This as-told-to essay relies on a transcribed dialog with Irina Stanescu, a former Google software program engineer primarily based in California. The next has been edited for size and readability.
I by no means thought I might find yourself working for Google. I used to be born and raised in Romania. I went to school there to review laptop engineering.
Once I graduated in 2010, some associates who’d completed internships with Google instructed I apply. I utilized for a job as a software program engineer and began there in October 2011 once I was 23. I moved to Mountain View, the place the Google headquarters is.
I did not slot in
I had no concept what to anticipate. Being an immigrant in California wasn’t simple. I attempted to be open-minded, however English wasn’t my first language, and I struggled to make associates.
I had a rocky begin as a result of I did not have a workforce for 2 weeks. Once I ultimately did, my supervisor left two months into my function. I had a number of interim managers. I used to be unfortunate — none of my associates who began at the same time had an expertise like that.
I discovered a workforce that felt proper
After seven months, I began engaged on Google Fiber. I moved there as a result of I wished to work for a rising workforce. It was like a startup inside Google.
I had a steady supervisor and felt like I lastly belonged to a workforce.
After a yr and a half, I began fascinated about going for a promotion. That is roughly the timeframe for getting promoted at Google.
I used to be rejected for a promotion
I needed to write a self-assessment and gather suggestions from my friends. In my case, choices have been made by folks from different organizations inside Google, resembling YouTube or the advertisements workforce. These “promotions committees” overview your software.
In mine, I listed all of the tasks I used to be engaged on. My friends additionally gave constructive suggestions.
However my supervisor informed me my promotion was rejected. They stated it was as a result of I hadn’t been in a position to present sufficient affect for the subsequent stage. Google had “profession rubrics” summarizing the talents it anticipated from every stage. Its philosophy was that you simply carry out on the stage of the function you are attempting to get to for not less than six months earlier than you are up for promotion.
I did not know that on the time, and it was disheartening. I already had imposter syndrome, and getting rejected for a promotion made it worse.
I switched groups
I did not plan on quitting Google. I knew I wanted to determine find out how to get promoted, so I reverse-engineered the method. The largest factor I spotted was that managers did not have time to information my profession. I wanted to information my profession. As an alternative of them telling me what I wanted to do to get promoted, I wanted to determine it out and ask them for help in attaining these issues.
I regarded on the job description for the subsequent stage up. I considered my workforce, and I wasn’t positive, on condition that it labored on a smaller scale than a number of the different groups at Google, that they might have sufficient context to guage my affect.
A brand new workforce was forming in my cubicle. I made a decision to pitch myself for the brand new workforce and moved there on the identical stage.
I requested for extra duty
I made a decision to determine as a lot as I might by myself and tackle extra duty. I pushed for a specific undertaking I wished to work on.
My supervisor may need stated no if it had been a bigger workforce as a result of the work was greater than my present stage, however as a result of it was fairly small, they let me take it on. My supervisor positioned their belief in me to ship.
I did not depend on my supervisor to resolve issues
When encountering issues, a junior individual may depend on their supervisor to assist. If I wanted assist figuring one thing out, I might discover different folks throughout the corporate who may need expertise as an alternative.
As soon as, once I had an issue, I discovered somebody from a special workforce to assist me determine it out.
Then I might return to my supervisor and say: “Here is the issue, and here is what I did to resolve it.”
I over-communicated
I knew I wanted to point out that I might be trusted with timelines, deliverables, and communication.
I grew to become far more proactive in my communication. I escalated and flagged considerations early on and up to date my supervisor far more incessantly on my progress.
When managing my undertaking, I saved totally different stakeholders up to date. I created a launch timeline, mapping out the dates and course of for the rollout, and informed others what we have been doing and when. I used to be working at a a lot greater stage than my function.
I utilized for an additional promotion a yr after being turned down for the final one
I utilized for an additional promotion. This time, I acquired it — two and a half years after I might joined Google.
Getting rejected the primary time was a blessing in disguise as a result of I realized a lot by getting rejected. After that, I acquired promoted to the subsequent stage — a senior engineer — the next Spring.
I used to be tasked with being the tech lead of a lot of essential tasks for the Google Fiber TV advertisements workforce. In early 2016, I grew to become a tech lead supervisor. I left Google later that yr to hitch Uber in January 2017 as a tech lead.
Studying that I needed to take management of my very own profession was important to all of the promotions I’ve had in my profession since.
