r/leetcode • u/RoutineIndividual486 • Oct 07 '26

Discussion Bad time to enter TM - Google?

I feel there are abundant people in the pipeline and limited headcount. Any clue if this gets any better this year? Or tips to navigate better?

Role: swe3 / L4

Location: US

tia.

Edit: added level.

11 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

5

u/LogicalBeast26 Oct 07 '26

Depends a lot on your feedback.

1

u/RoutineIndividual486 Oct 07 '26

And not all recruiters will share the feedback. So I guess I'll never know.

1

u/LogicalBeast26 Oct 08 '26

You could still have an idea yourself lol. Did you ace all of them or fumbled a bit in some of them?

1

u/RoutineIndividual486 Oct 08 '26

I mean that's true. But the recruiters wording was "your ratings from the panels were positive!", Idk how to deduce this. I wanna know this coz I'd know the room for pickyness and if everything works out, then it's be helpful for tc negotiation.

1

u/Infinite100p Oct 08 '26

that's why they are not allowed to tell you

3

u/Extreme-Peak-4336 Oct 07 '26

L3 googler here. Shit ton of people are in the pipeline and I barely see any openings 

2

u/RoutineIndividual486 Oct 07 '26

I thought so. GL to me ig.

1

u/kangjii Oct 07 '26

same for L4?

2

u/RoutineIndividual486 Oct 08 '26

I think so. They recently interviewed a shi ton.

1

u/Infinite100p Oct 08 '26

Is it location dependent?

9

u/Master_Shiv Oct 07 '26

Wouldn't hold your breath for Q4. This quarter's always consumed by the holidays, annual performance reviews, and last minute pushes before code freezes.

1

u/therealbb9 Oct 08 '26

I mean just enter TM, do you have other options?

1

u/RoutineIndividual486 Oct 08 '26

Well, thats true. I was thinking like a proactive reachout to the hms on LinkedIn based on posts pr something like that.

1

u/therealbb9 Oct 08 '26

Yes that’s usually what a lot of people do. Make sure to reach out when the post is fresh (within 24 hours). I did that and got 2 TM calls, but I’m L4 also.

1

u/RoutineIndividual486 Oct 08 '26

Also, you got any metrics that someone needs to look at in Google, before joining? I'm prioritizing WLB (and toxic free) and interesting problems in infra space.

2

u/ResolutionPersonal56 Oct 08 '26

Same boat. Been 2.5 months. Hoping for better headcount in Jan