4 ms·

If anyone's wondering SDE2/L5 at Amazon is the first 'career' role on the engineering ladder.

• zwkrt 8y ago
  Is that true? I would have guessed it was 3 based on the expected level of responsibility of the respective roles. As an engineer I felt like L5 was a position that meant I could trust the coworker to be effective, but I would be wary of joining a team that had no L6s.
  • TheHydroImpulse 8y ago
    L3 at other companies is an L4 at Amazon (I believe only contractors or part-time employees can be < 4). L5 also has a much wider surface area and the gap from L5 to L6 is quite big.
    • discodave 8y ago
      Correct. All corporate roles are L4 or above at Amazon, even outside tech.
  • sudosteph 8y ago
    I can corroborate. Career level just means you won't get fired if you stop advancing. There are plenty of people who still pursue L6 though out of pride though. It's extremely difficult for an experienced SDE to get hired on at L6 level too, so most have to work up to it.
  • s2g 8y ago
    It's a dumb policy, but it's true. I was on a team with no one above SDE-I. That was bad.