Which is the better choice in regard to WLB, pay, leadership?
Can’t speak for Amazon, but at Microsoft if you are cleared, max level you can reach is pretty much capped. They rarely get promoted. Plus, you have to go to a particular lab to get stuff done, while the non cleared engineers can be remote if they want.
Why dont they get promoted?
They don’t actually own anything. The non cleared engineers own it and give them list of things to do to get the service setup in the air gapped clouds. They don’t get any opportunity to code or design the service.
There's no wlb at AMZN. And if you try to have one then you'll get crap ratings and pushed out.
No code or low code. Majority of your efforts will be focused on JSON, YAML, BICEP, and Kusto queries. You’ll be responsible for a dozen plus services. On call rotations are legit and miserable, typically every 4-6weeks, 24/7. Promo velocity is very slow and takes twice as long to go between bands. If you want to break out of senior as an “engineer” you won’t unless you can become a manager, but we typically hire managers from external at Principal or promote 20year MSFT vets into the role. We target hiring externals at SDE2/SRE2 and at level 61. SWE/SDE/SRE roles are all the same work. You’ll be cheap labor with a Senior (lvl 63) carrot to chase that will take 4+ years. The work sucks. It isn’t technical. You won’t write code. Your job will be a deployment support monkey that relays limited information to public teams that won’t understand why things are broken because you can’t explain the why due to egress limitations. Great money. Miserable experience. Most teams require 4 days on site minimum which isn’t a big deal, but FYI. Maintain your ability to code or you’ll never pass an internal or external coding interview to change teams or leave. Changing teams requires a 2-3-4 person loop depending on org, some do 2 some do 3 some do 4. Think about an exit strategy if you decide to come over because you’ll need to know what skills to maintain outside of work vs. what “skills” you pick up in the role here and weigh the benefits. Good luck.
OP - This comment is accurate for MSFT.
sounds perfect
If it is okay to ask, out of Microsoft and Amazon, whose interview did you find out to be harder?
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What happens when most of your team is Indian?
What’s your offer from both? Amazon generally pays better but Microsoft has better wlb.
Amazon TC - $250k + Clearance $35k to $60k depending on clearance level Microsoft - Base according to job req $165k to $216k + RSUs + clearance bonus (unsure calculation)
Based on level of clearance? 15% TS 20% TS w/CI 25% TS w/FS