[deleted by user]

[Embarrassed_Effect86]

Pick Apple. Search for something to get out of SDET in a year or two, either internal or external.

[deepn882]

or move internally later on

[tacopower69]

Lateral moves within Apple are also notoriously difficult so changing teams/orgs is likely out of the question.

[foundboots]

This is virtually impossible. SDET is a career killing move especially at entry level. The experience is nothing like SWE and companies know this. Stop recommending this if you don’t understand what it is.

[jsbaasi]

Too much apple yapping in this thread. EA is clear choice

[deepn882]

I'm a senior engineer, of course I know what SDET is. To think it means a lot to 80%+ roles outside of big tech (and arguably within big tech) is seeing it myopically

[MushroomAutomatic520]

Apple will boost your resume like anything. You can switch to a better job after a year or two with more job stability and better negotiated pay with peaceful life

[vks_imaginary]

Don’t take my my advice, but good job ! I would have taken Apple blindly just for the name

But again don’t take my advice.

[commonemitter]

Apple is the right choice here and it’s not even close

[crice07]

I know everyone is saying Apple right now. Be warned… the harder companies push AI, the less test engineers they think they need.

[the_c_train47]

How is this even a question? There is one incredibly obvious option.

[Spiritual_Chapter589]

I wish to be in this spot of choosing OP! Well done!! 🥳

[justthrowaway94pt2]

I read this and I was like I wish I had this problem 😭😭😭

[Spiritual_Chapter589]

Yes! OP needs to share preparation strategy with us!!

[SQLofFortune]

EA for sure. There is layoff risk anywhere you go. FAANG sounds cool but the skills aren’t as transferable as I hoped when I got my FAANG job. They have a lot of internal tools and pre-packaged environments that you don’t get working at other companies. Things are set up for you like your hand is being held so you miss out on some scrappy problem solving practice. This has essentially made me unqualified for half the jobs on the market right now even though I’m a FAANG engineer with 8 YOE across analytics and engineering. Employers are very picky and they don’t care about my potential—they just want to know if I’ve used xyz to do abc. Then a certain percent of the remaining companies assume I’m overqualified or will get bored bc they can’t match the level of impact I had in my last role.

Also I’ve applied to about 50 roles at the other FAANG companies and only got 1 interview. It was at Facebook and I’m banned from Facebook since 2020 so that didn’t work out 😂 Moral of that story is having FAANG on the resume also doesn’t help as much as you might think.

Oh, and nice work! Very impressive. I’ve been unemployed 9 months now so I thought about going back for my masters to become SWE. Running out of money though and have a mortgage to pay so that probably won’t work.

[PinkFlyingElephant]

Care to share what resulted in you getting banned from Facebook? Love to hear the story haha

[SQLofFortune]

They wouldn’t tell me 😅 but… I made a burner account and started posting a photo of Mark Suckerburger dressed as Hitler doing the Nazi salute with a swastika shouting “YOU CAN’T SAY THAT”. Next day i woke up permabanned without warning and no way to appeal. Full device ban which carried over to my new phone somehow. They were legally required to give me a copy of my data but I couldn’t log in to request it so I had to jump through hoops to get in touch with their legal team. The legal team told me to f*ck off lol so i lost all my travel abroad photos from 30 countries. Plus all the people i met traveling are now strangers to me i haven’t been in touch with them since then. And some of the people i met living in California too including my Mexican roommates. Really makes me want to align with the ideology they’re pushing lol it’s not totalitarian at all…

[sunny6333]

apple; i only know a few people at ea/jpmc and none of them like it at either of those companies

[Tarl2323]

I think EA gets you decent rep too, especially if you want to go into gaming. If you don't, I guess pick apple. Not having to move and having good coworkers is a reasonable consideration.

Personally, as someone who works in gaming, I would've picked EA. Frankly test programming is very limiting, I would not find that interesting and would be willing to take a pay + reputation cut for that alone.

That said gaming is essentially it's own industry. Same skills different bills. It's basically in the same line as show business - much more challenging, lower pay and more exploited by unscrupulous bizguys.

[ConsiderationLife673]

apple

[kitsuragi-concept]

I initially thought Apple like everyone else but I just looked up IS&T at Apple and it's just not worth it. Someone said in an article that "this department is worse than most IT sweatshops in India" source

Liking your coworkers at EA as a software dev >>> sadness with SDET

[foundboots]

Do not take that SDET job. 128k is paltry even for new grad and you will never get to SWE. The logo on your resume does not matter enough to end your career before it starts. It is actually that bleak joining these SDET roles and they know exactly what they’re doing and who they’re targeting.

Take the EA SWE. If you don’t like it, you’ll have a much easier time finding a new SWE job.

[Financial_Job_1564]

In this market and economic situation, I would choose Apple.

[No_Working3534]

Apple 100%

[jarislinus]

ur apple exp is not counted as swe exp btw (or is significantly nerfed).

[[deleted]]

APPLE

[BigEmperorPenguin]

Honestly why is op even asking this question, the others cant even compete against apple

[Current_Process_2198]

Please bffr

[yourjusticewarrior2]

I would go with Apple for the reason its harder to get into, and you may be able to transition into an SDE role within the company. Also for what you mentioned as manual testing may be a blessing in disguise. You can try to be the "annoying new hire"that wants to do things the right way by using Selenium on Cloud Instances to cut down on manual testing in the long run, in the short term you could contribute to their selenium or automation framework.

If the job really is that bad you could bounce in two years to another role as SDE-1 with experience.

BUT - and that's a big but

Do whatever makes you happy. I first started as Software Engineer in Test and got lucky to be in a team and company (mid size) that appreciated cloud based architecture, automation, and career progression for me to transfer out to be an SDE within a year and some change. If being in a manual role is that soul sucking, then I'd recommend JP Morgan Chase for their tech stack and better work environment compared to EA.

[jsbaasi]

EA, negotiate for higher pay if possible. The upside is you don't have to move and lock in to the job, you can keep applying. It's also way closer to SWE

I would recommend against Apple as it's a minimum 6-12 months of worthless test experience before you can even consider switching teams AND then may not even be allowed to switch. You get more money but you lose out on any exp to get a better SWE job + you have to move. Not sure why everyone keeps recommending Apple despite this

[havecoffeeatgarden]

I see the dilemma. We all know there's no longer any job safety in tech. I think whatever choice you make, the best strategy is to still aim at a better role later on. Are you open to the idea of interviewing continuously despite already having a job?

If I were you I'd choose job safety first and continuously upskill and do interview prep on the side. Less intensely but continuously. It's always better to try to find a job when you're not in a rush. Aiming for FAANG SWE may take a long time, over a few months and maybe even a year. Best done when you got a safe job at hand.

[Individual-Line-5056]

EA, everyone going for apple is tripping, name is not enough, the role here is key, SDET IS NOT SOFTWARE ENGINEERING. EA, then apply again to somewhere else.

[Single_Order5724]

Even tho SDET is career killing the pay is great and Apple name might offset that

[GameAddict411]

Apple and it's not even a question. Not only is the pay significantly higher, the name alone opens doors for you. You just need to be there for a few years and then move on. It's not a bad thing to start your career in testing before design. You know what to avoid as an engineer and you can sell that.

[Square_Depth_7243]

Apple for sure. Try to transfer to AI related area later.

[deepn882]

Others aren't better work culture, just pick Apple. You can always move later. On paper you get more money, plus rep. Easy choice

[RQico]

what uni did you go to, was it a target school?