Hello, I’m in early career and in need of some career advice. I would like to get into a SRE-SWE role at Google, preferably in Zurich (I’m a US citizen). Currently I work remotely at a tiny AWS Partner where Terraform and AWS Cloud remediation is my main work. But originally, I started out with Javascript courses and codewars. I built some JS projects on my own and realized I didn’t like front-end dev and that’s when I got into AWS. Though I had no intention of giving up coding. the job I got pays well but is not exactly what I was expecting. I don’t do anything challenging at my job and I have tons of free time (which I used to get 4 AWS certs so far.) Terraform hasn’t been difficult once I got the hang of it, and most of it I don’t consider actual brain-exercising coding work. I feel my only signfiicant growth has come from the knowledge I’ve gained from self-studying for my AWS certs lately. Though I have enjoyed studying for my AWS certs, I really do think cloud architecture is cool and I just cleared the AWS Certified DevOps Pro exam which was a significant milestone for me. BUT… My coding skills are getting rusty and I never had proper programming mentoring on a professional team to begin with. I joined this company as a junior and have only really grown in Cloud Architecture (Systems Design?), AWS/Iaac Terraform as self-study, but not as a SWE. My company runs Terraform like a code- cowboy environment and my code almost never gets reviewed properly by the seniors. Each colleague is the infra devops guy for a customer they handle and I get undesirable leftover work. And as I said, I’m not doing much here these days. Here’s what I’m thinking - I could use my copious free time to get GCP Pro certs, learn Kubernetes and then pick a main programming language and grind 6 months of leetcode to prepare to get into a Google SRE-SWE role (or maybe Airbnb as a 2nd choice). Is this plan sound? Please advise. I don’t even know if I’ll like/need to learn Kubernetes, but I’m prepared to do what it takes to team match in my current cloud devopsy specialization. Do I need to learn Kube for SRE work? I’m ready to get back to coding and I can nose-to-the-grindstone leetcode for as long as it takes. The AWS Pro cert was a grueling grind as well, so I know I have the discipline to do it. Lastly, I’m deciding upon a new programming language to main since I am not enamored with JS and haven't touched it almost since I started this job. I’m thinking either Golang or Python ( I’m already learning Godot and GDscript in my spare time as a hobby which is similiar to python) and whichever I pick I will use it as my main for leet code DS and Algos interviews. Please advise on the language I should go with as well if you can .. My current job has been a good place to excel in self-study while being paid and now is the time to take aim and go for it. TC: $136k YOE: 10 months #swe #sre #google #python #golang #cloud #airbnb #kubernetes
If you want to get into Google SRE SWE your first hurdle is the interview process which is leetcode and system design. They don't care about kubernetes or GCP certs.
How different is Systems Design from the cloud solutions architecting I've been learning in AWS DevOps? I had assumed it would be similar.
Have you read the Google book on SRE? The soft copy is free.
Thank you for bringing that up, I will go ahead and read it from cover to cover. Can you recommend me a programming language to main as an SRE and for leetcoding? I was thinking Golang or Python?
Python and Golang. Good choices.