After Dropbox
- 6%Founded something16
- 23%Joined a startup57
- 20%Joined a big company51
- 50%Elsewhere
Shares of those who moved on, by their next stop.
People who leave Dropbox most often go to Google, Meta and OpenAI. Of them, 6% found something next and 23% go somewhere small. The median tenure is 2y 8m
Not Dropbox's headcount: these are the engineers in the Zelcast network and the profiles run through the Eng Scorer. 303 people on a map of 67,181, No. 79 on it by people. Updated September 30, 2026.
- People on the map
- 3030.5% of everyone on the map
- There now
- 4314% of the people here
- Moved on
- 26086% of the people here
- Median tenure
- 2y 8mmiddle half 1y 7m to 4y 8m
Came from, went to
Ribbon width is the number of people who made the move. Most arrive from Google. Most leave for Google (10% of recorded departures).
86 of 270 recorded arrivals shown, 184 more from 164 other companies77 of 255 recorded departures shown, 178 more to 137 other companies
The Dropbox mafia
16 of the people who left went straight to a founding role, 6% of those who moved on, half of them the same month they left. The bars cover the ’15 to ’26 classes; earlier founders still count in the total.
How long people stay
9%<1y
21%1-2y
39%2-4y
23%4-7y
8%7y+
251 stays with both a start and an end on the record.
Who comes and goes, by year
4<312
19813
31814
371615
272416
331817
341818
334019
234220
373621
201822
92523
132624
4925
4026
joined left2026 is a partial year
2012 to 2026: 328 joined, 290 left.
Caliber
85mediantop 10%96
0Eng Scorer caliber, 200 scored99
Titles held here
- Software Engineer137
- Software Engineer Intern66
- Senior Software Engineer42
- Engineering Manager13
- Staff Software Engineer9
- Machine Learning Engineer7
- Senior Engineering Manager6
- Software Engineer Apprentice5
8 most common titles, by people who held them.
First job on the record for 12% of people here.
Behind the median
Everyone here with an Eng Scorer read, placed in their caliber tier.
- 14%Exceptional27 people
- 27%Strong53 people
- 44%Solid88 people
- 14%Emerging29 people
- 2%Unproven3 people
200 of the 303 people here carry an Eng Scorer tier.
80 of the 200 people here with a read sit in exceptional or strong, the top two of the five tiers, 40%. A tier is the band a caliber score falls in, so this is the same measurement as the median on the caliber card, opened up.
Whether a title rose here
The level of the first title recorded here, against the last.
42%Titles that rose107 of 255 classified people
- 42%Rose107 people
- 51%Stayed level131 people
- 7%Fell17 people
255 of the 303 people here had a title that could be placed on the ladder before and after.
A title rose when the last title recorded here sits higher on the ladder than the first. For someone with one title here who then left, it's measured against the first title of their next role. The ladder runs intern, junior, mid, senior, staff or manager, principal, director, VP, then founder or C-level. Titles that match no rung are left out rather than guessed, and product, program and project managers are left out entirely as a different ladder. What's left leans towards people who have left: someone still here on one recorded title has nothing to measure against.
Where they studied
- UC Berkeley15.0%
- Stanford12.7%
- MIT10.0%
- Carnegie Mellon6.3%
- UIUC3.3%
- Harvard3.0%
- Columbia2.7%
- Cornell2.7%
The 8 most listed schools among the 300 people here with a school on file.
45 of the 300 people here with a school on file list UC Berkeley, 38 list Stanford and 30 list MIT. A person can list more than one, so these overlap.
Public work
one square is one in a hundred
52%have a public GitHub account on their profile
158 of the 303 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts. An account the check missed reads the same as no account, so this is a floor.
31% is the median across the 857 companies that can show this figure.
Where they are now
72% of the people who have worked at Dropbox and list a location live in the San Francisco Bay Area today, against 41% of everyone on the map.
Dropbox
Everyone on the map
- 72%SF Bay Area218 · map 41%
- 12%New York35 · map 18%
- 5%Seattle14 · map 5%
- 5%Washington DC14 · map 13%
- 1%Los Angeles4 · map 5%
- 6%Somewhere else17
302 of the 303 people who worked at Dropbox list a location, and every share here is over those 302.
Where they live now, from the profile as it reads today, not where they sat while working at Dropbox: a metro here isn't an office there. The lower strip is the same metros across the whole map.
On the same resumes
Companies that show up most often alongside Dropbox, at any point in a career.
Key facts
- 303 people on the Zelcast alumni map have worked at Dropbox: 43 are there now, 260 have moved on.
- Most leave for Google: 25 people, 10% of recorded departures. Then Meta and OpenAI.
- Most arrive from Google: 27 people. Then Meta and Microsoft.
- Median tenure at Dropbox: 2y 8m, middle half 1y 7m to 4y 8m.
- Of the people with a recorded next move after Dropbox, 6% went to a founder title next, 23% joined a company of 200 or fewer, and 20% joined one of 10,000 or more.
- Median Eng Scorer caliber here: 85 on the 0 to 99 scale, across 200 scored people.
- Most common title held here: Software Engineer, then Software Engineer Intern.
- Top school: UC Berkeley, listed by 45 of the 300 people here with one on file (15.0%). Then Stanford (38).
- 72% of the 302 people here who list a location live in SF Bay Area today, against 41% across the map. Where they live now, not the office they sat in while they worked here.
- 52% of the 303 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts have a public GitHub.
- 107 rose, 131 stayed level, 17 fell, out of the 255 people here whose title could be placed on a ladder before and after.
About this data: built from 352,028 jobs across 67,181 engineers in the Zelcast network and Eng Scorer reads, updated September 30, 2026. A move counts when the next role starts within 24 months of leaving. Companies under 20 people on the map aren't shown, and destinations under 3 people fold into the totals. Caliber is the Eng Scorer score.
Worked at Dropbox? See how your profile reads to a startup hiring manager, and where it ranks among 67,181 engineers.
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