Downleveled from Senior SWE to SWE during interview. To all my LinkedIn SWE, tell me about your path to promotion from SWE to Senior SWE. How long did it take for you to get promoted after you joined? What would you do differently when you look back on your experience? How much of a bump in base and RSUs did you get with the promotion? What advice would you give to others doing the same? Thanks in advance! YOE: 6 Current TC: $190k Offer @ LinkedIn: $276k first year, $226k second year #engineering #software #swe #promotion #downleveled
With 6 YOE you should have already gotten a senior offer at LinkedIn (that’s equivalent to L4 at other places, not actually senior). I’d just reinterview and get an actual L5 offer (or at the very least, L4) elsewhere
I was downleveled when I interviewed for the senior swe. I didn't solve both leetcode problems during onsite. Are you suggesting I decline the offer and interview again for senior?
I’m saying that with your YOE you should be able to get senior offers so it would probably be better to do that than to sign a new grad offer, wait a year, and interview again. I guess depends on how much you want to leave your current company and how confident you feel on your interviewing skills. (For what it’s worth I got a senior offer at LinkedIn with 2.5 YOE, so you’re definitely being lowballed for your YOE)
What's your gender and ethnicity OP?
If it matters, just list out the options for each gender and ethnicity
Senior SWE with 2.5 yoe here. I have a co worker with more yoe than me who was also downleveled and they have been here over a year. I’ve been getting asked by my manager if they are ready and honestly they have shown capable skills but just don’t have enough to show on paper. And frankly I don’t see management going out of their way to help them out. I’d say it’s a bit unfair for someone like you with 6 yoe. You want to make sure management is doing everything they can to accelerate your promotion so you don’t get treated like a new grad SWE with 0 yoe with respect to promotion speed.
Wow! Can you share your experience/advice on getting promoted to Senior SWE in just 2.5 years?
Don’t take it. I’d recommend Facebook for faster growth instead. Promo is more difficult than interview. I’m surprised you got offer still even with failing 2 questions.
I failed one of the two questions but I get where you're coming from
That’s pretty high for SWE but never down level. Try again for SSWE, they will come back within a short time to reinterview.
I had similar experiences with you three years ago. I felt sick of linkedin down-leveling candidates.
What's was your offer ?
It takes between 1 yr to 3 yrs, probably average about 2 yrs. If you’re experienced it can probably be done in a year if you can hit the ground running. You need to work with your manager to get a project that’s large enough and make sure to produce enough artifacts (docs, code reviews, etc.) to add to your promo packet. As for the bump it depends on your current pay, an experienced hire is probably going to come in at a higher base so your base bump might be smaller. So probably between 5-10%, depending on current base. Same situation with RSU’s. For people I know who joined as new grads most people got around 100k RSU’s at promo. But I’ve seen some people get like 60k because their comp was so high due to stock appreciation.