Five years and two months ago, I moved to the Puget Sound area to join Google as an SRE. Alas, in the last year, supporting the production side of things has started to burn me out. So, as of today, it's official: I have a new job. I have transferred from SRE to regular software engineering, which puts me back where I belong: writing code.
That I have already been here for for five years is not unique, as I previously stayed at three other employers for over five years each. But it is unique that I now have no interest to go beyond down the hall, since I've never been at any company for six years -- one I left to finish school, another I departed from once they lost their hunger for bleeding edge technology, and the last seemed to view software engineers as an necessary evil.
(That last company was more comfortable with programmers who limited their world view to Microsoft IIS and SQL Server; being a snob, I am not sure they count as software engineers. So sue me.)
But Google does want people like me, they do hunger for the bleeding edge, and there is the small fact of where it ranks in terms of the best companies to work for. That's a beauty contest, perhaps, but it's nice to work for an entrant.
My five year mission as an SRE is complete. So let's see what I can do to earn my keep here for another five years.
Change is good! And sometimes a little change is much better than a big change. Wishing you all the best in your new position.
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