Flutter Dev to Google (career tips)

Hey ya'll, Nick here,

Having just left Google after 3 years, working with Flutter, Dart both as an IC, tech lead and manager, I wanted to reflect a bit on some of the approaches I took that helped me get a role there.

Psst, if you want to watch the video version for this post, check out https://youtu.be/icACf49qzVY?si=x97Pzv_OqkyCegtA

This isn't a "how to" post on landing a role at Google.

Rather, I wanted to reflect on how one can make themselves more marketable and what most people I've seen at Google have in common. Additionally, how multiple cases of career bad luck can turn in your favor.

Just Do It

They say landing a job at Google is statistically harder than getting into Harvard (an acceptance rate of 0.2% and 0.5% across all applicants, compared to Harvard's 3-5%). This is a silly comparison but what I wanted to say is that you have to be a bit naive to pursue things.

So if you want to pursue something, JUST DO IT. In the end, you may not get the result you want but a huge amount of benefits can easily come out of it.

I'm horrible at taking tests, timed coding challenges, paying attention to detail etc etc - if that's any encouragement for you. In my case, I enjoyed the gameification and reverse engineering how to interview at larger companies.

Google is...OK I Guess

Landing a role at a big tech firm is not for everyone. It's an honor and a privilege to have had my role. I'm extremely grateful to the people that supported me along the way.

But at the end of the day, it's not for everyone. A lot of the time you're figuring out how to navigate an extremely large organization. You're working with extremely large systems, tools, teams, processes and user bases.

There are countless articles out there on this specific topic but just note that a very large amount of people only stay at a big tech firm like Google for a few years. It's not for everyone. If you enjoy startups, non-profit work, etc, go do that!

Where Does Flutter Fit in Here?

I actually got interested in Google early on by going to a few Android meetups in New York, back in the day. Before that I had founded a number of meetups. NYC Golang, the largest Go meetup at the time, later transferred ownership to Squarespace. And NYC Neo4j, later transferred to Neo Technologies. I was really into getting into new technology and writing about it.

So, I'd say, first find what really excites you about tech and pursue THAT.

I started getting into Flutter and some higher-up at Google's Flutter team, randmoly one day at a conference, plugged one of my blog posts about Flutter. Cool, I thought, when I write about tech, people listen.

I started TEACHING Flutter, via my site, fluttercrashcourse.com. I eventually made money here and there selling advanced courses to people, mentoring others, answering lots of emails etc etc. I really enjoyed that.

Eventually, when I did interview at Google, my experience launching a startup that made passive income was an asset for me. It not only made my resume stand out (Google was interested at the time in someone with Dart and Rust experience), but also people well into Flutter at Google interviewed me, which was a nice way to show that my passion helped me a ton.

Did I like Flutter because I'd land me Flutter roles? No. In fact, it was super hard to find Flutter roles at that time - Flutter was new. Did I use Flutter for my personal projects (i.e. steadycalendar.com)? Heck yeah!

So my advice here is to not only get excited about technology you enjoy, but note that if it is on the up-and-up, having specialized skills will certainly help you stand out. You'll just need to remember that shipping products and/or writing is quite essential to that journey. Lots more to discuss about that topic but I'll leave it at that for now.

Build and Found Products!

I co-founded numerous startups. In New York, I was working as Director of Mobile for one company - I then quit that role after only 10 months to go co-found my first startup. The previous company ended up getting acquired by Trip Advisor many years later. Did I regret that? Heck no. I would have gone nuts trying to stay in a role I didn't really like, foregoing an opportunity to pursue my own dream and own startup.

The Brilliance of Working in "Normal" Jobs Early On

I didn't own a computer at 13. I hand copied BASIC code from a magazine I subscribed to, where each month the mag would public a simple game you can hand copy into your computer. I found the code so cool looking that I just enjoyed writing the code down by hand.

At 15 and for many years into college, while I was learning how to code, self taught, I'd work at a farm (I lasted two days), a knife salesman (lasted one month), a cashier at a grocery store (lasted one month), a cold calling center (one month), retail store worker (lasted 2 months), lab monitor (an amazing job because you get paid to sit there, i.e. you can study programming and get paid for it) and sys admin (super fun).

These early jobs were AMAZING. First, they made me realize I DID NOT want to be doing those jobs later in life. They were great motivation (especially the farm job). But second, they taught me super key skills that I didn't get anywhere else, i.e. learning sales being a knife salesman.

Funny - the most relaxing experience I had in my life was on my first hour lunch break when I worked my first day on a cucumber farm. Bliss. The hard work it was made it just heaven to sit under a tree and eat a sandwich. A few days later I quit. I didn't last. The motivation I got to find a proper career was priceless.

Now, being 42 writing this, with the 1 or 2 months of knife sales experience, that gave me an incredible boost in experience to this day. Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but, diversity in the types of jobs you do early on can really go a long way.

Work > Education

While I did some years studying computer science in high school and colege, I ended up graduating with a political science degree because I found it interesting (and I was already supporting my self as a programmer in college).

I went to a state school.

I didn't have any fancy internships (but I had a nice series of them ever since freshman year in college).

I paid for my own college degree. I've been working since 15. I do not have a master's degree.

Of course, the global economy back then was very different and I did have an advantage living in the US where, especially in the tech market in the US, educational background didn't matter as much as pure experience.

My advice, especially if you're into programming and you're young, find a job that will pay you to just sit there, where you can freely work on marketable skills.

As I said, I tried my best to snag internships every summer as early as possible. I started working almost full time as an engineer while I was still finishing the last 2 years of my degree. That helped a ton.

Hilarious outcome: almost 20 (yes, 20) years later, the first manager I had in my life was working at Google at the time and helped to give me a referral.

Navigating Big Tech Interviews

This is the part the probably calls for a entirely separate blog post - which I may do if enough people reach out to me (hello@nickmann.ing) and if I wrote it here then it wouldn't fulfill any of the statements I'm making in this post. To give you a gist here though, one really need to prepare, practice a lot, interview with MANY firms (then interview with the ones you really want LAST) and have some really good luck. Tough these days in this economy but this is very generic advice which again, I'll leave for another time upon request.

Navigating Bad Luck

I've had a number of times where I had bad luck that opened up a lot of doors. I think that's the best way to view and navigate bad luck. Maybe that opportunity wasn't meant to be or maybe some product didn't pan out properly.

My view is that whatever is meant to be is meant to be. You only have control over your own choices. Try to have fun and enjoy the approach vs focusing on the outcome. Don't over index on your current role. Always have perspective on what you're pursing in life. Know that you can have just as much if not more GOOD luck as bad luck and it's par for the course.

What Am I Trying to Say Here?

Pursue what you enjoy. Be naive about your goals to some degree. Build and create value for people. Stand out. Learn from ALL of your experiences. Work hard.

If you want to learn more about the topics I'm writing about here, make sure you're subscribed to my newsletter at nickmann.ing and feel free to reach out at hello@nickmann.ing.

Cheers!