Has anyone from the Big N companies gone this route? I’m tired of being a code monkey at this point and would love to do something else involving strategy and such. I’m currently 29 and a senior Software engineer here at msft. People who’ve gone this route, mind sharing your experience? Are you enjoying it?
Big N?
Basically the top, highest paying and most notable (usually public) tech companies. So FB, GOOG, AMZN, AAPL, NFLX, TWTR, Square, MSFT, Snap, Bloomberg, etc. Unicorns are the private equivalent e.g. Uber, Airbnb, Dropbox, Palantir etc
Thanks for clearing that up. I would have never guessed “notable”. Maybe “notorious” though.
FANG salaries post L63 SDE will be higher than post MBA salaries. McKinsey Associate possibly gets paid 220k USD, after 2 years of partyi... sorry... education. You can make much higher tomorrow leetcoding your way out.
Eh don’t care much about pay anymore. I just can’t take coding and dealing with autistic, socially regarded engineers anymore. That being said, Microsoft is the only company I’ve worked at after getting my bachelors. I should probably try to get into FANG and see if life is any different. Seems like those companies are way more prestigious too.
Are you sure entry-level associates make that much? I don’t think they even crack 200K given an analyst barely cracks 100K in premium cities. More likely at the EM level and above.
Being an engineer is same everywhere. It’s a code monkey job
You can transition to become an engineering manager or a Software development manager without MBA degree... have u had that discussion with ur manager or peers?
I thought about that. Unfortunately it’s hard to that at Microsoft since it’s not a fast growing company and the attrition rate amongst managers is low.
I would suggest you move to amazon.. it's easier to make a transition...
Satya and Sundar did that.
Out of how many Indian Engineers? Btw, both of them got these opportunities post MBA
I was once in this doldrum. Then I actually talked to real world MBA guys. Everyone agreed to one point - while they had “power” in the political circles of company, but most of the time they felt helpless as they were responsible for delivery but could not control the engineers as much as they wanted. Being a SWE in top companies is priceless. You get highest salary at your level, highest freedom and least responsibility. Please don’t read it as SWEs are not responsible- but the PM/Manager’s ownerships and responsibilities are much higher. I decided to move to Solution Architect kind of role. These roles are right balance between tech and management. You still are coding but also doing much more like working on real world customer problem, see end to end picture and even work on project/product roadmap. Full management still sucks for me and I would advice not to go for it. For me personally, running after people to get things done is far harder than doing it myself. Maybe this is why I would never become CXO of any company , but then many CTOs are after me to join their team :) Engineers rock !!
This. It’s not a wonder why some PMs look like they’re always half dead from working so much.
If it is money or work like balance you value. Do not make the switch - if there are aspects of management that appeal - make the switch. One caveat with management is that it takes longer in management to be seasoned ( so be prepared for a long arduous ride)
In big companies it is quite easy to experiment in a position as well. Switch to an SDM and see if you like for 1 year and if so, you can choose to continue or take fulltime MBA or partime MBA. If not, you still have a fallback to being an SDE.
You guys are suggesting SDM roles as if companies are dishing out SDM roles. There’re too many engineers and very few engineering managers needed. It’s a perpetual wait, because you could have so many senior people ahead of you in line.
I'm finishing up a M7 MBA, and there are a lot of folks like you who wants a transition to PM. It's a trade off better money and life balance, pay out of mba is good but definitely less than software engineers...I would recommend network your way out within the organization, unless you really miss school and wants to take two year off. It's not a bad feeling tho, I've really enjoyed school time. Btw any one here is open for referral? Don't want to go back to Amazon and I actually like Microsoft.
Why not jump into management or product? Seems much easier