I have been senior swe at Google for a couple of years. Despite trying hard to get into promising projects and coming up/implementing with new technical proposals - I am not able to grow. I have always been a decent performer at Google, never got a cme. Due to current hiring freeze, I can't seem to find any good opportunities internally in my location. I had tried for a e6 offer at meta but I messed up one interview so ended up with a e5 offer which I declined. Recently, Amazon reached out to me for some roles which are L6 but seem to have interesting problem spaces. Is it worth going to Amazon just for technical growth ? I feel given my current state in my team, and poor management support, I don't think I can succeed at Google or learn much in my job role. I feel really depressed and can't motivate myself much anymore. I want to get more exposure to large scale systems and ml design outside of Google as it might help broaden my thinking and also help with interviews down the line. Given the current tech job market, is it too risky to switch to Amazon ? Yoe:7 TC:450k
need 600 to offset the risks
And L7.
Yes
I am doing interviews can you guide me ?
Big names doesnl not necessarily mean better opportunities, atleast on the technical front. IMO technical growth is best achieved from joining mid size/early stage start ups.
Yeah but they pay 🥜
Isn't Amazon L6 = to G L5?
Not in terms of scope. You’re expected to have led a team and demonstrate org-wide impact as an external L6
For a technical person Google L5 is a pretty sweet gig as you're mostly shielded from business decisions. Here, They would happily burn the L6 at the town square for a failed project.
Could you plan a boomerang? Sure the economic opportunities available to you at Google now are limited, but if you hop to amazon for 18-24 months maybe you could come back to Google at level N+1?
I mean the alternative is to ride out the hard times at Google and I guess most expect the market to ease up in a year or so. I can meanwhile be on lookout for new teams within Google or take up 20 percent projects ?
Try many others, not Amazon
Donot move if your G L5 TC is as high as $450k. I know a few G L5 joined Amazon L6 but the TC bump (<350k -> 600k) justifies everything
Wow senior for several years at 7 yoe??? Does that tc include stock drop ?
Do not come to Amazon from Google, it is not worth with wlb. You have to compete with rest of the world to prove you are the best. Be there with google for while till you get some thing better. And no free bees at all.
Isn’t OP looking for growth? Nothing better than stiff competition to push yourself. If you want to stagnate in a cushy job you’d stay at Google
Growth and scope are just myths at this point to fool new hires. The only thing you'll do here as L6 is hustle. Most of people commenting here are starry eyed L4s mistaking writing too much garbage code in half thought systems just to make it work as learning. It's no more day 1 here anymore. Pick up a 20% project, do open source contributions, change team. Don't trade your sanity for a pipe dream.
Go to a startup. Amazon and google aren’t the only games in town.
^this
Would love to, but no one ever mentions which startups offer 550k+ in “real” money + great benefits such as paternity leave and such. There always seems to be something missing. Not that Amazon has any good benefits, but at least the money is there.