I have my on-site interview tomorrow with Amazon for a Support Engineer Apprentice position in Herndon, VA. Apprenticeship consists of 12 weeks of instructor led training (Linux+ and other training) followed by 12 months of on the job training. While in the program they pay $32.93/ hr (~$68.5k). After 12 months then you are eligible for sign on bonus ($10-15k) and annual security clearance bonus (up to $45k). The pay is low but I'm new to the industry and would like to get my foot in the door at Amazon or Google. I'm not sure I can ask for higher base pay or any other bonuses. Anyone have experience with this program? I just found this app this morning so don't rip me too hard if I forgot something 😅 Thanks!
You won't get the sign on bonus after the program. Base pay is low for the program since they cover tuition, training costs, and exams. At the end of the program you are looking at around 105-110 TC probably a base of around 75-80k and 25-30k in stock. You get up to 20k once you're up to full scope and another 25k if you do on call. Long term in about a year or 2 (clearance backlog) you are looking at around 110k + 45k so around 155k as a cleared support engineer with 1 year of experience. Not the best but definitely not bad.
This is an L4 role so your TC would increase once promoted to L5. A SupEng on here can tell you more but it usually takes a year or 2 so you could potentially be L5 w/ full scope and break 200k TC, but promotions arent guaranteed.
And to answer your question the program offers are non-negotiable so you either take it or decline.
“The Pay is low” My dude, they’re paying you $70k to educate you.
Yup, that's exactly why I'm considering it. Getting paid to go to school 😎
Did you get selected?
First off, thanks for all the advice you've provided. You've been extremely helpful in sharing your insight. My recruiter extended me an offer for a cleared position in Herndon. However on Friday, in a span of 24 hours, she informed me the position would no longer be for a cleared role and instead would support commercial clients. I was able to support that even though I was aware I would not be eligible for the cleared bonus. Then I was told the position was switched to Seattle. That's extremely difficult to accommodate because my family and Army NG unit is in MD. I have until Friday to let her know of my decision. I'm thinking of taking it with the hope that a cleared role in VA will come up in the future. I've been having difficulty even getting an interview for a L3 Data Center Tech position. This seems like a good opportunity that's hard to pass up. Start date is Dec 2.
It's a tough situation. With AWS losing JEDI it changed a lot of forecasting. Business leaders are supposed to allocate their headcount at least 12 weeks ik advance in order to prevent a bad candidate experience yet here they are with you. It's a tough situation and the only advice I could give is look at the offer holistically. What certs do you currently possess? Would having 1 year at AWS on your resume help you out? Could you in 1 year, get the program certs, get some experience, and move to Microsoft or stay within AWS? You could easily transfer once you complete the program but do you want to move across the country for the role? If you're well off financially and are open to relocating for 3 months instead of a year there is another apprenticeship starting in March but training is in Hawaii. 2020 headcount has been reduced so if you dont have a lot of tech experience you may be waiting 9 months for another program specifically in the DC area. If you have enough of a tech background you can apply for a cleared role and reinterview. You were gauged at the L4 bar and were deemed bar raising, but theyll want to probe tech.
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So I didn’t do this specific training program but I did do something similar four years ago. The training will be what you make of it, but honestly it is an awesome foot in the door. Just like anywhere else there are good teams and bad teams in the cleared aws space. Cleared cloud computing is blowing up and you can ride the wave if you’re willing to self study and can find a good mentor. I started at around 70k at AWS and am now making close to 200k in just base + clearance bonus in the MICROSOFT cleared space. This could easily be you in a few years. **Let me know if the interview doesn’t go well and you want to try at M$**
I appreciate the advice. I ended up getting an offer for the apprenticeship but now it changed to an uncleared role in Seattle. I'm definitely in a pickle and have to let them know by Friday. If you're still willing to help with M$ I'd greatly appreciate it!