How To Figure Out If A Team Is Important To A Company

In this age of layoffs, it's important to choose a team and organization that is valued by the company overall. Even ignoring layoffs, it's better to join a team that's mission critical overall due to more career growth opportunities, especially as a software engineer.

Here's the core points from the video:

• Profit center or cost center - Does the company see your organization as core to its revenue generation or something it simply needs to have in a digital age? If its the former, that means the organization is probably better for your career:
  • Profit center example: The ads/search organization at Google
  • Cost center example: Website developers at a dental company
• Growth trajectory - In particular, is the organization scaling up its headcount quickly? If so, that shows that it's a company priority, and scope naturally appears when teams get bigger due to higher XFN and alignment costs.
• Company visibility - Do execs mention your organization in all-hands meetings? Better yet, is it referenced on earnings calls? The more an organization is mentioned in these more public communications, the better positioned it is within the company.

This clip was taken from our masterclass here: [Masterclass] How To Choose A Good Company And Team As A Software Engineer

Related resources:

• "How possible is it to spot red flags about toxic culture during the interview?"
• "What does it mean to not have enough scope to be promoted?"
• "What should I look for in a new team in terms of growth?" - Question from a Google L4 engineer
• "Is it better to work in revenue-generating divisions within your company?"