[amzn-336495]

That is sad. They could have made double the SDE2 salary of $120k somewhere else. No one is really sure what Amazon PE's did or do to be a principal engineer. Most people think PE's bribed or extorted their way into the job at Amazon as that is the only realistic "path" to that particular job. All that Amazon SDE's know is that there are two levels, SDE 1 and SDE 2 which comprise 95% of Amazon SDE jobs and 99.9% of open positions. Both pay less than every other place.

[mabbo]

Interesting. I won't disagree with you that the path from 2 to 3 has been awkward in the past. But there have been major changes lately because it was identified as a problem, and it's shown results.

I now work with 3 SDE3s between two related teams. Meanwhile, a friend and sometimes mentor of mine just got his PE promotion. I honestly take offense to the notion that he didn't deserve it, that he bribed his way into it. Fantastic developer and well deserving of the title.

[amzn-336495]

What are the major changes that were instituted and what are the results?

[gohrt]

Most Amazon SDE2s are in the queue applying for jobs elsewhere.