google I had

more than four different managers which

was obviously not ideal because I felt

like after every quarter or every 6

month my progress was kind of resetting

because I had new manager to report to

even though my technical core work or

the team remained the same these reog

were one of the major reasons about why

I thought about leaving Google second

reason is learning and new challenges so

Google is known for having the best work

life balance in the industry and do you

know how that happens because there are

lot of approvals and reviews needed

which is understandable right I mean

think about the scale that Google

operates in different products it almost

feels like different companies like

Google Cloud could be a separate company

uh Google search Google devices right

there are so many things that happens

within Google so the size of

organization is huge that leads to a lot

of reviews and approvals every time you

push a new feature naturally things are

slow which is understandable otherwise

it would have been complete chaos right

but the flip side of that is your

learning kind of gets hampered in that

process and one very great thing about

Google is that they have a 20% project

so if let's say you are bored of your

regular work like for example I'm

working in cloud and then I want to work

I'm interested in Google pixels I can

work in a Google pixel team and spend

20% of my time there but the problem

with that is because it's only 20% it

does not affect your performance reviews

that much and most of the time you told

by managers to focus on your core work

and which kind of makes sense but at the

same time it negates the point of having

a 20% project in the first place uh if

that makes sense now I'm going to be

honest here while I Was preparing for my

switch from Google to Door dash one

thing that I was doing a lot is learning

and upscaling uh because I Was preparing

for the interviews now because I had a

lot of relevant experience in the same

field it was relatively easy for me to

do so but if you are completely new to

data field obviously it can be very

daunting for you to figure out where to

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that's where I believe Odin school can

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let's continue with the rest of this

video third money I'm I'm not going to

sit here and say that money doesn't

matter it's not the most important thing

to me it is not the most important but

it is definitely one of the most

important things uh because let's be

honest here that that's the reason why

we all work in the first place right if

if we suddenly get about $100 million in

our bank accounts 99% of us will not

going to be working again it was an

important factor about why I left Google

so basically if you look at companies

like Amazon or Google the best place to

see how much employees are being paid

and what are different levels available

is to check levels. FYI so if you are

for example at Amazon the position start

from sd1 and then you get promoted to

sd2 and then you get PR Ed to like

senior software development engineer the

same thing at Google starts from S 2

which is the starting level but I don't

know why it is called two um so if you

uh see in anyone's LinkedIn profile like

they are s to at Google they are not

equal to sd2 at Amazon it's kind of

confusing and then after S2 you get

promoted to S3 and then you get promoted

to a senior software engineer role so

one very good thing that I got when I

moved from Google to Door Dash is I got

kind of a level up to a senior position

and that was also a level up in terms of

my compensation so it was obviously a

good deal and if you want to explore

about more of these things I would

definitely recommend check this out it's

not a sponsored message or anything but

it will help you a lot if you going

through any interview rounds and if you

have any questions uh about what levels

you should be considered for or what

salary are they usually paying for that

level levels. fi has a lot of

information yeah so these are the three

main reasons but that's not it usually

when you make a move from one

organization to another there are two

aspects involved one is push second is

pull so push is something that pushes

you away from your current organization

which I already talked about and then

pull is something that brings you closer

or make like pulls you towards your new

opportunity so let's talk about some

pull reasons about why I left Google and

and joined door Dash door Dash as you

can see it's an American company online

quick ordering and delivery company it

trades with the symbol Dash on NASDAQ so

it is a publicly listed company with a

56% market share in the US it is the

largest food delivery platform and it

also has a 60% market share in the

convenience delivery category so do Dash

does not have operations in India like

you cannot order things through door

Dash if you're living in India but they

have recently opened software

engineering office in Pune and that's

where I have joined door Dash obviously

has a really large user base

and a lot of orders happening on a daily

basis and a lot of transaction volumes

so that's obviously a really good sign

uh for a data or AI engineer because

they will get to work with uh data on a

different scale level and does is also

known for having a really good

technology stack it's based on AWS I was

working on AWS before I joined Google

and then I worked on gcp and then now

I'll again be working on AWS so I feel

like it will give me a good diverse

experience and this role was a mix of

data engineering and AI engineering

which was a perfect fit for me because

when I joined Google I joined as a data

engineer and then I moved to an AI

engineer role and when I moved to an AI

engineer role I understood the

importance of data engineering and even

if you are an AI engineer I'm telling

you you'll spend 50% of your time doing

data engineering tasks it's a much

smaller company compared to Google so

usually it has much more Dynamic

environment in a company like this

usually Innovation is focused more it

it's prioritized more and that's why

like you learn a lot you grow a lot

technically uh and one of the values

that I really found interesting about do

Dash is get 1% better every day so it

shows how much they are focusing on

improving day-to-day and if you apply

the same principle to your career it

it's a great thing I also like love

talking to the leaders uh of the team

that I was joining after I cleared out

all the interviews I was agreeing with

their Vision we had chat that was also

one of the reasons why I decided to join

do Dash um if you stuck around so far

thank you so much and uh do not forget

to leave a like And subscribe to the

channel if you have any questions or

anything that you would like to discuss

about let's talk about it in the comment

section below and that's it from my side

see you next time