I am currently Senior SE at a startup, it supposed to be a rocket ship, but things went south lately, layoffs, hight attrition etc. I am still earning OK money ~210 and feel super relaxed at my position, but because all my friends moved on to different places and had big TC bump, I started looking around. Unfortunately I failed all interviews for the companies I wanted to join, and only got Microsoft offer for SDE2 lvl 62. Surprisingly TC for the position is very good, around 280 for first 4 years, but I am very concerned about down leveling. Should I accept the offer and try to move after a year or so, to a different company for a better position, or just stay at current company and continue doing LC? YOE 8
Is it 180 or 280 for L62?
Accept the offer at M$, then look around. Sounds like good TC bump for you anyway. Consider it as a stepping stone. It will be easy to explain why you looking at somewhere else because MS is not for everyone esp after startup experience.
You may want to look at it from a comp level instead of a title level. Most FANG companies are going to be based off systematic leveling for ICs instead of titles. If a specific title matters more to you then the pay or work you will be performing, then maybe looking for a company that will give you that is better. Also maybe talk to your friends and see what level they went to in FANG.
If the money is good, I wouldn't worry about level. Titles don't matter as much in our line of work.
@OP breakdown your TC ?
Microsoft gives 280k for l62?? That too without competing offers?