I have 5 years of QA/Automation experience. My current TC is 123k, role is senior sdet in Boston. My work situation isn’t great, so I need to switch ASAP. I am on H1B. Given that QA growth opportunities are limited, I’m preparing to move to dev. I did leetcode medium for about two weeks and gave google interview. The feedback I got was, design wasn’t strong to be considered for L5 position and they asked me to retry later. Unfortunately not many non-faang companies are calling me for dev positions, given my background is in QA. I got a lot of lead QA offers, but the TC offered isn’t great. It is pretty much the same as what I make now. I landed two offers that seem reasonable. One in the same qa career path with a good salary jump. Another is a dev role. Both positions in Boston. Verily - Test Engineer L4 - TC: 195k + 15k joining bonus + google benefits. TC breakdown: 40k equity. Rest is base and bonus. Chewy - Software Engineer 2 - TC: 153k + unlimited PTO TC breakdown: 10k equity. Rest is base and bonus. I am torn between the two because the compensation difference is significant. I mentioned my verily offer to chewy and they weren’t willing to match/negotiate. Should I prioritize my career change over compensation for long term benefits? Alternatively I could join verily and try FAANG companies seriously.
What is it that you don’t like about work situation? Is it the QA work? PTC does not have stock? Bonus? TC seems low.
The Verily TC is this all cash? Paper money stock? If you are sick of QA work, extra compensation won’t help.
No equity no growth. Low tc and lot of friction in the team. WLB. This was all before covid. So everything just amplified now. Unfortunately I couldn’t move teams either.
The Verily equity is not liquid. So assign it a value of zero. Google has a history of canceling projects. See recent news about gaming division. It is very risky for you to join such a place, being on H1B. https://www.businessinsider.com/list-all-the-top-execs-and-managers-left-verily-in-2021-1
Chewy seems to be a shitshow. Read their reviews on here. Don’t be fooled by unlimited PTO. You’ll be lucky to get 3 weeks. Search for unlimited PTO on here. It’s a scam so the company does less bookkeeping and doesn’t owe you anything when you leave.
I think onboarding remotely is incredibly difficult and stressful. I would stay put for now. Keep preparing. And look for better companies.
Can I dm you to know more about the interview process?
Yes sure.
Any idea how much senior test engineer makes at Verily?
Are you on visa? Keep in mind company stability. Also make sure you state location: is Verily for SF-based or remote role? $195k is not great for SF.
Updated the post. I am on H1B. Both positions are in Boston.
What’s the tech stack at chewy? If you want to move into Dev, this is your chance. Once you have the dev job title, other recruiters may reach out.