Disclaimer: opinions in this post are my own and do not represent opinions of my current employer or any of my past employers or any of my or their clients.
I’ve been so busy I forgot to mention some important career changes. In fact, I’ve been so busy it has already been half a year since I started working for META. Not only that – I’ve moved countries again and now live in the Seattle area.
I’ve spent 4.5 years at Google working on the experimentation platform within Ads. It is flattering to think that traffic for billions of people has been supported by the code I touched, however limited my contribution might have been.
Google is an incredible company, great culture, great and bright people. I worked for Google remotely as I joined during the pandemic and then switched to permanent remote when the offices started to open. I wish there was an office in Vancouver, Canada, in which case I might have decided to stay at the company. It did feel that being remote long term is disadvantageous to my career and at times it felt unfair that south of the border the pay is much more for the same job at the same company.
My ride at Google was great- I joined as Sr. Eng, but then got to Staff quickly for someone new. It could have been due to cross-org visibility of the project I worked on, and some luck as well, or, maybe, I’ve done a good job. Whatever it was getting that next level didn’t feel as gruelling as the promo I worked for at Amazon. Good ride and I definitely see Google as a place I might want to come back to.
Meta
Meta is a company with a strong culture, great ambitious vision, and isn’t afraid to make big risky bets. It is quite intense from inside but also very rewarding at the same time and this matches my expectations of what I thought I will get into. Paycheck is also nice, my FIRE goals are closer now.
I joined Meta, because I wanted to further expand my toolset, learn new ways of building things fast (and sometimes breaking them), as well as be back to closer interactions with people (but that was mostly because of my remote situation). If I were to compare: at Google, I found stability and polish; at Meta, I find speed and higher ambiguity. Both cultures are fostering innovation and are great places for engineers.
My first half of the year at work passed blazingly quickly. I wasn’t even able to blink from Jan to Jul. There is so much to work on every day, that there is no way around it other than finding ways to prioritize, be productive and focused, always making sure there is impact in the end. I’ve come up with new and stable work routines that keep me effective, like starting very early with few hours of deep work, and staying productive throughout the day, but also so that my work-life balance isn’t hurt and so that I can continue my kickboxing classes, rock climbing, running, and having proper weekends with my kids.
What’s next?
In an odd way, having a more intense workload also stimulates me to explore more ways to learn and grow outside. I think we’re more adaptable than we give ourselves credit for. When life asks more of us, we often rise to meet it—and that includes finding new ways to learn, improve, and move toward what really matters.
Personally I am approaching a point where it makes sense to think about life more holistically – not just the next promotion or goal. What do I still want to experience? What kind of life am I building? A meaningful career is part of it, and a big foundational support, but it’s only one piece of a much larger puzzle.
codemore code
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