Zelcastalumni map

People who leave YouTube most often go to Google, OpenAI and Meta. 10% found something next. 13% go small. Median stay 3y 6m

These are the engineers in the Zelcast network and the profiles run through the Eng Scorer, not YouTube's headcount: 134 people on a map of 26,572, the No. 69 company on it by people. Updated August 20, 2026.

People on the map
1340.5% of everyone on the map
There now
5440% of the people here
Moved on
8060% of the people here
Median tenure
3y 6mmiddle half 2y 2m to 5y 2m

Put YouTube side by side with another company, every number against every number.

Came from, went to

Ribbon width is the number of people who made the move. Most arrive from Google. Most leave for Google (30% of recorded departures).

YouTube112 in · 83 out
39Google4MetaGoogle2530%OpenAI45%Meta34%
43 of 112 recorded arrivals shown, 69 more from 66 other companies32 of 83 recorded departures shown, 51 more to 49 other companies

After YouTube

  • 10%Founded something8
  • 13%Joined a startup11
  • 30%Joined a big company25
  • 46%Elsewhere

Shares of those who moved on, by their next stop.

The YouTube mafia

8 of the people who left went straight to a founding role, 10% of those who moved on, half of them within 7 months of leaving. The bars are the ’15 to ’26 classes; earlier founders count in the total.

How long people stay

9%<1y
12%1-2y
33%2-4y
37%4-7y
10%7y+
3y 6m median tenuremiddle half 2y 2m to 5y 2m

123 stays with both a start and an end on the record.

Who comes and goes, by year

12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
joined left2026 is a partial year

2012 to 2026: 132 joined, 84 left.

Caliber

84mediantop 10%94
0Eng Scorer caliber, 134 scored99

there now 84 moved on 84. Current staff and alumni score about the same.

Titles held here

  1. Software Engineer61
  2. Software Engineer Intern19
  3. Senior Software Engineer15
  4. Staff Software Engineer9
  5. Engineering Manager8
  6. Content Creator3
  7. Product Manager3
  8. Software Engineer II3

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.

  • 7%Exceptional9 people
  • 27%Strong36 people
  • 48%Solid64 people
  • 19%Emerging or unproven25 people

134 of the 134 people here carry an Eng Scorer tier.

Exceptional and strong are the top two of the five tiers. 45 of the 134 people here with a read sit in them, 34%. A tier is the band an Eng Scorer 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 together with the one next to it, because a bucket that small is a person rather than a pattern.

Whether a title rose here

The level of the first title recorded here, against the last.

44%Titles that rose38 of 86 classified people

  • 44%Rose38 people
  • 56%Stayed level or fell48 people

86 of the 134 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 who recorded one title here and then left, it is 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. A title that matches no rung is left out rather than guessed, and product, program and project managers are left out entirely, being a different ladder. That leaves 86 of the 134 people here classified, and it leans towards people who have left: someone still here on a single recorded title has nothing to be measured against. A direction holding fewer than 3 people is printed together with the one next to it, because a bucket that small is a person rather than a pattern.

Where they studied

  1. Stanford14.4%
  2. UC Berkeley14.4%
  3. Carnegie Mellon6.1%
  4. Columbia4.6%
  5. UC San Diego4.6%
  6. Cornell3.8%
  7. Penn3.8%
  8. University of Maryland3.0%

The 8 most listed schools among the 132 people here with a school on file.

Of the 132 people here with a school on file, 19 list Stanford, 19 list UC Berkeley and 8 list Carnegie Mellon. A person can list more than one school, so these overlap rather than add up.

Public work

one square is one in a hundred
46%have a public GitHub account on their profile

62 of the 134 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts. An account the check did not find reads the same as no account, so this is a floor rather than a census.

Across the 325 companies on the map that can show this figure, the median is 38%.

Where they are now

68% of the people who have worked at YouTube and list a location live in the San Francisco Bay Area today, against 47% of everyone on the map.

YouTube
Everyone on the map
  • 68%SF Bay Area91 · map 47%
  • 21%New York28 · map 33%
  • 7%Los Angeles9 · map 6%
  • 2%Washington DC3 · map 7%
  • 2%Somewhere else3

All 134 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 they worked at YouTube: a metro here does not mean the company has an office in it. The lower strip is the same metros across the whole map, for comparison.

Key facts

  • 134 people on the Zelcast alumni map have worked at YouTube: 54 are there now and 80 have moved on.
  • The most common next employer after YouTube is Google (25 people, 30% of recorded departures), followed by OpenAI and Meta.
  • The most common previous employer before YouTube is Google (39 people), followed by Meta.
  • The median tenure at YouTube is 3y 6m (middle half 2y 2m to 5y 2m).
  • Of those who moved on from YouTube, 10% went on to a founder title, 13% joined a company with 200 or fewer people, and 30% joined a company with 10,000 or more.
  • The median Eng Scorer caliber of people who have worked at YouTube is 84 on the 0 to 99 scale (134 scored).
  • The most common title held at YouTube is Software Engineer, then Software Engineer Intern.
  • Of the 132 people here with a school on file, 19 list Stanford (14.4%), then UC Berkeley (19). A person can list more than one school, so these overlap rather than add up.
  • 68% of the 134 people here who list a location live in SF Bay Area today, against 47% of everyone on the map. That is where they live now, not the office they sat in while they worked here.
  • 46% of the 134 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts have a public GitHub account on it.

About this data: built from 144,786 jobs across 26,572 engineers in the Zelcast network and Eng Scorer reads, updated August 20, 2026. A move counts when the next role starts within 24 months of leaving; companies with fewer than 20 people on the map are not shown, and destinations with fewer than 3 people are folded 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 26,572 engineers.

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