Only 2016 and 2017. The other years had minor impact from stock appreciation (~$5-15K). In 2016 I got a big bump because I got a competing offer from Oracle at $380K, and Amazon matched it.
Can you share what sort of skills related to cloud would net me 380k/year? Got a phd ee doing C++ mostly.
5 years experience at one of the leading cloud companies (AWS, Azure, Google) will very likely put you right in that market. Nothing special to join. It’s very hard to enter directly as an SDE-3 (or equivalent) without having experience at one of the big companies. I think in 8 years at Amazon I’ve only seen 1 person doing that. With a phd and some work experience you can likely join as an SDE-2 and get to an SDE-3 level in about 5 years. The exact timing depends a bit on the opportunities you’d find, but I’d say that’s definitely very realistic. I can put you in touch with a recruiter from Amazon if you’re interested. My email is in my profile.
Do SDE3 interviews still do it leetcode style?
No, they shouldn't. But it depends on the interviewer. SDE-3 interviews will be more behavioral than technical.
Also, what language were you using?
Java mostly. But I didn't write a line of code in the last 2 years.
"Cloud" can mean a lot of things, so what does it mean to you in this context?
Edit: Put another way - day to day, what are people in such roles working on exactly?
Deep knowledge of how services like those offered by AWS, Azure, and Google are built, operated, and designed to scale.