AWS Solutions Architect Offer - Tech U, worth it? Appreciate SAs to respond
I'm currently going back and forth with the idea of working solely as a Solution Architect for AWS. This might be considered a lateral move, however, difficult to determine as I'd be going from a Intermediate SA to Associate SA. 1. Current Job - Infrastructure, hybrid SA + Developer (80/20 respectively). Enterprise Banking, very well known company. I'm the conduit between business and our Cloud infrastructure. We setup, support, and implement large scale PoCs and business projects. The role is more SA, dealing with our internal business clients and provisioning the infrastructure focused in Big Data and Analytics. We support a variety of AWS Services (EC2, EMR, SageMaker, Glue, Kinesis etc). Outside of this scope, I get to automate and code in my free time. I focus around DevOps and automating our infrastructure (Python, boto3, Ansible, CDD). Commute -- 95% Remote, 5% - 35min to office (1 day a week) 2. Offer - Solution Architect, Tech U. I would be apart of AWS first Tech U program that provides in-depth exposure to various SMEs for the first 6 months, learning all the ins/outs of being a SA and deeply understanding the AWS Service offering. Another 6 months is exposure to a team where we work on a SA project and use our aforementioned skills. Afterwards, I'll be released into various Teams as a Solutions Architect. Commute -- 2.4 hrs round trip (door to door). TC -- 30-40% bump in base salary, plus RSUs and maybe a sign-on bonus.. Questions: 1. What would you do? Is having Amazon & SA role truly a ticket that opens many doors? 2. Future career path outside of Amazon SA? 3. Is the trade-off between 95% remote to 2.4 hours total commute worth it? 4. How much travel is expected of the AWS SA role? (once a month? / quarter?)
TC breakdown for both?
Mobile App changed my username, not sure how! TC not available, but basic base numbers are: 1. - 78k base 2. 110 -115k base (guestimating for my city, compared with current offers to others. Offer to be received this week)
Have you considered moving closer to the office or relocating to a cheaper city with less of a commute?
Unfortunately this isn't a open since i'm married and we have house already. I would train into the downtown core, so not all of this is 100% driving in a car
TC to be provided when the offer has been emailed, Rough Base comp is from guestimating what i've seen similar offers in my area. Verbal offer was presented by AWS. Post is more general, outling factors outside of TC, TC is not everything (1.2hr commute both ways for example...)
Herndon or Seattle? Or international? Obviously AWS is a big name — the 6 months of training is valuable but you have a lot of experience. That commute will kill you though. You are allowed to choose a traveling SA and nontravel SA. There’s three team options — Global, which means you get placed on an enterprise account (chance of relocation again), partner, where you’re working with presidio, CDW, whatever, and demandGen where you are working with dozens of smaller accounts. Also the role is fundamentally a sales one. Expect customer Facetime and less actual implementation. If you really love the technical aspect, try to ask for proserv consultant
There are also specialist SAs that cover geographical areas, and enterprise SAs that are assigned to accounts in a specific metropolitan area/city. It just depends.
Appreciate the insight, this would be International - Toronto HQ. Another person I have spoken to also recommended your option --- push towards proserv consultant. That is a plan to get exposure to proserv during the 6months OTJ training with the hope to launch into ProServ
I know this is unrelated, but I am interviewing for the same position. Could you tell me what the interview process is like? Thanks
I second this. How was your final round?
I also would like to know how the interview went. Currently going into the first technical interview.
Absolutely worth it if you enjoy AWS technology and interacting with and educating customers. Once you are done with Tech U - you will be on a team, and usually there is a lot of flexibility in regards to working from home or anywhere for that matter. Do it, you will have a great experience at, at least the Tech U part of it. Source: did Tech U a few years back, and it changed my trajectory
What is your career now
Numbers man
Mobile App changed my username, not sure how! The numbers are: 1. - 78k base 2. 110 -115k base (guestimating for my city, compared with current offers to others. Offer to be received this week)
So tc is 300k?