SWE to Site Reliability Engineer

New / Eng
wonderWN

New Eng

wonderWN
Nov 15, 2021 45 Comments

Is it a good transition from SWE to SRE ? I recently got an invite to apply for Google SRE position. I’m not sure how the interview will be. Is it going to be similar to SWE like leetcode and systems design ? What are the future career prospects of SRE ?

#software #careeradvice

TC : 100k
YOE: 5

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TOP 45 Comments
  • Twilio
    🦂king-

    Go to company page Twilio

    🦂king-
    Google SRE & SWE have basically the same interview loop. Except for the technical rounds will also include Linux based questions/scenarios. Given this, you are able to transfer between SWE & SRE without much hassle.

    Comp bands are the same for both.
    Nov 15, 2021 3
    • New / Eng
      wonderWN

      New Eng

      wonderWN
      OP
      @twilio Good info. Thank you very much. Just curious as everyone said it’s a downgrade, would you hire a SRE for a SWE position. I may be thinking a little ahead now but still just want to know if HM would be interested.
      Nov 15, 2021
    • Twilio
      🦂king-

      Go to company page Twilio

      🦂king-
      @Amazon, Google SRE roles are one of the best. But you do have on call and you get paid which results in roughly 10-15% on top of your base every year. Overall WLB is pretty good.
      Nov 15, 2021
  • Amazon / Eng
    luckylefti

    Go to company page Amazon Eng

    PRE
    Amazon, IBM
    luckylefti
    Downgrade imo
    Nov 15, 2021 5
    • Google
      isonlygame

      Go to company page Google

      isonlygame
      sre-swe at google is swe++ in my opinion. interview bar is higher, work is more complex, and if you ever want sre-swe can go back to swe whenever. swe needs to interview to become sre
      Nov 22, 2021
    • New / Eng
      wonderWN

      New Eng

      wonderWN
      OP
      Thanks you @isonlygame Good to know
      Nov 22, 2021
  • New
    g00g0g00g

    New

    g00g0g00g
    If you go through "SRE-SWE" interview loop, you a) get mostly similar interviews to SWEs, just with stronger emphasis on system design b) once you get it, you can move to a 100% SWE easily, just need to find team/manager who wants you.

    If you end up as "SRE-SE", your interviews will be more system-focused (Linux, troubleshooting) and less coding. Then, once you get in, if you want to convert to SWE, you have to either demonstrate that you've been doing SWE work for long time, or have additional interviews internally (LC mostly).

    SRE-SWE hiring has a scale too between systems and coding. On one end, some people are *purely* into coding and no sysadmin knowledge at all - those will get only LC+NALSD. But, some people are good mix of both (but, still good enough to try to meet SWE bar on coding) - these will get some non-coding questions too.

    Similarly, SRE-SE interviews, can have a variable coding bar. At extreme end, if your Linux/sysadmin skills are godlike and you indicate that you're "strongly systems-sided", your coding bar becomes very low - could be as low as Fizzbuzz.

    Overall, be sure to indicate to your recruiter where you are on the "100% LC" <--> "oldskool Linux geek" scale. This will help them to get you the most fitting interview panel.

    SREs are generally valued a lot and all the SWE teams that don't have SRE support crave to get it.

    (Ah, and this is all for GOOG, no idea about others)
    Nov 16, 2021 4
  • Amazon / Eng
    wawY45

    Go to company page Amazon Eng

    PRE
    Apple
    BIO
    I'm a no-man.
    wawY45
    LOL at random people having no idea about Google SRE saying it's a downgrade.

    100% it's not! At least not at Google! At other places it may differ, but Production Engineering at Facebook seems to be quite respected as well.

    If you think it's easier to get to SRE than SWE - it's not! You actually have to be comfortable with Linux to pass at least one admin round, in addition to LeetCode.
    Nov 15, 2021 1
    • New / Eng
      wonderWN

      New Eng

      wonderWN
      OP
      Thanks for the clarification.
      Nov 15, 2021
  • Google
    ƎꓶꓨOOꓨ

    Go to company page Google

    ƎꓶꓨOOꓨ
    Google SRE is basically SWE working on distributed and reliability stuff. They have the same reputation as SWE within Google. SWE transfer to SRE team all the time and vice versa.
    Nov 15, 2021 3