SDE vs SDET at Amazon

PwC

Go to company page PwC

Aug 15, 2019 32 Comments

recently applied for a role in Amazon for SDE. During interview, hiring manager said software development engineer in test when explaining the role. Is the JD misguiding, or are there really “SDEs” who work in QA that are not SDET? what is the difference?

Thanks

TC: 99k

comments

Want to comment? LOG IN or SIGN UP
TOP 32 Comments
  • Apple
    cpcook

    Go to company page Apple

    PRE
    LinkedIn
    cpcook
    Call it Sdet is to make you feel better when you work as a qa.
    Aug 16, 2019 7
    • @maimai: Can you give some examples what does test platform means?
      Sep 5, 2021
    • Sunrun
      tigermini

      Go to company page Sunrun

      tigermini
      Yes, that is true. SDETs are pure developers who develop the framework and design tools to make the testing efficient and improve the quality the quality of product by integrating those tools into product repos.
      Sep 24, 2021
  • Apple
    cpcook

    Go to company page Apple

    PRE
    LinkedIn
    cpcook
    Sdet at Amazon is qa
    Aug 15, 2019 3
  • Lyft
    evem

    Go to company page Lyft

    evem
    Avoid SDET at all cost. I've been there before and SDET are treated as second tier SDE.
    Aug 29, 2021 3
    • Lyft
      gggd

      Go to company page Lyft

      gggd
      Re-interview into entry level SDE position. I did internal transfer but even that required re-interviewing bc hiring bar is differnet
      Sep 26, 2021
    • Lyft
      gggd

      Go to company page Lyft

      gggd
      Better to switch out sooner than later. I had 1 year in SDET before switching out. This being said you learn a lot of skills in SDET that you wouldn't normally be exposed as SDE so having prior exposure to both experience have been made me a better engineer today though
      Sep 26, 2021
  • Amazon
    lgtmshipit

    Go to company page Amazon

    lgtmshipit
    SDETs are SDEs who create platforms for testing. Often though they are bogged down by the poorer state of internal systems and manual QA work. Also, promo path for SDET is clear till SDET 2, starts getting a bit murky to SDET 3 and is almost unknown to Principal SDET.
    Aug 15, 2019 6
    • Amazon / Eng
      Yolo!

      Go to company page Amazon Eng

      Yolo!
      Supportive managers will allow you to do it, you start with taking more SDE kind of work and see if it’s something you like and want to do; of course there will be people who will probably need to write feedback on your code etc. if this for SDET3 to SDE3. SDET2 to SDE2 should be OK and can be approved at Manager level AFAIK
      Aug 15, 2019
    • Amazon
      amzcoder

      Go to company page Amazon

      amzcoder
      I agree SDET 2 to 3 is really difficult and I think that manager comes up new requirements all the time and seems like it's not clear what needs to be achieved.
      Aug 18, 2019
  • Resy
    KlCY04

    Go to company page Resy

    KlCY04
    SDET and SDE are similar in most companies and there is not much difference between compensation and career opportunities.
    Aug 19, 2020 4
    • Gordon Food Service
      NpTm28

      Gordon Food Service

      NpTm28
      @Resy curious to know what tools did you use to achieve this?
      Jan 16
    • Zoho
      beem

      Go to company page Zoho

      beem
      @NpTm28

      Most definitely an in house framework they wrote from scratch. I've to see an out of the box solution that can do this, unless you are willing to pay big bucks and scale on the cloud.
      Jan 31