[rainyMammoth]

The typical googler is a 20 or 30-something that has close to zero life interest outside work. I would not expect them to want to stay remote as their social life revolves around Google.

Sadly, from what I have seen most people with a good work life balance want to stay remote while people with few other life interests want absolutely go back to work.

I predict that in a couple years this will be part of the culture of each company. You will chose a company based on your desire to become close friends with your colleagues or live a great life outside the office.

[clpm4j]

I'd actually say the typical Googler is a 30 or 40-something married person with a kid or two.

[CharlesW]

A quick Google search shows the average age was 30 in 2017.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/patriciagbarnes/2019/07/20/deja...

[swat535]

If you're 30-40 married with kids, you don't have the time to do leetcode for 6 months to pass the interviews..

[vlovich123]

Granted I didn't ask if that was standard interview prep for them prior to interviewing, so this is partly my own biases filtering through, but I didn't get the sense that the seasoned 30-40 yold engineers were on leetcode for 6 months to pass interviews. I'm not saying none of them do that, but I found the Google interview process pretty standard fare for any place that has a similar quality bar.

I remember my interviews with Google & Facebook as a new grad & they felt far more grueling than as a senior engineer (that & 10 years ago they were still asking those brain teasers like find the voltage between two points of an infinite lattice circuit).

At this stage in my career, I've found the interview questions are all about how to design large pieces of software with the coding aspect being a smaller piece of the pie to make sure I'm not BS'ing.

[UncleMeat]

Some people leetcode for ages to get lucky in interviews. But loads of people just interviewed and are highly skilled and qualified. I think I did a week of prep ahead of my interviews.

[bradlys]

Some people also get lucky. Luck is a huge factor in FAANG interviews. I've seen people who are definitely no more intelligent or better at LC type problems than average Joe just get lucky with their interview loops - while others who have won competitions just get the inverse luck and don't get an offer.

It's a numbers game overall.

[skybrian]

Google has over a hundred thousand employees so discussing stereotypes isn't all that useful.

For example, maybe you got in before you had a kid? Also, you don't necessarily need to study that much to pass the interview.

[UncleMeat]

My whole team is basically dads in our 30s. Most of my broader colleagues have fully realized lives outside of work. Your stereotype doesn’t ring true to me.

[dividefuel]

On the other hand, some younger workers might see remote work as their best opportunity to ever afford a home. Older workers have had better chances to buy in the Bay Area, as they presumably had more time to accumulate wealth and could buy when prices are lower. Younger workers will need to save for a long time, even at FAANG salaries.