Should I stick to Meta or switch to AWS?
I have been working at Meta for around 5 months now. I’m not very excited about the product and the tech stack (its an internal tool). I have an offer from AWS where I get to work on a T1 GenAI service. I have always wanted to be an ML Engineer and my past work has also revolved around it. I know its not ideal to switch teams until I get promoted to E4 given the tight deadline we have so I’m not sure how long it takes before I switch to a team I would prefer. Also I’m not sure how the growth would look like for an internal tool team. Should I make the move to AWS given that it would be a better career start in ML? Or should I hang in, get promoted and switch? Meta is also aggressively doing performance reviews and I’m worried being new to the tech stack and lesser interest will bite me in the back and I might have nowhere to go.
I’m early in career so TC is not a huge concern, I want to optimize for learning and eventually working towards being an MLE.
![Senior Software Engineer [E5] at Meta company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fmeta.jpeg%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3Da7a5bcc0-e178-4b5b-b71e-09bf6c6aefae&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
![Mid-Level Software Engineer [E4] at Meta company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fmeta_logo.png%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3Db5f837b1-c74f-4e2f-848b-1599f05624c5&w=48&q=75){kind=logo}
Discussion
(6 comments)- 1
3 months agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course HeroI'm biased towards Meta as well (similar to Rahul), but it's just hard to argue for Amazon over Meta objectively:
- Meta has a high bar which got higher after the layoffs, but Amazon's PIP culture is far more notorious
- Meta pays more than Amazon, both in the present and in the future (Meta is the most generous with refreshers among FAANG)
- Meta has faster career growth due to a mix of its more startup-ey culture and up-or-out acting as a forcing function
- Meta doesn't have an impossible senior engineer promotion like Amazon does
Some other notes from me:
- Internal tools are underrated, and they have huge impact, especially at FAANG
- A lot of AI feels like a house of cards. We are already seeing Wall Street hesitance due to a lack of AI profits
- I feel like Meta stock has more room to grow compared to Amazon as it's nowhere near $2 trillion market cap and WhatsApp is barely monetized
My advice is to get to E4 ASAP and then switch teams. I'm working on an L3 -> L4 course now, but I recommend this in the meantime: [Course] Level Up Your Code Quality As A Software Engineer
- 0
3 months agoEntry-Level Software Engineer [OP]Taro CommunityThank you for the advice :)
I also have layoff PTSD and I’m slightly biased towards AWS because it seems like a more stable business which had fewer layoffs in comparison to meta. Not Amazon but AWS. Is that a valid concern?
- 03 months agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
Both Meta and Amazon have largely gotten layoffs out of their system and are only doing "silent" layoffs now via stack rank. I don't think that's a big factor to optimize for.
- 04 months agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
I have my biases, but I believe Meta is a significantly better place to launch your career than Amazon. Why?
- Meta is a better engineering brand. This will open up more opportunities for you in the future.
- Meta has a strong culture of internal mobility. If you feel like your manager and co-workers are supportive, I'd grit your teeth and stay on the team. Once you get promoted (hopefully within a year?), then you can likely find a way to switch into something ML-related.
- Meta promotions are significantly faster, especially early ones like E3 --> E4. I've heard a lot of horror stories of Amazon engineers stuck at the same level for years. Meta can be stressful with up-or-out, but it does mean that you will get promoted within 1.5-2 years.
- Meta pays significantly more. I know you said this is not important for now, but it does have an "anchoring" effect for subsequent jobs. (Would love your reply on if there is a gap between the Meta vs AWS compensation)
This question is older, but offers some perspective on the ratings culture at Meta: Zuck is "turning up the heat" for employee performance. Unsure what this means and what I should do.
- 04 months agoEntry-Level Software Engineer [OP]Taro Community
Meta (Bay area): 139k base, 37k stock, 18k joining bonus, 13.9k perf bonus
Amazon (seattle): 129k base, 50k joining bonus, 6k stock
With sudden increase in BE numbers and a lot of new comers being put under BE criteria and managers giving BS reasons, I’m really worried. I have been an ex intern at AWS and I survived fairly well with a good feedback. That is one reason I’m biased towards going back.
- 14 months agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
The Total Comp (TC) is slightly better for Meta in year 1, but it'll become much better for Meta in subsequent years (assuming the stock grant is $37K per year). Also keep in mind, Meta is more generous with equity refreshers compared to almost any other company.
Can you ask your manager how you're trending for performance? Have the conversation with your manager about (1) your performance on each axis and (2) what are the milestones you need to hit going forward?
It may be a potentially awkward conversation, but this decision is too important to leave room for ambiguity
