Recently got promoted as L6 SDE at Amazon and been enjoying the role in the team so far. As the team is growing I have been asked if I have an interest in becoming a software development manager. I talked with a few folks who did such transitions. Overall my impression from the discussion is the manager role is very involved and overwhelming especially at Amazon. But thinking long term, will it be worth it? In this crazy job market, which profile is safer? With AI helping with some parts of SDE activities, will the demand of SDEs decrease and SDM increase? The pay is almost the same at Amazon. Also, I can always come back to SDE track from SDM after 6 months of trial period. I am in my mid 30s and feeling a little saturated with SDE work. What are your suggestions for me thinking long term? Tc: 310k after promo to L6 SDE #tech #career #manager #ic #google #amazon #meta #linkedin #netflix #apple
Depends if you enjoy interacting with people vs computers
Not true though, an L6 SDE spends most of their day guiding junior engineers
You can pip people now! And you wonât get pipped! Why not?
Managers get pipped too lol
Lol, I second Capital One. Ems are the ones who are cutoff first before SWEâs
EM role is extremely overwhelming â itâs not a promo from IC â itâs just a different set of responsibilities. Give it a try and see if you can do without losing your mind. If things go well, continue or else get back to IC work. Trust me, IC work is much easier and interesting than EM work
Itâs true
How are Snowflake EMs like? Are they more technical or people mgmt only
The longer you can stay in IC the better imo
lol @ AI helping some SDEs tasks. Iâve got news for you. SDM is overhead. ICs are the backbone of actual work done. Who better to manage skillset balancing, output extraction and all at the same time make their directs feel like theyâre valued - thatâs an AI. Guess what happens when AI replaces some IC work - weâll find more IC work. Again, guess who is best at always finding more work. I say this as someone in leadership. Honestly if I could cut all the middlemen, I would do it in an instant. And Iâm willing to bet direct IC to leadership connections mediated by AI will boost morale and psychological safety at the same time.
Black Mirror
Spoken like a true L4
IC is better at Amazon in terms of whatever little of WLB is left..same for long term job security as well
In this crazy market, sde is safer
SDM is often draining, unrewarding, requires you to be cruel or shitty, and while occasionally really good, is hard. Put in another way - if you become an SDM at L6, good luck getting anything higher than an HV2 rating because you have to compete with SDMs who are managing 20+ SDEs for YEARS trying to get to L7 who are sucking up the TT slots. As a Senior SDE with some luck and commitment you can be TT YoY in 3 or 4 cycles making way more and skipping the bullshit. Only become a manager if youâre passionate about doing manager work. Anything else is pointless, just find a new job or redefine your role as an IC.
You can leverage the SDM route now and sell that to your next employer. No one is going to hire an EM externally if they have never led a team. It's better to hire an EM externally.
Amazon EM role sucks, better stay as an IC.
Tech Industry
Yesterday
1874
Quitting this Slave life
India
Yesterday
622
Modi is a legend, will be remembered for centuries to come
Tech Industry
Yesterday
1071
How common is it actually to earn more than 300K TC?
Tech Industry
Yesterday
1481
The end of Backdoor Roth?!
2024 Presidential Election
Yesterday
666
Heartwarming peaceful protests
Do it
Amazon EM is a red flag on resume. Amazon SDE3 is much better, at least they can do good oncall job.
Many companies like Twilio which is going thru toxic management culture would gladly hire Amazon EMs