non CS PhDs who transitioned in MLE/SWE roles at big companies
Folks with PhD (some of you must have done a postdoc as well) in non CS/ML areas, how was your experience when you transitioned to MLE/SWE roles at big companies? What level did you land up at ? Was there any ageism that you experienced, since much younger people would be far ahead in their careers ? How much time did you take to get your first promotion ? I am in a similar boat as yours and preparing for interviews. Would like to hear your experience. TC: 90 K, 3 years postdoc in a national lab.
Also interested to hear how non-CS/ML got their foot in the door How did you cast your (research) experience as relevant to industry If you lacked ML experience, how did you land a ML role? (If you lacked real SWE engineering at scale, how did you land a SWE role?)
You get L61 as phd new grad. 1 yoe outside Microsoft < 1 yoe in Microsoft. Many other companies have this same mentality, that’s why many L63 from Microsoft go to L4 at google.
What about PhD + 2 YOE in a small startup. Would that make a difference in what level you get ?
I think it depends on your interview and how good of a fit they think you are. Without handling big dev projects I think max you can get is L62.
L61, not many problems as you mentioned since many coworkers are from the same background
but isn't L61 lowballing? Bachelors with 2 years YOE get L61. Shouldn't PhD get atleast L62 ? OR does it completely depend on the interview ? BTW, what was your TC at L61 ?
Lol most bachelors with 2 yoe don’t get 61, Blind is not reality