I am currently 62 (3 years at this level) at Microsoft with 7 YOE and 160k TC. Promotion to 63 is impossible as manager wants me to coast. This year I specifically interviewed for senior roles and got mixed results: Google: recruiter didn't give senior loop FB: downlevelled to E4 offer 275k Bay AWS: downlevelled to SDE2 offer 250k Seattle ByteDance: senior offer 360k Bay (half is paper money) Splunk: Senior offer 310k Bay Tableau: senior offer 320k Seattle So it looks like I am able to clear senior loop at lower tier companies, but I cannot pass as a senior at FANG. I am planning to acccept the lowest offers from AWS as this opportunity would benefit my career long term. The team's product is of massive scale. The other offers do not seem to present comparable learning opportunity. Also Seattle CoL is lower. I wonder if I am making a bad move to give up other senior offers and higher TC? Thoughts?
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Take byte dance or splunk
Not super interested in the team's products. Seems to be boring enterprise stuff (data pipeline, compliance, integrations, etc.) at low scale.
Damn. Hurts. First you call us lower tier. Then you say we can’t scale. 😵
IMHO, bad decision. Tableau offer is way better, and so is the culture I believe (compared to Amazon)
Tableau wants my experience in enterprise data management and compliance, which is boring as hell. I have done that for years at Microsoft. Want to get into distributed systems...
I was at Microsoft before, and aware of how bad the culture can get there. The issue with taking lower level/salary means signing up for a slow career growth. I'd instead go to a company that pays well/gives a higher level, and keep looking for a better work match at other places. You'll get better opportunities that way.
Amazon is a better choice if you are interested in distributed system and are okay with with the operational loop kinda business model. Have you tried to negotiate to 270-280sh range with other offers? There is an inherent risk that you might not like the culture, it's a hit and a miss. You can spend 8-9 months in the team you are joining at Amazon, while looking for teams which are more aligned to your interests(for example some teams in AWS have some good challenges but it will take some time to get exposed to all that). It's pretty easy to move around as long as you are not on a Visa. If you are on a Visa then just take the high TC and focus on building, and providing value rather than learning. Amazon will just put you in dev list if you try to move around, because 'murica(given you have no leverage).
I am on TN1 visa. Does that prevent me from moving around in Amazon?
As long as you are comfortable to say fuck-you/i-dont-care with your visa status if shit hits the fan. What do you want to learn in disturbed systems? Do you just want to get exposed to ecosystem? Do you already have particular problem space in mind? Have you tried talking to senior engineers in the team you are joining? Ask them about what are some problem spaces they are working in if you haven't yet (and you have leverage of other offers and you can request them that you want to talk to some 'senior' engineer - and it's a great way to start at team - maybe that person will lookout for you - or lookup linkedin of people who work in that team to see if you like what you are seeing. ) I personally think joining to just learn is a flawed argument, but I can understand and I am respectful of your reasons. DM if you wanna talk more, otherwise good luck :)
Amazon sucks, it may take 3+ years to get promoted to L6. You should try again and get FB E5 in 6 months to maximize TC
^^^^^ min 3 yrs to L6 Agree with trying fb e5 again in a bit. Wait it out, if you can pass all these loops you can likely pass e5 with another shot and then nego a juicy package
My goal is not get promoted to L6 at AWS. I want a short sting (1 year) that teaches me how different it is to work on something that has much bigger scale than most web software. Staying 62 at Microsoft does not seem to give me more stake. I'm probably more marketable and has more knowledge to crack FB E5 alike after getting exp on the new job.
Why aren’t you taking Fb? Easier path to E5, much better comp and well reputed. Microsoft L63/64 can’t really hold a candle to Google L5 imho (I’ve worked at both places) - so the levelling seems correct to me.
63 is sr sde at msft right? Their titles are very inflated
I agree. Sometimes I see 63s that cannot even compare to a strong new grad in terms of technical abilities.
Bytedance has 50% of your pay as RSUs?
Ok, around 40%
I clicked on this post after seeing "I am 62.." and somehow thought it is a post from an old techie reg sacrifices made in career.. lol
TBH I think if I stay I could one of the forever 62s that gets managed out eventually LOL
I heard ByteDance can do all cash offer. No?
The TC will be significantly lower if I ask for all cash.
Can you share some details?
What’s your Tableau offer base/RSU/bonus?
Levels.fyi shows amazon sde II has a wide range mapping to Microsoft. So they don’t seem to down level you
Yes, it is fair to get L5 at Amazon even if I went for L6 loop. I mean compare to other senior offers, I get a lower level and less TC.
Yes that makes sense.