Background:
I am currently 26 years old
I have an MSc in ML from top uni in Europe from a non-anglophone university
I currently work at AWS as an L4. I have 8 months tenure.
Greenfield project. Most knowledgeable person on the team on the topic. Leading the discussion, impl, design etc.
I am motivated to become a staff+ (L7 at amazon) or FAANG equivalent engineer by the time I am 30 / Q1 2027 so almost 4 years.
Prior to joining AWS I worked an a fintech startup for about 3 months. I wrote a simulation engine for stock trajectories on GPUs with Jax. 120x perf of existing system without additional GPU scaling. Impl RL algos.
Have a couple of internships and ML assistantships from undergrad.
I am motivated to interview outside and will accept a position only if it includes a promotion. I will only interview with FAANG or similar.
Currently reside in Europe; I have no problem leaving the country or moving somewhere I don't speak the language. I have done that twice.
I will not accept a downgrade or equivalent role if I interview.
Currently "exceeds expectations".
Criteria:
My role must be SDE3/Senior Eng, or equivalent at FAANG or other very selective companies like Jane St, ASML, etc.
Must be working at that level / role by end of Q1 of 2025.
I will not participate. I will answer questions.
Sorry, but it's heavily unrealistic because first you're not in the US, second interest rates are still high so promos and job hopping will be happening at a lower rate. Amazon is also going through a bit of a rumble right now, so while you might not be directly affected, your director or allies might unexpectedly be and that'll pull you to a more average promo rate.
@palcu That is fair, and indeed my org has been lightly impacted recently, and we had some reorg that changed general timelines. My mentor expects 2-3 years for SDE3, and wants me to push for L5 this year.
thank you for your comment.
@PartiallyTyped I have also heard the reverse, where senior leads decided to quit and more junior people jumped on the vacuum and managed to replace them. So, good luck.
@Odoacre It does seem unlikely, I expect to reach L5 at 1.25 years tenureship, but getting to L6 is a whole different story.
For L6 the total tenure would be like 3.25 years.