When does one get considered for sde2/L5 at Amazon
Hello Blind. I had a chat with a Amazon recruiter for a potential hire. She said due to my lack of experience I check out as a sde1 and I would be targeting sde1 interview loops. Apparently they need 3 years of experience before I can be considered as sde2. Is this true? is there a minimum yoe needed for sde2. 220k tc with stocks vesting this year, Bay area. 1+yoe.
Yes. Even at 3 years it’s pretty likely you’ll get down-leveled. Safe bet is usually 4+ years for SDE II
Lots of people w experience get promoted after 1 year though, so you could target that. Tbh not much difference comp wise though lol. Join Amazon for prestige not TC, in which case it doesn't really matter if you join as l4 or l5.
I was in amazon earlier and make more than sde1 there. I'm not in Walmart
Then why bother going back?
Don’t join unless you somehow convince for SDE2. No chance Amzn is going to come close to that TC for SDE1. I rejected Amazon offer on table a year back when I graduated for ridiculously low TC.
Because you are coming from outside Amazon, yes. The grad engineers with average competence usually take 2 years to be promoted to SDE2. If you get in at SDE1 with a higher YoE, you can get promoted to SDE2 within a year if you do great impactful work.