I've seen a comment saying that solution architect positions are more sought after in comparison to regular software developer positions at Amazon, since SAs are the ones actually meeting clients and selling. How true is this? TC: 220K (non-bay area) #amazon #aws
Don't you have metrics as an SA? I'm pretty sure PIP must be worse in SA land.
Not true, SAs are like golden geese at AWS. I had one on my last team who was trash but most folks held him in high regard. I think TC is less, but I don’t think there’s much PIP chance. AWS sales is a pretty safe space to be if you are decent at your job, especially us customer facing folks.
The team I was on was under Sales, customer facing, but PIP still existed. My understanding is every org has a quota PIP. No difference from org to org. Company wide quota. 🤷🏾♂️
SA and SDE are totally different jobs, and there is nearly no overlap in the skills needed. SA requires excellent experience as a user/customer combined with a personality customers will trust and like. Minimal to no coding skills needed. SDE requires excellent experience coding. Minimal to no experience needed using the systems as a customer or personality requirements since it is non-customer facing. SDE pays about 1.5x SA for the same level. Both job roles are good and in high demand but nobody will cross over from one field to another. Your question is like asking which is a better job for me to apply to: doctor or lawyer? You will likely only have the qualifications for one of those two jobs.
There’s a bajillion more SDE roles at Amazon than SAs, which is why you hear more complaints about it on blind (more people to complain), and they’re also very different roles and jobs.
SAs do get treated better because they are in the sales org and bringing in revenue. However, they do get paid less so you could interpret that to mean the company doesn’t value them as much. A large part of the problem with AWS is that they want the software done as quickly as possible so they can make money from it. And they have added pressure from cyclical events like re:Invent where they want to announce new stuff. This results in the SDE meat grinder many people experience.
SAs make a bit less than SDEs but doesn’t seem as cutthroat. SDEs on this app always complain about burnout, lifestyle creep, chasing TC, working 70 hours a week, and fearing PIP. SA/ProServ has it’s quirks but still I think it’s relatively more relaxed.
Appreciate the info. I guess I always blindly assumed that a software engineer position would be more desired (as it is with Google) at a tech company. My perspective's a bit more balanced now, thanks!
That’s just my opinion so I like SA over SDE. I like meeting with clients and solving their problems. I enjoy discussing their current architectures, what problems they face, and helping them pick the right move for them. I don’t enjoy coding, debugging, leetcoding, algorithms, etc. I have a solid wlb and enjoy all the time I have with my family. Someone has to do the coding to build the services and they get paid more. I’m okay with that.