After PayPal
- 4%Founded something12
- 14%Joined a startup47
- 42%Joined a big company136
- 40%Elsewhere
Shares of those who moved on, by their next stop.
People who leave PayPal most often go to Google, Amazon and Meta. Of them, 4% found something next and 14% go somewhere small. The median tenure is 2y
Not PayPal's headcount: these are the engineers in the Zelcast network and the profiles run through the Eng Scorer. 430 people on a map of 67,181, No. 47 on it by people. Updated September 30, 2026.
- People on the map
- 4300.6% of everyone on the map
- There now
- 9622% of the people here
- Moved on
- 33478% of the people here
- Median tenure
- 2ymiddle half 1y 3m to 3y 6m
Came from, went to
Ribbon width is the number of people who made the move. Most arrive from Amazon. Most leave for Google (10% of recorded departures).
42 of 353 recorded arrivals shown, 311 more from 278 other companies108 of 342 recorded departures shown, 234 more to 205 other companies
The PayPal mafia
12 of the people who left went straight to a founding role, 4% of those who moved on, half of them the same month they left. The bars cover the ’16 to ’26 classes; earlier founders still count in the total.
How long people stay
16%<1y
32%1-2y
33%2-4y
16%4-7y
3%7y+
350 stays with both a start and an end on the record.
Who comes and goes, by year
12512
10813
14914
191815
352516
282017
513618
453619
382620
485921
323922
212923
332624
451725
121026
joined left2026 is a partial year
2012 to 2026: 443 joined, 363 left.
Caliber
79mediantop 10%89
0Eng Scorer caliber, 208 scored99
there now 73 moved on 80. The people who left score higher than the people still there.
Titles held here
- Software Engineer103
- Software Engineer Intern80
- Senior Software Engineer65
- Software Engineer II49
- Staff Software Engineer20
- Software Engineer I15
- Member of Technical Staff11
- Software Engineer III10
8 most common titles, by people who held them.
First job on the record for 16% of people here.
Behind the median
Everyone here with an Eng Scorer read, placed in their caliber tier.
- 15%Exceptional or strong31 people
- 31%Solid64 people
- 46%Emerging95 people
- 9%Unproven18 people
208 of the 430 people here carry an Eng Scorer tier.
31 of the 208 people here with a read sit in exceptional or strong, the top two of the five tiers, 15%. 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. A tier holding fewer than 3 people is printed with the one next to it, because that few is a person rather than a pattern.
Whether a title rose here
The level of the first title recorded here, against the last.
40%Titles that rose130 of 326 classified people
- 40%Rose130 people
- 54%Stayed level176 people
- 6%Fell20 people
326 of the 430 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 Berkeley12.6%
- Georgia Tech6.1%
- Carnegie Mellon4.7%
- UCLA4.7%
- Stanford4.4%
- University of Maryland3.3%
- San Jose State3.0%
- USC3.0%
The 8 most listed schools among the 428 people here with a school on file.
54 of the 428 people here with a school on file list UC Berkeley, 26 list Georgia Tech and 20 list Carnegie Mellon. A person can list more than one, so these overlap.
Public work
one square is one in a hundred
36%have a public GitHub account on their profile
154 of the 430 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
62% of the people who have worked at PayPal and list a location live in the San Francisco Bay Area today, against 41% of everyone on the map.
PayPal
Everyone on the map
- 62%SF Bay Area267 · map 41%
- 13%New York54 · map 18%
- 5%Washington DC21 · map 13%
- 4%Los Angeles19 · map 5%
- 2%Seattle10 · map 5%
- 2%Austin7 · map 0.8%
- 1%Dallas-Fort Worth6 · map 0.9%
- 1%Phoenix6 · map 0.2%
- 9%Somewhere else40
All 430 people who worked at PayPal list a location, and every share here is over them.
Where they live now, from the profile as it reads today, not where they sat while working at PayPal: 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 PayPal, at any point in a career.
Key facts
- 430 people on the Zelcast alumni map have worked at PayPal: 96 are there now, 334 have moved on.
- Most leave for Google: 34 people, 10% of recorded departures. Then Amazon and Meta.
- Most arrive from Amazon: 6 people. Then Honey and Cisco.
- Median tenure at PayPal: 2y, middle half 1y 3m to 3y 6m.
- Of the people with a recorded next move after PayPal, 4% went to a founder title next, 14% joined a company of 200 or fewer, and 42% joined one of 10,000 or more.
- Median Eng Scorer caliber here: 79 on the 0 to 99 scale, across 208 scored people.
- Most common title held here: Software Engineer, then Software Engineer Intern.
- Top school: UC Berkeley, listed by 54 of the 428 people here with one on file (12.6%). Then Georgia Tech (26).
- 62% of the 430 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.
- 36% of the 430 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts have a public GitHub.
- 130 rose, 176 stayed level, 20 fell, out of the 326 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 PayPal? See how your profile reads to a startup hiring manager, and where it ranks among 67,181 engineers.
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