I'm now a L5 SWE at Google, and am facing 4 year cliff. Also moving to L6 seems very far away. I'm thinking if joining Amazon would save my career or not. Now have an SDE3 offer in last mile org and I heard it is kind of company's focus this year and next. Wonder if that would be a good call or not. Also how feasible to go to principal engineer within 3-4 years? What should I prove and show to get myself there?
I wouldn't consider Amazon for anything less than one level bump
With this attitude u r gonna be played left and right at Amazon get pipped within a year : D
You are right about last mile being a focus. Nice thing about Amazon is you really reap what you sow and it's just not the loudest person who gets the promotion. It is doable in 3-4 years.
why don't you consider doing a MBA and going the strategy/product line?
Speaking of 4 year cliff, does everyone get GSU refreshes? I am joining Google taking a base pay cut but stocks is good for 4 years which is why I am going. Of course it's a Tier 1 company. But now reading this I am worried what if I don't get any refreshes in 4 years then my TC will drop dramatically in the 5th year. Maybe it's not a valid worry.
Don't worry. You can quit in 4 years. Nobody forces you to stay at Google afaik.
It does not drop dramatically at least in Amazon. For me it TC dropped by 1%
I think PE jump is too optimistic in the timeframe you aim for given you are a total Amazon noob. I'd say Senior SDE doable, but PE unlikely as an outsider. All PEs I know have served Amazon minimum 7 years. Edit: sorry I thought you are hired at L5. Anyhow, I still think very optimistic.
There's a sr principal in aws deep learning who joined amazon as a principal so it is possible. Also someone joined Amazon Go as a sr principal a few weeks ago
Interesting. Let's see if they will live up to the in-house expectations. The downside of those high level entrances is that those guys are kinda married to the area they joined into for a while, as elsewhere any SDE2 with more Amazon experience would have a higher Amazon bar 😉
If your goal is staying in a tech giant, I’d move to Apple or MS but not Amazon.
Why not? Do you speak for AWS in Seattle?
I heard google would match your external offer.
I guess you are talking about retention offer. Not any more for L6-.
(Off topic) What does facing a 4 year cliff mean?
Your stock refresh does not match initial grant.
Ahh, thank you!