- Mike Manalac, a CPA, left Baltimore for San Francisco to pursue a job at Google.
- He faced challenges, including initial rejection from tech giants and a grueling commute to Google.
- Eventually, he transferred to Google's Chicago office where he has a better work-life balance.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Mike Manalac, a 39-year-old accounting manager at Google in Chicago. It's been edited for length and clarity.
I'm a CPA who started my career in 2008 during the Great Recession. I spent eight years working as an auditor, first at CohnReznick in Baltimore and then at PwC in San Francisco, where I worked for about five months while looking for tech jobs.
After a brief stint in financial reporting with Walmart's e-commerce division, I joined Google in 2017 as a senior accountant based in Sunnyvale, California. I transferred to Google's Chicago office in 2019.
At CohnReznick, I put in 70-hour workweeks crammed in a cubicle under the glow of fluorescent lights
It wasn't all bad, but it wasn't the fun and fulfilling career I had dreamed of. Meanwhile, Silicon Valley employees were showered with perks and would spend their days riding around a corporate campus on colorful bikes (at least, that's what I saw in the media). It felt like a distant utopia for a normie like me.
One of my favorite movies was the 2013 comedy "The Internship." One day, after watching Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson parade around Silicon Valley for the millionth time, I decided I needed to make a change. Baltimore was my hometown, and I loved it, but it didn't offer the job opportunities of a top-tier city. I felt stuck.
I realized that if I wanted a coveted job at Google, I would have to go out and get it. I spent the next few days convincing myself that I wasn't crazy.
I quit my job, emptied my house, sold my car, and hopped on a one-way flight to San Francisco
I said goodbye to everything I had ever known. I had never visited San Francisco and arrived without a place to live. I had a job lined up with PwC, but that was always meant to be temporary. Once I got my bearings in San Francisco, I would start chasing after the dream job for which I uprooted my life.
It didn't take long to get hit with a reality check. The recruiters at giants like Google and Facebook wouldn't give me the time of day. I had never worked for a Fortune 500 company and needed additional experience before the Big Tech companies would take me seriously.
I accepted an offer with Walmart's e-commerce team in San Bruno to do financial reporting. One of my highlights was supporting the launch of Walmart's two-day shipping initiative to compete with Amazon Prime. This was the type of work experience I needed to get on Big Tech's radar.
A year and a half later, I was back interviewing with all the heavy hitters in Silicon Valley: Facebook, Amazon, Salesforce, Uber, Tesla, etc. I mostly secured these interviews by initiating a discussion with recruiters on LinkedIn. I fine-tuned my approach with every failed interview and started seeing repeated success. I'd later share my strategies in a playbook I wrote and illustrated, where I help other stuck accountants land their dream jobs.
I then found myself knocking on Google's door again. This time, it answered.
After a rigorous two-month interview process, my desire to work at Google became a reality in the fall of 2017
Google offered me a senior accountant position with a lucrative compensation package that included a sign-on bonus, a six-figure salary, an annual performance bonus of 10% or more of my salary, and stock awards. The perks were as good as advertised, and Google met my expectations of a dream job. The commute, however, was more like a nightmare.
I was required to work from the Sunnyvale office, up to two hours from where I lived in San Francisco. I had moved across the country for my dream job, so I wouldn't let a four-hour daily commute stop me now. I spent the next year commuting 20 hours a week on a corporate shuttle bus, and it was grueling.
I'd leave my apartment at 6:30 a.m. and head toward the bus stop. My workday started the moment I stepped onto the bus. When I arrived at the office around 9 a.m., I felt like I had already worked a half day.
I'd do the same two-hour commute in the evening, leaving Sunnyvale at 5 p.m. and returning to San Francisco at 7 p.m. The hefty commute meant a lot of late dinners, an achy back, and limited time to go to the gym.
A year later, I volunteered for a transfer to Chicago to help with an office expansion
At the time, leaving the so-called Bay Area "mothership" was seen as a risky move. I knew I'd miss beautiful San Francisco and the buzzing energy of working in the world's tech capital. I also knew Chicago was an amazing city, with a more manageable cost of living and closer proximity to my hometown.
I left my heart in San Francisco, but Chicago is my kind of town. I bought a house, started a family, and shaved 15 hours off my weekly commute. I take the train to the office three days a week and spend the rest working from home. I now have plenty of time to relax, and I can sit down with my family for dinner at a more reasonable time.
Leaving the mothership hasn't slowed me down a bit
I was promoted to manager in 2020 and now lead an accounting team supporting Google Search and YouTube.
For anyone feeling stuck in their career, don't be afraid to take some risks and make some sacrifices. I ultimately had to bounce around the East Coast, West Coast, and Midwest to find the pleasant and fulfilling career I sought, but I found it.
It started by uprooting my life and commuting four hours a day for my dream job at Google, and it was totally worth it.
Want to share your story? Email Lauryn Haas at [email protected].