After YouTube
- 7%Founded something13
- 17%Joined a startup34
- 40%Joined a big company79
- 36%Elsewhere
Shares of those who moved on, by their next stop.
People who leave YouTube most often go to Google, Meta and DeepMind. Of them, 7% found something next and 17% go somewhere small. The median tenure is 3y 3m
Not YouTube's headcount: these are the engineers in the Zelcast network and the profiles run through the Eng Scorer. 328 people on a map of 67,181, No. 72 on it by people. Updated September 30, 2026.
- People on the map
- 3280.5% of everyone on the map
- There now
- 12939% of the people here
- Moved on
- 19961% of the people here
- Median tenure
- 3y 3mmiddle half 1y 11m to 5y 3m
Came from, went to
Ribbon width is the number of people who made the move. Most arrive from Google. Most leave for Google (34% of recorded departures).
151 of 276 recorded arrivals shown, 125 more from 119 other companies104 of 199 recorded departures shown, 95 more to 91 other companies
The YouTube mafia
13 of the people who left went straight to a founding role, 7% of those who moved on, half of them within 6 months of leaving. The bars cover the ’15 to ’26 classes; earlier founders still count in the total.
How long people stay
9%<1y
17%1-2y
33%2-4y
29%4-7y
12%7y+
316 stays with both a start and an end on the record.
Who comes and goes, by year
6412
6313
14<314
15515
15816
221017
231518
261319
31720
442821
502422
222523
273024
172925
7626
joined left2026 is a partial year
2012 to 2026: 325 joined, 209 left.
Caliber
84mediantop 10%94
0Eng Scorer caliber, 163 scored99
there now 83 moved on 84. Current staff and alumni score about the same.
Titles held here
- Software Engineer134
- Senior Software Engineer48
- Staff Software Engineer32
- Software Engineer Intern27
- Machine Learning Engineer12
- Engineering Manager11
- Content Creator10
- Senior Staff Software Engineer10
8 most common titles, by people who held them.
First job on the record for 8% of people here.
Behind the median
Everyone here with an Eng Scorer read, placed in their caliber tier.
- 6%Exceptional10 people
- 25%Strong41 people
- 42%Solid69 people
- 23%Emerging37 people
- 4%Unproven6 people
163 of the 328 people here carry an Eng Scorer tier.
51 of the 163 people here with a read sit in exceptional or strong, the top two of the five tiers, 31%. 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.
49%Titles that rose92 of 189 classified people
- 49%Rose92 people
- 48%Stayed level91 people
- 3%Fell6 people
189 of the 328 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
- Stanford11.0%
- UC Berkeley10.7%
- Carnegie Mellon7.7%
- Georgia Tech5.2%
- MIT4.6%
- USC4.0%
- UC San Diego3.7%
- Cornell3.1%
The 8 most listed schools among the 326 people here with a school on file.
36 of the 326 people here with a school on file list Stanford, 35 list UC Berkeley and 25 list Carnegie Mellon. A person can list more than one, so these overlap.
Public work
one square is one in a hundred
47%have a public GitHub account on their profile
154 of the 328 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
73% of the people who have worked at YouTube and list a location live in the San Francisco Bay Area today, against 41% of everyone on the map.
YouTube
Everyone on the map
- 73%SF Bay Area240 · map 41%
- 13%New York44 · map 18%
- 4%Los Angeles12 · map 5%
- 2%Washington DC6 · map 13%
- 2%Seattle5 · map 5%
- 0.9%Boston3 · map 2%
- 5%Somewhere else18
All 328 people who worked at YouTube 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 YouTube: 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 YouTube, at any point in a career.
Key facts
- 328 people on the Zelcast alumni map have worked at YouTube: 129 are there now, 199 have moved on.
- Most leave for Google: 68 people, 34% of recorded departures. Then Meta and DeepMind.
- Most arrive from Google: 116 people. Then Amazon and Meta.
- Median tenure at YouTube: 3y 3m, middle half 1y 11m to 5y 3m.
- Of the people with a recorded next move after YouTube, 7% went to a founder title next, 17% joined a company of 200 or fewer, and 40% joined one of 10,000 or more.
- Median Eng Scorer caliber here: 84 on the 0 to 99 scale, across 163 scored people.
- Most common title held here: Software Engineer, then Senior Software Engineer.
- Top school: Stanford, listed by 36 of the 326 people here with one on file (11.0%). Then UC Berkeley (35).
- 73% of the 328 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.
- 47% of the 328 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts have a public GitHub.
- 92 rose, 91 stayed level, 6 fell, out of the 189 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 YouTube? See how your profile reads to a startup hiring manager, and where it ranks among 67,181 engineers.
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