In fact Google got rid of the 'up and out' for L4. And from L3 (many new hires) to L4 is a pretty easy jump.
Promo at Google was still toxic AF when I left, but it wasn't as bad as when I started when there was a clear 'L4 -> L5 within 3-4 years or bye' thing going on.
When you read the job description for L4 it's absolutely baffling that they figured people had to 'move up' from that. It's basically "solid and competent individual contributor." You'd think companies would want to fill their benches with that.
