Recently got an offer for AWS CSA. I've read the descriptions online but I want to know first hand from people working as a CSA what the job is really like. Do CSAs do any development at all? I don't expect serious Dev like a swe but something? Would I be digging my professional grave accepting the CSA job if I want to switch to SWE/SA later?
Could you share your interview experience please and the questions?
CSA is a part of the support org, they do more customer facing positions. If you are working at CapitalOne in McLean/Richmond and going to the IAD office, you might be focused on the public sector, whereas other offices might focus on private sector. Support also has escalations, that know a lot about a subset of services, like when customer cases need a more knowledge, people who can bridge the gap with service teams, these are CSEs typically I think, but I'm not an expert on those teams. I know a lot of intensely smart people who love being in customer support roles (think: developer support, sometimes for really huge companies), and engineering teams try to snipe some of these people constantly, but they like the hours and mission of what they do. That being said, I don't see a ton of code churning out of these positions on average, and it's a long road to SDE organizationally. If you want to be an SDE, you should probably take a role doing that at a smaller company, and re-apply for L4 SDE in a year or two while you are grinding LC on the side. You definitely won't be "digging a professional grave", as I know plenty of great devs that came from CSA/CSE, and even datacenter racking/stacking, but they aren't the norm, and you'll have to go through rigorous internal loops mostly likely for that sort of family change, but if you are going to do that anyways, why not just loop it from the beginning?
That helps quite a bit! Thanks! I was interested in making the sudden switch because I felt extremely underutilized right now and wanted to do something more challenging and different for myself. Figured premium support at Amazon might be a temporary solution while I prepare to be an SDE. My current visa status prevents me from working for most companies. So finding a company willing to work with it is rare. Smaller companies don't do that at all. I'd have loved to start small otherwise. What kind of rigorous internal loops are you talking about? If it's a set criteria, I can most definitely do that. I've always been great at meeting goals that way. Glad to hear CSAs do some development atleast. I don't do much at C1 right now so I'm not loosing anything. Just wanted something to keep me busy while I study. Just not happy with the low TC but that should definitely grow in time :)
You could definitely practice on the side and loop for an SDE role internally. The one thing about support, is that they seem to have really steady hours, which could potentially open you up for other progression. You could also potentially get a wide scope view of the company and overarching services, which will be good context regardless, and you'll meet a lot of teams through that, which could ultimately become one of those willing to take a chance on you later after an internal loop. That being said, it's going to be a lot of ops/troubleshooting most likely, and customer service, even for developers, can be a thankless job.. even though it is probably *the* most customer obsessed role at the company in some ways. I think it depends on what you are doing at capitalone. If you are an SDE there already, I think you should try for at least L4 SDE, because it should be a pay bump, and it's directly relevant. The development you would have access to as a CSA/CSE usually is more around ticket automation, replicating problem scenarios, and tasks that may not inspire you. I could be a little off here, I'm sure there are parts that do other work, but I'm talking about the average and what is most likely.