r/cscareerquestionsCAD

Hey everyone, looking for some perspective on navigating an Amazon to Google move.
I’m currently an SDE2 at Amazon in Canada. I recently passed my Google interviews and am in the team-matching phase, but they downleveled me to L3.
Here is my dilemma:
The Downlevel: Amazon SDE2 usually maps closer to Google L4. Taking L3 means a title reset and having to grind for promo again.
Compensation: I’m expecting the L3 offer to just match my current pay—I doubt they will go higher.
The Culture Nuance: This is where I'm torn. My current manager is actually great and my specific team isn't a pressure cooker at all. However, the macro-level Amazon culture is grating on me. The strict 6-month evaluation cycles, the looming threat of PIPs/layoffs, and the current top-down push to artificially shoehorn "AI" into our deliverables just to survive evals is exhausting. Google seems like a much safer, more stable environment long-term.

Any advice is appreciated!

Hey guys so I graduated last year in June 2025 with a CE Degree from UofT and I’ve been unemployed since. A handful of interviews I couldn’t convert. You can check my post history for more info but I’m starting to feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Everything I spend my time learning is just replaced by AI. I don’t find any value in learning anything anymore and feel like everything is over. I don’t retain any of the knowledge I garnered while grinding, the Leetcode all of it feels level zero. I tried to get my self esteem up but I still go to sleep crying every other night. I hate what I’ve done and it almost feels comical writing this because it really just feels like one big joke but it’s my reality. I thought I could pick myself up but my time has run out. I’m an international so I’m also on the clock on my PGWP. I don’t feel like talking to any of my friends because of how well all and by all I mean ALL of them have been doing career wise. I can’t fathom doing all this work for a 50k role which I might get laid off any day. I’ve been spending my days doing nothing now because it all feels pointless. I guess the question here is what should I do now that everything has come crashing down?

Im in North America. Lately been getting mostly of sys design and manually coding stuff you build. I very rarely see LC now. Maybe if you are new gead vs experienced, its a different experience? Im not applyhing to big tech.

Basically it's 2 questions

1.) Are Canadian Universities upgrading curriculum to make sure it reflects the AI driven software development. Andrew Ng mentioned recently that US Universities are still teaching like it's 2015, we are in a different world now. Google is experimenting with allowing AI in the interviews and asking to complete more difficult and bigger tasks.

2.) Are new grads having a harder time getting jobs ? Is this leading to decreased enrollment ?

I lucked out after graduating last year and landed a 100k/yr position. I mostly do SQL and ETL stuff, not really software engineering.

So far with 1 YOE, I'm just wondering, what do I even do to make it to the next level of TC, like the 150k+ range?

my work isn't all that impressive (I guess i'm kind of overpaid for what I do), and most job postings seem like I'd have to take a pay cut for. Is my only hope somehow getting to the top tier tech companies, or looking in the US?

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice from people who have moved from a large organisations into a smaller company.

I’m currently in Big4 cybersecurity consulting. The role is stable, hybrid, decent experience for consulting, and gives me exposure to large enterprise clients and mature security environments.

I recently received an offer from a well-established fintech/crypto company with fewer than 100 employees. I would be their first dedicated security engineer, working directly with the CTO and building the security program from the ground up.

The tradeoff is basically:

• Current role: Big4 brand, large clients, stable environment, structured growth, 40hrs/week.
• New role: much more ownership, higher compensation, fully remote, unlimited PTO.
• Current comp: around $78K, likely $85K after promotion in few months
• New comp: $120K base + 20% bonus (144K TC)

For people who made a similar move from consulting or a large organization into a smaller company, How was it?

Did being the first security/security engineering hire help your long-term career, or did the lack of structure make it harder?

I’m mostly trying to understand the career risk vs. upside.

NOTE : I’m also in team matching for a Google L3 Security Engineer role, but it’s been around 9 months, so I’ve almost gave up.

I’m a Manufacturing Engineer by profession and worked as a Process Engineer/Quality Management System Staff/Project Engineer before I shifted my career to Tech. I’ve worked in different big Tech consulting companies. It’s been 6 years but I’m not yet sure how would I like myself to focus as I’m okay working as a generalist. For the first 2 years of my career, I’m a Manual QA Engineer (80%) and a Salesforce Administrator (20%). In that year, I became an accidental QA Lead as our Team Lead resign so I had to take over. In my 3rd year and 4th year of my career, I got more exposure in System Analysis and Project Coordination (35%) but working still as Manual QA Engineer (65%) but same platform in Salesforce. In my 5th year in my career until present, I became an Enterprise Systems Analyst/Admin (80%) and a QA Lead (20%). I was the one who started the QA practice from scratch and I’m no longer platform dependent as we have multiple technologies connected to Salesforce that we managed, supported and tested.

To be honest, I find QA work repetitive at some point though it fits my personality as I’m curious and very much detailed oriented. On the other hand, I had fun working as a Systems Analyst/Admin as I can encounter different requests and different problems. In the advent of AI and becoming more platform agnostic, I want to diversify my skillset to be more competitive. I recently got my PMP certification on top of my Salesforce and other technology certifications.

Would it be wise if I want to shift to Project Management or Scrum Master or move up as a 100% QA Lead or there would be a better role for me considering my experience?

Hello everyone,

I'm a dual Canadian/Australian citizen, I grew up in Vancouver but have lived in Melbourne Australia since 2006. I still have my thick Canadian accent despite considering myself an Aussie.

I'm a software engineer at one of the few large tech companies we have in Australia, making about $162k AUD (total comp) in a fairly chill 9-5 role (38 hours per week). I have 4 YoE plus 5 years of experience in an unrelated field (economics/finance). I'm self taught, I code mostly in TypeScript doing full stack work.

Tech salaries in Australia are far lower than equivalent salaries in the USA, with the vast majority of careers peaking at less than $250k AUD (1:1 with CAD at the moment) even at staff level positions. Our tech industry is very small with lots of outsourcing to India.

I've been thinking about making the move back to Canada or to the USA for a few years to make some more $$$

My questions:

1. Do Canadians get the same high salaries as developers in the USA?
2. For anyone who has worked in Australia and Canada, how do they compare?
3. How easy is it for Canadian citizens to get a high paying tech job in the USA?
4. What Canadian cities are best to live in as a software engineer?

Cheers!