Please Find Flaws In My Plan
#engineering #software #career Currently new grad at Bananaland - Seattle. YoE: 0 (?) TC: 150k Want to minmax TC where I make as much as possible as early as possible for maximum opportunities. I feel good about my team, manager, and job stability for the foreseeable future at AMZN. Given these facts here is my plan: 1. Work at AMZN for 2-3 years 2. Obtain a ton of AWS certifications for free 3. Get promoted to SDE II 4. Jump to other temporary tech job in Seattle (MSFT, SNAP, PLTR, DBX, F, UBER) 5. Grind out some more YoE and new work experiences for 2-3 years 6. Renew AWS certifications 7. Jump to NFLX after 5 YoE, I have the YoE and the experience, they work heavily with AWS, my certifications are valuable 8. Work for NFLX, 5 YoE, 500k TC, done This is of course assuming once given an interview, I pass it Reasons I think this will work: - NFLX culture seems to be as sink or swim as AMZN without your peers sabotaging you, culture will be a good fit. - NFLX video streaming as an engineering challenge seems to be “done”. I say that in the lightest way possible, I know there is a ton going on behind the scenes. In 5 years, game streaming should become the next challenge, so plenty to work on and hire for. - Jumping to temporary tech job gives room for experience and more stock oriented growth before NFLX’s cash only comp which is something I desire. RSU collection if you will. - All’s quiet on the western front at AMZN for now, don’t want to be caught with my pants down when things go downhill in the future. Stagnant stock growth, executive shuffling, mass exodus of VP/directors, increasingly poor reputation in industry, etc, are all warning signs to me. - NFLX’s comp for 5 YoE seems to be 400k-500k, hopefully in 5 years, inflation plus job market will make it 500k on average Questions: 1. Too fast? Too slow? 2. 500k 5 YoE unrealistic? Low/High? 3. Would 5 YoE net me better TC at GOOG or similar and I could stay in Seattle? 4. For some reason, NFLX’s all cash comp just sings to me. No waiting for RSU’s to vest, more flexibility with budgeting (big fan of spreadsheets, accountant in another life), seeing fat checks in my checking account for a nice confidence boost 😂 Is this a wrong way to think? 5. Am I overestimating the use/importance of AWS to NFLX? 6. Please put holes in my plan, especially NFLX and AMZN employees, DM if necessary
Bruh. Calm down. Things will work the way they do. You have to chill and have the curiosity to learn. Btw the first flaw in your plan is thinking AWS certifications make you valuable.
Fyi you can achieve same in 3/4 yr yoe. Even at 5 yoe you need other offer to reach 500k using aws is not same as hiring only them
Makes sense, I wanted to use the AWS certs as a supplement to my software skills for things like high level designs. AWS would be another tool in my toolbox. I guess I put too much emphasis on the AWS certs when writing this post, they are really secondary to my work experience
Flaw #1 Work at Amazon for 2-3 years
Exactly why I want to have this planned out a bit. I feel good now, but who is to say what will happen in the next few years
That's not exactly a flaw. Instead the first 2-3 years is the best time to work at Amazon, if you want to ever. And as mentioned correctly by OP, everyone wants amazon/AWS guys nowadays.
if you can survive Amazon for 4-5 years, that will give you most TC because of their rsu vesting schedule. No need for temp company, switch to Netflix directly. Also, I don't think anybody cares about aws certification
I’ve heard refreshers are terrible and there is a large cliff after 4 years which is why I would want to be there for 4 years maximum, regardless of any plans I have. 4-5 years would still be SDE II right? Not sure if coming from SDE II vs SDE III matters instead of YoE
4-5 years is usually enough for senior engineer. Senior AMZN to senior NFLX would be much easier
Excuuuuuuuuse me. This is not a plan, it is a wishlist. Plan is then sh.t goes south. Picture that you got PIPed next perf cycle. What's next? Or WLB got stretched you to vermicelli. Or you find a nice gal or gay you wanna have quality time with? Obviously something is more/less risky and things could never happen (like girlfriend💔) , but your plan is only happy path. No exceptions, no unit tests... oh sorry. Professional deformation that is. Good luck 👍
It is idealistic, I’ll give you that. If I get pipped next cycle, then it will be a surprise because I deliver, my manager says I am ramping up quickly, team synergy is good, etc. Not really a concern of mine right now especially with how new I am. I can handle WLB at the extreme, just graduated. Plus, already with a nice gal, she has her own job and stuff to do so she doesn’t/wouldn’t care about the WLB especially when she would benefit from the increased TC 😂 No kids, no pets, no debt, 6 months of savings are all my unit tests and exceptions 😂 I’m unfamiliar with “professional deformation”, what is that?
Manager may lie and still PIP you? Then what?
Assuming Netflix will still be around in 5 years…
True, and here I am worrying about AMZN’s future… If NFLX isn’t around, then I’ll be at the temporary job so maybe I could swing the rest of FAANG instead of NFLX
What’s your plan B for each of the steps? Especially step 1?
Plan B for step 1 is to advance to step 4 with drastically lowered expectations and less prestigious companies
Plan B for the rest: Step 2 - doesn’t matter, get a reduced set and pay for it myself, or none at all Step 3 - If not promoted to SDE II after 3 years, it will never happen and I am failing miserably at something, proceed to step 4 with lowered expectations Step 4 - Find any tech at all even if its not really tech, Redfin, Qualtrics, etc. Step 5 - N/A Step 6 - Same as step 2 Step 7 - This is the goal of the plan, I guess search rest of FAANG and other tier 2 tech Step 8 - Regret
why are you getting the certs? That’s not important
Cloud Practitioner for my own personal curiosity, Associate Solutions Architect if I really liked Cloud Practitioner, more if I thought they were going to be a useful supplement to my skills on a resume. Not looking like they will be useful based on responses so far
You should get interested in learning to be a better software engineer instead
How would you jump to temporary job in Seattle (point 4)? Amazon criteria is to be SDE2(takes 2 years) for atleast a year and Microsoft is to get to L62 (takes 4 years). And you go to US on L1 visa (in which you cannot switch jobs) To switch, you have to apply for H1 visa, which is lottery based (so pure luck)
I meant temporary in the sense that it is to fill space between where I am currently and where I want to be. Not on visa either, I apologize for the confusion
Sorry. Assumed you are in India. Your plan is ambitious, but possible. Good luck!