I recognized your username from all your work in the Sia community. Thanks for helping to make it better.
While reading your article, I got the distinct impression that Google set up the system that way so they didn't have to give promotions. They get so many applications from the best software engineers in the world that they don't really have to work to retain people, and if they need a manager, there are plenty of those applying, too. I would suspect that in order to be promoted, you truly have to be exceptional and almost worthy of knighthood. The fact that your manager, who has intimate knowledge of your abilities, has no input into your advancement, and the fact that the metrics they look at are naturally difficult to achieve due to project churn makes it appear that they really don't want to promote anyone unless they have a very good reason.
I think that Google does try to treat their employees fairly. I don't think the promo process is the way it is because of greed.
That said, I do think that the system is biased in Google's favor. It's designed much more strongly to filter out false positives (promote someone underqualified) than false negatives (withhold a promotion from someone qualified). As a result, it lets Google pay people at their lower-level title even though they're doing higher-level work.
I can understand why they do it, having someone incompetent in an important position is way more dangerous for the company than having someone competent stuck in a lower position.
But it's still a risk to lose good employees, talent is very valuable.
While reading your article, I got the distinct impression that Google set up the system that way so they didn't have to give promotions. They get so many applications from the best software engineers in the world that they don't really have to work to retain people, and if they need a manager, there are plenty of those applying, too. I would suspect that in order to be promoted, you truly have to be exceptional and almost worthy of knighthood. The fact that your manager, who has intimate knowledge of your abilities, has no input into your advancement, and the fact that the metrics they look at are naturally difficult to achieve due to project churn makes it appear that they really don't want to promote anyone unless they have a very good reason.