Feeling like I'm rotting away at Amazon

Question

I've been an L4 SDE at Amazon for two years and I feel like l'm barely developing any valuable skill at work. Most of my time is spent on project management and the tasks have a low technical complexity.

I've got strong technical skills and already solved technically complex problems within my team! Despite that my promotion has been delayed due to a lack of projects involving L6 engineers or PM (multiple positive L6 feedbacks are required to be promoted). I've considered switching teams but most of them will accept L5+ engineers only.

I've talked to my manager about it but he doesn't seem to really understand, he says that I'm developing my soft skills; yet I feel like the main skill I've learnt to master is managing the ego of my L6 colleagues. It's so draining to see your performance review being degraded because of a slight miscommunication with a product manager on a low value task.

Also, no hate to my more experienced colleagues but most of them have spent the majority of their career in the same team and I'm not sure if I really have that much to learn from them 🤔 If that's the case I'm barely collaborating with them anyway and cannot really benefit from their experience.

Finally, recent AMZN stock appreciation makes me reluctant to leave the company right now...

What would you do in this situation??

LevelUpFYI · Accepted Answer

My L4 to L5 promotion at Amazon was delayed by 9 months so I can empathize. As an IC7 working on IC8 promo now, here are some suggestions that you can consider in your situation:

If a promotion is valuable to you and your manager is reasonable, own the promotion packet. Leverage the 1:1s with your manager to acknowledge the feedback that he's given ("working on soft skills") even if it seems ridiculous to you. In parallel, use the L4 and L5 leveling matrix for SDEs at Amazon to start working out where you've had tasks/projects/impact in the last 6-12 months that show behaviors and impact/scope at the L5 level, and use the 1:1s with your manager effectively to showcase where you feel you've showed impact, and ask him for specific feedback on areas to focus on. Once you've initiated that, you can share your goals on "I'll focus on x guideline for the next several months with abc project, and please share any feedback along the way that could help me grow".

You want to frame the conversation as you + your manager working towards your L5 promotion rather than viewing your manager and projects as obstacles to success. Yes, as an L4 you may be assigned some of the lower complexity tasks, but I'd try to build trust with your tech leads, manager, and XFN peers so that they view you as someone who is capable and can take on more complex asks. Building trust takes time and is an essential skill as you grow in your career, so keep your head up and try to focus on the growth variables that you can control.

If this doesn't seem viable as there are burned bridges between you and your manager or some key XFN partners that you'd need for a promo, we can discuss other paths in more detail.

More about me:
- I've gotten promoted from L4 to L5 and from IC5 to IC7 at Amazon and at Meta.
- I've managed a larger team and have done promotions and performance reviews at IC4 to IC7 level
- I've mentored XFN peers (and pro bono outside of work) from QA, SWEs, TPMs, PMs, and others on performance management, career growth, and career switches (e.g: eng to PM), and have had some good learnings and results come out of that.

Hope this is helpful!

19g618l475cf3p · Answer

I'm hearing two conflicting things: you're given low technical complexity and project management tasks.  You have strong technical skills and have solved complex problems already.From your manager's feedback, if the second bit is true, they're telling you that you lack soft skills and need to work on them more.  Your review getting degraded from a miscommunication with a PM is indicative that this likely has some truth to it.  Moving up to higher levels of engineering roles requires anticipating problems and areas of risk before they occur, communicating openly and clearly, and driving consensus.  I don't believe being exceptional at all those things is the L5 bar, but if it's pronounced enough it impacted your review, take growing in this area seriously, and get feedback from the senior engineers and the PM you work with on how to improve here.Alternatively, you can look elsewhere that might let you skirt the soft skills to focus more on technical problem solving such as a tech focused startup, but collaboration is a vital skill in most engineering roles these days.

TenuredGeek · Answer

I'll take a different approach here, why are you in such a rush to get promoted? I understand that it's important to have that in mind to set yourself up for your future, but 2 years as an L4 isn't that bad as long as there's no negative pressure to promote or get fired. It seems like your manager isn't too concerned about where you are right now and it's just you wanting to learn more, which is a fair complaint.

The only option then is to push harder to try and get internal transfers, maybe reach out to hiring managers yourself, or look for opportunities at other companies even if it means finding L4 equivalent roles rather than promotions.

batman111 · Answer

From what you said, staying will not make sense. Search for L4 opportunities within the company. I'm sure you will find one. You can ping hiring managers directly and ask if they are willing to hire internally for external roles. Else silently prepare to move out to a similar tech giant in the same role of entry level software developer.

TBird · Answer

Start your own effort outside of your day job. Now is the safe time to learn and grow on your own while getting paid. Then when time is right, make your move.

Feeling like I'm rotting away at Amazon

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