Hi all,
Hi all,
I just want to share my journey from SDE-1 to Sr. SDE in Amazon in 4.5 years.
I joined Amazon in Q1 2020, days before the COVID as an SDE-1. I was working in a company before which is known to have a very chill work environment. I got bored there, and wanted to join Amazon specifically because it had a reputation of having too much work. I just wanted to work my ass off.
I had imposter syndromes when I joined. So many smart people and engineers all around me. I doubted if I'll survive there. All I could think was how to do my job in a better way. Luckily, I got a good manager who trusted me and gave chances to perform. I worked hard, and got promoted to SDE-2 in 1.5 years.
After that, I took a break for 6 months (worked very little, focused on some personal stuff). Again, luck played a major part and my manager understood this and didn't give me a lot of pressure during that time.
After this break, I focused on work again, watched some videos in YouTube around what's the expectations from a senior engineer in any team (link in comments). These videos helped me understand the expectations from a senior engineer in the team. I started to focus on finding systematic problems in the team, and worked with my manager to solve some of them. Wrote a lot of documents, pushed through to get some of that implemented, or implemented some of them myself. In parallel, I was also expected to perform well as an SDE-2, so I did that as well. HLDs, LLDs, reviews I did it all. Noticed other senior engineers in my team on how to design, write better code, how to do better reviews etc. Kept watching content around system design, having good mindset etc. I believe luck played a major part again most of the things I started worked out in favor of our team. Few things didn't (designs rejected, projects shelved).
Anyhow, after some hesitation and after 2 years (around Q3, 2023), approached my manager to ask about gaps for a SDE 3 promo. He informed I was meeting most of the requirements and a few which needed some work. We started working on those alongside the promotion document. With some effort and hiccups, my promotion was approved in Q2, 2024. I was so happy and relieved.
What's next, well taking some time to relax, feeling imposter syndrome again, starting to learn some new stuff. Hope to be a better engineer with time.
As I've mentioned, I feel luck played a major part, having a good manager is not easy, and things usually don't work out as well as they did for me. Grateful for these.
Feel free me ask any questions you have.
Thanks for listening to my 2 cents.
Lovely stuff. Congratulations on your journey man. And fix the imposter syndrome. It only stops good people from becoming great. Adds the humility, but also adds the anxiety :(
Thanks man! I'm working on it, but I only feel confident when I'm learning new stuff, so I guess that keeps me on track 😅
Congratulations dude 👏
I'm not good at documenting things, like structuring documents for easier understanding. What do you suggest me to improve it?
What do you mean by identified systematic problems? Is this bug or lack of features, can you give some examples
Thanks :)
I write so I can give shape to what I'm thinking. For structuring, you should think how would you like to read a document. What sections would be useful for any person to easily grasp things. Keep your audience in mind, always. You're writing so that your audience can understand the problem you're trying to solve and your method to solve it. Another thing is that it's a skill, if you keep putting effort you'll be amazed by the progress.
By systematic problems I mean things like insufficient metrics, duplicate implementation of same stuff, too much manual testing & Lack of integration tests causing team a lot of time, lack of mentorship in junior engineers causing them frustrations. These problems were long standing, I just identified and decided to do something about them. Some required writing documents, some required working with SDM.
Amazing, thanks for sharing 😁
Other resources which might be useful for people:
Good advice from Amazon PE: https://www.teamblind.com/post/AMA-L7-SDM-QhkvjRbR
How to operate at Senior engineer: https://x.com/gokulns/status/1810598394286497854
Promotion process explained by an Amazon PE: https://www.teamblind.com/post/Navigating-promotion-process-explained-deBuHqcS
This says You do not have access to the channel on the blind links
Video on becoming Sr. Engineer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i5iFlP01mQ
What does Senior SDE mean? Is that SDE3 at Amazon?
Also, congratulations! Amazon is pretty brutal in not giving promotion to SDE 3 from SDE2 soon. It takes a lot of people a lot of years to get there. I am extremely happy for you to have gotten a pretty good manager who worked for you!
Onwards and upwards!
Could you also highlight what currently would be a decent take home in India for the role you are in?
Congratulations on the well deserved promotion 🎉
Wanted to ask, how to push the conversation with Manager regarding the SDE1 to SDE2 promo? I've been an SDE1 for the past 9months now, and I've started to pick up things well, which my manager agrees to as well. I too, very luckily, have a great manager. But I too feel there are a few gaps for my promo to SDE2. Just want to get a clarity on how to initiate this convo and move ahead from here. Cheers :)
I'd advise not to start the conversation for L4 to L5 this early. Wait for atleast after you've completed 1 year mark. If your manager doesn't start this conversation with you after that, you can just ask about what gaps do they feel you have for L5 promo.
Congratulations 👏🏻. And I appreciate the fact that you know how having a good manager make things smooth vs the bad ones. Also, you don't have to put it all on luck, most of it must be your skills. Afterall, not everyone can just want and get into Amazon.
Thanks. Yes, over the years I've realised the value of a good manager.
Congrats Dude, i am also at SDE 2 level, was promoted in Q3 2023 so its been around 1 year, so far i was pretty much chilling but now i have started to feel imposter syndrome, almost feels like other Sde 2 are stronger than me, and now i was to get serious and work towards next level. Any advice you can give to fellow Amazonian at this point ?
First and foremost: Start focusing on the projects you're assigned. Without this, no other suggestions would work.
Now, addition things that may help: Read others design, be more curious about things and try to find out how they work. This can be anything related to software development. Learning random things will help you feel confident, and also make you a better engineer which is more important.
In parallel, start noticing problems in your teams systems, make a list, prioritise by importance, and think about how to solve them. It'll take some extra effort from you, but it's worth it.
Congratulations on your promotion 👏🏻 🎉Thanks for sharing your journey. Loved reading it!
Imposter syndrome is very common, but please believe in yourself. You were promoted because you have what it takes to be a Senior SDE. Again, congratulations and all the best for your future!
Thanks for your comment 😊
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