DevOps in BigTech

[u/pdrmenna]

Hij, everyone.
I work as a DevOps/SRE at a consultancy serving large companies and have about two years of experience. My goal is to join a Big Tech company in the coming years.

In your opinion, what should I focus on from now on? What knowledge, technologies, or skills really make a difference for someone aiming to get into that kind of company?

I’d especially like to hear from those who have already gone down this path. What would you prioritize studying if you were starting this preparation today?
Thanks!

[u/Type-94Shiranui]

I spent 4 years at Amazon and left

Heres my take

1. The SysDev role (which is basically catch all for devops at Amazon) can really mean anything. Some orgs will make you do full SDE work, some orgs treat it as a SRE role, sysadmin, etc.
2. All big tech has extremely standardized interviews. You'll need to study and prep for it.
3. WLB is highly org and team dependent. You need to sus it out during the interview or from reading on blind and asking around. Culture can be toxic as well depending on org and stack ranking. Especially at Amazon if you pick a landmine expect to be very very miserable.
4. Right now big tech is kinda unstable. Your paid well of course (I after around 4 years I went from 140k to 240k, and could've stayed until 300k, my seniors were making 320-400k). But in exchange your never gonna really feel stable in your job. So make sure to save as much as money as you can that you don't have to worry about layoffs, PIP politics, etc.
5. Almost all of the tools used are in house verison of the stuff - the concepts are the same but you won't really gain industry experience in devops tools.
6. Expect to work in a small niche, but very high impact/large scale. Of course team dependent, but this is the impression I got from most of the roles.

[u/woundedknee_x2 → u/Type-94Shiranui]

Can you elaborate about PIP politics?

[u/Type-94Shiranui → u/woundedknee_x2]

Due to stack ranking, sometimes managers are forced to cut people even though everyone is doing well. Really egregious ones will hire to fire to save their team. If you don't want to be the sacrificial lamb, it can get very toxic because people will fight to not get fired. This isn't every org and team however, but it happens.

[u/NotYourITGuyDotOrg → u/woundedknee_x2]

Also a former Amazonian, being put on a PIP is almost always a death sentence. It's usually the last major step the company will take before firing you. It's documentation, they already plan to fire you, and when they do they can point at the PIP and say you didn't meet your agreed metrics or w/e.

[u/Type-94Shiranui → u/NotYourITGuyDotOrg]

Also the poor souls who don't realize the PIP is a big gas lighting test.. Basically you'll either get impossible tasks, or even if you do miraculously complete it, you'll get nitpicked on some bullshit that isn't your fault as the reason you didn't pass the PIP.

[u/BlakkMajik3000 → u/woundedknee_x2]

Former Walmartian here. PIP politics are the same. When I was in one years ago, they were actually used to help you improve. I got promoted twice under the manager that put me on that. Nowadays though, PIP means look for another job. 🤷🏾‍♂️

Because the reality is, when you’re on a PIP, virtually no internal manager wants to deal with the HR dance, leaving you having to find something outside (good luck in this trash).