Hello! I’m a person relatively early in my career. (2 YOE all at Amazon) I have a bunch of college debt and some day want to be a people manager. My current manager has hinted at a promo to a senior title in the next year if I stay. (However, with The Great Resignation, we know how risky such promises can be.) I have watched numerous other people at my level & YOE leave for offers that range for 130%-150% my current base. Does it make sense to risk staying on board for one more year (plus year 3 RSUs) for the senior title and access to higher paying jobs going forward? OR take advantage of the current job market and get a higher salary now? (I have a poll but detailed thoughts in the comments are also appreciated 😊)
He can hint at whatever the hell he wants, nothing is set in stone until you have it in paper.
tc and yoe?
Apply and take a 150% offer if you can get one. If you can't get one then stay.
Your manager will be out in 3-6 months from a random reorg, you’ll have entirely new teammates from constant attrition, or you’ll have moved teams. All of these are more plausible than whatever BS carrot your manager is feeding you about getting to L6 within the next year
L6 at 3 yoe? That’s gotta be a mistake
Senior (L6 at Amazon) is possibly but difficult with 3 YOE. I have seen others with it and know of people put up and rejected at the 3 YOE mark. This is in extremely high growth AWS orgs though. Definitely the exception though
Just about everyone at Amazon gets regular feedback that they're up for promo "next quarter" - even the ones who are secretly in Pivot. Part of this is managers not being good at difficult conversations and part of it is people hearing what they want to hear. Many of them eventually do get promoted (not the ones in Pivot ofc) but many more don't. Stay if you enjoy the work and especially the people you're working with. Year 3 RSUs are nice. The job market will be hot for the foreseeable future so there's no rush to leave now. But don't hold your breath for any promo until it happens. Director's OLR can be a crapshoot even if your direct manager sincerely thinks you're ready for the next level now - especially in Q1 when the entire company seems to think they're getting promoted. For the majority of your peers 2022 is most likely to be similar to your current situation, with a decent TC bump for those who still have room in band but no promo for most - that's just how the numbers work.
No one cares about titles. I'd rather a "developer" with 8yrs good experience than a "senior dev" with 5yrs exp.
TC or GTFO