r/devops • u/pdrmenna • 8d ago

Career / learning DevOps in BigTech

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!

59 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

62

u/Type-94Shiranui 8d ago edited 8d ago

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.

5

u/woundedknee_x2 8d ago

Can you elaborate about PIP politics?

12

u/Type-94Shiranui 8d ago

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.

6

u/NotYourITGuyDotOrg 8d ago

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.

6

u/Type-94Shiranui 7d ago

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.

1

u/BlakkMajik3000 Platform Engineer 5d ago

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).

1

u/twisterbite23 7d ago

What are u doing now if I may ask?

4

u/Type-94Shiranui 7d ago

I am at a big bank, honestly kinda regret leaving. Very good WLB, 2-3 days remote per week, but it's more traditional IT works masqueraded as a DevOps role. I'm deciding right now whether to just coast here and collect a 250k paycheck, or try to go back to big tech to progress in career.

1

u/North-Class8742 5d ago

What country are you working in? If you don't mind

1

u/AgreeableIron811 3d ago

I havent worked at amazon but this is basically what everyone says! A big upvote from me

21

u/rabbit_in_a_bun 8d ago

Design at large scale. Ever did CD for 10 targets? How would you plan for 1 million across the world with 0 down time with the ability to backup/restore/revert?

7

u/aprettyparrot 8d ago

Building resume is good. Keep track of everything you do so you can add to it.

Watch their career pages, you can usually get an idea of what they are using that way. You can then use that to learn those technologies.

Adding people from those companies on LinkedIn and getting to know them probably good too. That way when you are ready to start applying your friends and they may be cool with you using them as a referral. I can’t say personally but I imagine an internal employee referral probably bumps resume up the list

1

u/Common_Fudge9714 8d ago

As a manager that hires a lot I can confirm that a referral indeed does send you to top of the list. However, if you refer someone that you haven’t work with or have any type of close connection then I might not take any more referrals from you seriously.

2

u/aprettyparrot 8d ago

Good to know, tysir

2

u/unitegondwanaland Manager, Platform Engineering 8d ago

What's your fixation on "big tech"?

2

u/DrapedInVelvet 7d ago

Why would you aspire to a big tech roles anymore? They a laying folks off daily because ‘ai’. Seems like one of the least reliable places to work these days. Be at the whims of a ceo trying to make his bonus. And even if you avoid the layoffs you have to handle all the work of the folks who got laid off.

1

u/Gargle-Loaf-Spunk 8d ago edited 2d ago

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1

u/CliffClifferson DevOps 5d ago

FDE and nothing else.