So you grinded Leetcode, watched tons of YouTube or went to boot camp, did some projects to build a portfolio, you made it! Did you have to start off as a junior dev (same as new grads)? Was it difficult to get interviews? Any difficulty on the job? I'm a senior HWE with 6YoE and feeling stuck, looking into transitioning to SWE but unsure if it's viable. TC 228k (no longer at BA)
Do firmware. Switch to another team after some time.
Thanks, agree 🙏
I graduated ee from my school and work as a swe. It was a pretty easy transition, but I did take a bunch of cs classes
Well, you are smart and switched as soon as you graduated 😂 I thought HW was cool and kept doing it until I realized HW is a deadend
Can you explain why it is a deadend? Is it only based on TC?
Took some CS undergrad courses
Dude it’s totally viable lol. I have a PhD in a non engineering, non cs field and I leeted my way to an ICT3 role at Apple
Depending on the type of HW skills it's valuable too. HW career has high entry barrier, so competition from junior folks is not as much as one would see in SWE career. Most of the FAANG, Snap etc have huge HW teams now and I guess they pay them well. If TC is what you are after, Consider applying for HW teams in FAANG first. Regarding your original question, I know many folks who got into SWE roles in Uber, LinkedIn etc even after 10 yoe in hw, but yes it won’t get you a senior position right away.
Stuck at 228k in hardware? That’s pretty good! Moving to embedded is probably your best bet. I imagine you would be able to leverage your experience for something more mid level
Hey, thanks! Yes, while I'm aware my TC isn't the absolute worst in HW and graceful for it, SWE with 1/2 YoE make the same, and clear 350k with 6YoE. Career path for HW is definitely sub-optimal. Agree on embedded, maybe could switch to higher level roles later.. Thanks again.
Where in the stack do you wanna work? Backend?