Non-linear career paths are the present. You’ve been able to get a job in software without formal credentials my entire software career, which started roughly in 2008. Who is this written for?
Non-linear career paths are the future
31–40 of 90 posts
Re: Non-linear career paths are the future
#32For a decade at Amazon, nearly everyone I worked with was following the linear, expected path. High school, university, degree, FAANG job. Amazon basically didn't interview SDE1s unless they were new grads. For a number of years that policy was explicit from our Director because "we find that works out best". Now I'm at Shopify, where it feels like a complete 180. More than half my team took non-traditional paths- fo…
Amazon is universally known as the shit tier of tech. They can't hire top grads and people with experience because everyone has heard the horror stories. Sounds like they are optimizing their hiring strategy to mitigate this.
Re: Non-linear career paths are the future
#33Re: Non-linear career paths are the future
#34Non-linear career paths are the present. You’ve been able to get a job in software without formal credentials my entire software career, which started roughly in 2008. Who is this written for?
Speaking for myself: line cook -> web developer -> software engineer -> newspaper editor -> software engineer -> bike messenger -> freelance journalist -> software engineer -> product manager. My “career path” has never come up in any interview, ever.
Re: Non-linear career paths are the future
#35For a decade at Amazon, nearly everyone I worked with was following the linear, expected path. High school, university, degree, FAANG job. Amazon basically didn't interview SDE1s unless they were new grads. For a number of years that policy was explicit from our Director because "we find that works out best". Now I'm at Shopify, where it feels like a complete 180. More than half my team took non-traditional paths- fo…
Amazon is universally known as the shit tier of tech. They can't hire top grads and people with experience because everyone has heard the horror stories. Sounds like they are optimizing their hiring strategy to mitigate this.
I guess you can subsidize shitty working environments with large salaries
Re: Non-linear career paths are the future
#36For a decade at Amazon, nearly everyone I worked with was following the linear, expected path. High school, university, degree, FAANG job. Amazon basically didn't interview SDE1s unless they were new grads. For a number of years that policy was explicit from our Director because "we find that works out best". Now I'm at Shopify, where it feels like a complete 180. More than half my team took non-traditional paths- fo…
Did Shopify have a choice? Many Canadians who got computer science degrees left to work for American companies for 2x-3x more money.
Shopify is a remote company. They can hire wherever they want. I suspect it’s a cultural preference.
Anecdotally, I know a senior dev who moved back to Canada from SF to work for Shopify.
Re: Non-linear career paths are the future
#37I really couldn't think of what other careers for me to pursue other than writing code. Simply transitioning to other domains/specializations in software engineering is already challenging enough for me, could really use some advice from someone who had a successful transition. (Im a mobile dev now but looking to potentially transition to computer graphics)
Re: Non-linear career paths are the future
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Amazon is universally known as the shit tier of tech. They can't hire top grads and people with experience because everyone has heard the horror stories. Sounds like they are optimizing their hiring strategy to mitigate this.
I guess you can subsidize shitty working environments with large salaries
Amazon also pays much less than the other top tier tech companies. Maybe that's changed in the last 6 months but that was yet another reason why top talent didn't go there.
Re: Non-linear career paths are the future
#39For a decade at Amazon, nearly everyone I worked with was following the linear, expected path. High school, university, degree, FAANG job. Amazon basically didn't interview SDE1s unless they were new grads. For a number of years that policy was explicit from our Director because "we find that works out best". Now I'm at Shopify, where it feels like a complete 180. More than half my team took non-traditional paths- fo…
Did Shopify have a choice? Many Canadians who got computer science degrees left to work for American companies for 2x-3x more money.
Shopify's salaries are pretty competitive. They aren't "Bay Area" levels, but you can also live wherever you want, so your after-housing take home pay works out better.
Amazon Toronto doesn't pay much better than Shopify- I can say first hand.
Re: Non-linear career paths are the future
#40Translation. Our wonderful capitalism can no longer support normal salary so that people can retire at reasonable age. So prepare to work till you drop dead so that those few that own half of the Earth can own a little more of it.