Three Types of Google Engineers

"I need to apologize to Danny first because I'm leaving just after you've arrived," said my manager during our first team meeting. Initially, I was worried since I chose this team because the manager seemed nice and chatty. Moreover, he lived in Canada with his girlfriend and wouldn't come to the office often - an ideal manager. After he left, his boss had to step in to manage us. Fortunately, he, referring him as Grandpa below as he much much more senior than all of us, had a senior engineer with 17 years of experience, Mr. I, to help out.

Eventually, Mr. I was the one who practically led us, while Grandpa handled promotions and raises. Mr. I was a senior IC (Independent Contributor) who helped plan and lead projects. Each week, everyone had two meetings: one 30-minute meeting with Mr. I to report progress and solve problems, and another 10-minute condensed meeting with Grandpa to ensure we were remembered by him. Mr. I used his meetings to solve problems due to his vast programming experience, while the meetings with Grandpa were for key updates so he wouldn't forget us during evaluations. I learned the most from Mr. I in those two years, feeling fortunate to be under his guidance right after joining.

In our first meeting, Mr. I told me he categorized Google engineers into three types:

Diligent Workers

Engineers who aren't lazy and complete their assigned tasks diligently. Mr. I considered these engineers to be the baseline, the first level of an engineer.

Improvers

Engineers who, besides completing their tasks, take ownership of their work, constantly cleaning, improving, and even enhancing their work efficiency. They propose better solutions and have new ideas. They operate independently, sometimes without even needing tasks assigned.

Creators

Engineers who evolve from the improver category, with numerous ideas and larger-scale plans requiring teams to execute. They envision grand projects, needing professionals to help build, much like Tesla's Elon Musk with his electric cars, spacecraft, and AI. They create jobs and lead teams to realize their visions.

Mr. I hoped I wouldn't just be a diligent worker but would strive to become an improver and creator. After two years, Mr. I left for new adventures to assist other YouTube teams in need. He never stayed in a single team for over three years, as hoarding this 17-year YouTube treasure would be selfish. Despite our reluctance, we couldn't persuade him to stay. After our final team lunch, we took a last group photo before he departed for San Bruno.