[nostrademons]

There are ways to hack this if you know your way around the system.

What you need to do is find a team doing work you find interesting within a higher priority focus area with headcount, make contact with their manager, and start 20%ing. If you do a good job with your 20% project - high quality, and done timely - then you can float the idea of transferring permanently to their team. If a manager with headcount in a high-priority focus area requests a transfer from a low-priority focus area, and the employee is enthusiastic about it and has already done work for them, they're going to get it.

I've seen this work for several people who were there only 4-6 months. Officially, you need to be on your starting team for 18 months before transferring, but this is bullshit. Unfortunately, nobody in an official capacity is going to tell you this as a Noogler, so I've also seen a few talented Nooglers leave the company because they ended up on a poor fit for their skills.