Level for 1 yoe

Oracle
larry_plz

Go to company page Oracle

larry_plz
Mar 24, 2020 19 Comments

Is it common for engineers with 1 yoe to get E4 / L4 / SDE2 level? I’m planning to apply for positions at the big tech firms (in LA, not Bay Area, if that matters), and wondering if I should invest a bunch of time studying system design or just focus on leetcode and behavioral.

I have 1 yoe at Oracle cloud apps and a BS from a pretty good state school (top 20 ish). Currently at entry level MTS1

I’m also nervous about being able to meet E4 expectations. But if I am spending my spare time grinding leetcode now I figure I can just spend that extra time on work to catch up once I start my new job.

Almost forgot TC: 150k at current stock prices

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TOP 19 Comments
  • HBO
    🗓Friday1️⃣3️⃣

    Go to company page HBO

    🗓Friday1️⃣3️⃣
    If you’re good, then yes.
    It’s easy to tell apart if someone is genuinely a junior vs not
    Mar 24, 2020 4
    • Oracle
      larry_plz

      Go to company page Oracle

      larry_plz
      OP
      Right on, thanks. I’m definitely closer to 3 level now but willing to hustle hard to improve
      Mar 24, 2020
    • HBO
      🗓Friday1️⃣3️⃣

      Go to company page HBO

      🗓Friday1️⃣3️⃣
      A lot of it just comes from experience and depending on how your team is, if you come in at a higher level - you’ll be setting up yourself for failure.

      At Amazon / Fb, if you cannot work work independently at 2nd level, you’ll get PIPd in no time.
      Mar 24, 2020
  • Amazon
    vMIc41

    Go to company page Amazon

    vMIc41
    Oh yeah what school, you may get SDE3 if you went to a prestigious enough school
    Mar 24, 2020 1
  • Amazon / Eng
    guiced-up

    Go to company page Amazon Eng

    guiced-up
    common? i don’t think so, but definitely possible. i got L5 @ Amazon with ~1 yoe after graduating no name school and working at a no name company

    edit:
    imo you just need to have responsibilities on your resume to justify interviewing you at a higher level than new grad. from there, you’ll be able to cinch it by doing well on the interview. no good interviewer should pass on you simply for YoE
    Mar 24, 2020 6
  • Apple
    aqwaqw

    Go to company page Apple

    aqwaqw
    If you need to invest lots of time to study system design, you're not ready for E4. System design interviews are different than coding. You can answer them easily because of your daily job, not by lots of preparation.
    Mar 24, 2020 1
    • Oracle
      larry_plz

      Go to company page Oracle

      larry_plz
      OP
      Yeah, I’ve gotten a bit of experience at work but if you asked me to design Instagram or whatever I wouldn’t be able to give a confident specific answer
      Mar 24, 2020
  • IBM
    GQvL15

    Go to company page IBM

    GQvL15
    Very unlikely
    Mar 24, 2020 1