Hey all! The top offers I have are from Amazon Alexa (L5 - SDE I) and Google Cloud Engineering Productivity (L3 - SWE I) in Seattle. I have 3.5 YOE. The compensation is about the same for both roles (250k per year + benefits). I'm really confused about which to pick coz I like Google culture better (from what I've heard) but I do hear mixed opinions about Eng Prod. It also has great benefits and (arguably) better impact on resume. The team seems good and works on interesting engineering problems. I do however worry about my chances of being able to move to a customer facing team, if I so fancy it in future. Thoughts? Amazon, on the other hand, has a notorious culture, but the product is large scale and customer facing. It is also SDE 2 (I do understand that Google is fairly conservative with their levels). I may have wrong or incomplete information here, so do help me out please! Your views and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Amazon. I've never heard of engineering productivity.
I can’t speak for every team in Alexa, but from what I’ve seen it’s pretty good culture. As an SDE 2 in Alexa you’ll have a lot of autonomy to design services and make impact for the 100+ million Alexa users. I’ve grown more in Amazon in 5 months than the past 2 years working at other software shops.
Why not tell your Google recruiter that you'd like to be matched with a different team? Switching teams within Google is easier than at Amazon, from what I've seen. That said, Alexa also tends to have better WLB than the rest of Amazon. Be prepared for frequent reorgs though as nobody really knows what customers want out of a voice assistant.
Switching team as SWE 1? You are basically delaying your promotion
250k for L3??
That's L4 comp for L3 responsibilities
L5 is SDE II not SDE I
What do you prioritize in life? If you want to rest and vest then Google. If you want to grow and make an impact then Amazon.
I wouldn't make such blanket statements about two tech behemoths. Better research on the specific teams. Maybe try schedule some coffee chats with the team if possible.