Going from FANG to a non tech company. Is it career suicide?
I had been working as a software developer in Amazon for 1.5 years. AI was put on 'PIVOT' and here is what it meant: Either go through the Performance Improvement plan and try to succeed and be in the company. Or, leave the company, receive a good severance and I don't have to return the money I owe to company (Joining bonus, relocation bonus). I ended up receiving as much severance amount as I actually owned the company. Now, due to my H1B Visa status, I could only be unemployed for 60 many days before I was deported. I furiously started applying and interviewing. I got a good offer (not as good as my original FANG offer of course) from a non-tech company and a title promotion so to say From SDE 1(in Amazon) to Software Engineer 2 in the new company. One one hand, I'm happy about the move. The work in my next company seems to be more interesting than anything I was doing. And it seems I would end up learning a lot in the other company compared to doing a bunch of OPS task on the original work. However, how does it look on a resume? Going from a very well known tech company to another company whose main business is not tech. Are future recruiters gonna find grill me on this and will it look like a stupid decision? Of course, I can't tell them the real reason.
"It provided me an opportunity to explore my interests and have a higher amount of ownership and responsibility."
👌
This. Plus 'I was looking for a more challenging role where I have an end to end visibility about the impact my work is bringing on the business, unlike Amazon where I was only exposed to a small piece of the business'.
Yes doesn’t matter. As long as u are working n doing tech work, where u work is unimportant
If you stay with your next company for a few year, let’s say five for green card reason, no one gives a fuck about your Amazon tenure.
Yeah. But after 5 years with a Non tech company, how hard it would it be to jump to a FANG / BIG 4 again
Leetcode is your best friend no matter where you are
Wait is the company Microsoft? It’s a tech company dude..what the fuck
The new company? Nah dude. If it was MS, I wouldn't be worried.
Ah okay. Your plan does sound solid though. I have a similar offer from a company called tradedesk. Better pay but seems like a downgrade in reputation. Not on PIP but the answer above to spin it as more autonomy and responsibility on the job sounds right to me
What's a non-tech company that has software engineer jobs? O_o
A lot do, it's fairly common to not source out a website/app if you can afford a tech team, even if it actually costs more to develop internally. Does this actually make any sense? Maybe.
Anything other than a software/hardware company. Retail, logistics, education etc. Companies still have servers and shitty websites
The only companies that seem to be bothered about the move from FAANG companies to non-FAANG companies are the FAANG companies
It 100% depends on what sort of non tech company it is.
I think the move is reasonable. You will be on PIP which you can’t possibly graduate given Amazon’s attrition goal. There are so many ex Amazonians in Seattle area because of terrible work life balance. Everybody would understand that and will not question hard for short stint because everyone knows short tenure at Amazon is pretty common. If you are worried about weak name on resume, please don’t. You already have Amazon so it does not matter much particularly when you are at early stage of career. You can try FANG after joining this non tech company.
Y does amazon layoff so many ppl?
Maybe they understand that CTCI-interviews aren’t a good reflection of a candidate’s skills and fit, so they let go people that don’t perform to their standards or drink enough kool-aid?
You could always tell them you needed a change of pace during this period of your life if it comes up. Or tell them the partial truth: the work was more interesting and challenging at the new company, and you wanted a challenge.