Sad and not surprising. Presumably when you are in the US with US sized total compensation this is even more of a problem. It is also a sign that the technical buffer layer (people like directors, VP, CTO) is not functioning well and also points to issues with company vision and roadmap.

I don't think it's wrong per se to suggest that Google should not be in the business of "Go" e.g. but presumably there are many other areas where similar technical expertise can be used in this size of company.

That said I've seen good people get stuck in large companies. They are put in a certain bucket and find it very hard to change. Sometimes leaving is the correct answer.

As someone who switched to Go in its early days (from C++) and had some interaction with the community (bugs, conventions etc.) it's a little sad but I think also just the way things go.