When someone asks why I left
Google, I usually give many different answers because there is no one big
reason. When I first started my job search for leaving Google, I was doing it
for the wrong reasons. I was very unhappy and frustrated by the way my then
manager ran his team and managed the people. There was rampant favourism and
too much politics. I had lost trust in all things Google. I just wanted to get
away from that environment. Then I thought of all the wonderful years I had on
different teams and decided to switch teams to give it another try. I managed
to move to a team that met all my expectations of exciting work and great team
environment.
Something was still amiss though. There were still moments of frustration that made me feel I am not entirely happy. On positive side I could talk about that with my managers now, on negative side I felt despite their best efforts and intentions I was not seeing a satisfactory growth plan ahead for me. My previous job search had also set lot of wheels in motion both in my mind and on linkedin. So when a perfect opportunity knocked my door (CTO at a local startup), I could not resist. I started playing with the idea of leaving for real.
Engineer at heart I made spreadsheets of pros and cons, best case scenarios and worst case scenarios. I could not really answer the question – why should I leave the best company and a great team. But I realized that question was not “if I should leave Google”, but “am I willing to let this opportunity go”. I was ready to move from an engineering driven job description to strategy driven job description, and it was becoming clear to me no matter how successful I am at my non-eng leadership tasks, I will not be fairly rewarded at Google. The new position provided exciting new challenges and opportunities. So I jumped in, it felt good, uncomfortably exciting.
Looking back, I am very happy that I decided to give Google another chance by switching teams within the company. I left at a very positive note, knowing that I was willing to tradeoff security of Google for risk of startup even if the best case scenario at Google materialized in future. My decision was driven less by anger and emotion and more by rational thinking. I don’t have a one sentence answer for why I left, but lets say I had outgrown the engineering driven job profile Google had to offer and wanted to put my time and energy into leadership that I did not believe would be rewarded at Google.
I think Google is still an awesome company to work for. The only criticism I have is the company repeatedly fails to develop and reward the people who are willing and capable to grow into good leaders. Instead it often throws great engineers who are unwilling or unable to switch to leadership mode into managerial positions. It often reminds me of the time when Sachin Tendulkar was made captain of Indian cricket team. A seemingly logical choice, but disastrous for the team.
Something was still amiss though. There were still moments of frustration that made me feel I am not entirely happy. On positive side I could talk about that with my managers now, on negative side I felt despite their best efforts and intentions I was not seeing a satisfactory growth plan ahead for me. My previous job search had also set lot of wheels in motion both in my mind and on linkedin. So when a perfect opportunity knocked my door (CTO at a local startup), I could not resist. I started playing with the idea of leaving for real.
Engineer at heart I made spreadsheets of pros and cons, best case scenarios and worst case scenarios. I could not really answer the question – why should I leave the best company and a great team. But I realized that question was not “if I should leave Google”, but “am I willing to let this opportunity go”. I was ready to move from an engineering driven job description to strategy driven job description, and it was becoming clear to me no matter how successful I am at my non-eng leadership tasks, I will not be fairly rewarded at Google. The new position provided exciting new challenges and opportunities. So I jumped in, it felt good, uncomfortably exciting.
Looking back, I am very happy that I decided to give Google another chance by switching teams within the company. I left at a very positive note, knowing that I was willing to tradeoff security of Google for risk of startup even if the best case scenario at Google materialized in future. My decision was driven less by anger and emotion and more by rational thinking. I don’t have a one sentence answer for why I left, but lets say I had outgrown the engineering driven job profile Google had to offer and wanted to put my time and energy into leadership that I did not believe would be rewarded at Google.
I think Google is still an awesome company to work for. The only criticism I have is the company repeatedly fails to develop and reward the people who are willing and capable to grow into good leaders. Instead it often throws great engineers who are unwilling or unable to switch to leadership mode into managerial positions. It often reminds me of the time when Sachin Tendulkar was made captain of Indian cricket team. A seemingly logical choice, but disastrous for the team.
No comments:
Post a Comment