Ask HN: How much do you make at Amazon? Here is how much I make at Amazon

Funny that you mention this, because the character limit forced me to cut this out:

Sites like Glassdoor are useful, but what they don't provide is company-specific detail. I can view Amazon's average SDE salary, but is that figure for a job level 4 or job level 5? (At Amazon, pay is based on job levels. Two people can hold the same position but have different job levels. For example, Area Managers who are promoted from hourly positions start at level 4, but new hire AMs come in at L5).

Other things Glassdoor can't provide:

-Pay increase percentages for internal promotions

-Pay increases and stock award amounts for annual performance reviews based on performance grade

-Compensation data broken down by race, national origin, native language, etc.

-Differences in pay for positions based on team, department, geographic location, etc.

I'm not an Amazonian, but I wanted to chime in here to say I think this thread is a great idea and I would love to see more like it.

I write about salary negotiation and coach people through it, and I think sharing salaries publicly will encourage more people to negotiate and get paid what they're worth.

I recently coached a new Amazon employee, and he got a very good offer, which he increased by about 15% using VERY simple negotiation tactics that we discussed. If he hadn't negotiated, he would've still been paid well, but would have left 15% on the table before he was even in the door.

I submitted this link yesterday—it's a Salary Negotiation workshop I did for developers in Orlando last week. It's definitely relevant to this conversation:

EDIT: Here's a direct link to the Salary Negotiation workshop summary to save you a click: http://bit.ly/21zFG5q

Here's the HN submission for posterity: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11305683

(Not sure why I originally linked to an HN submission linking to the workshop. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

Nice job starting this thread!

I mentioned this below, but I don't think location matters because Amazon doesn't provide cost of living adjustments. Location obviously matters from the individual's perspective, but from the company perspective it isn't factored into compensation.

Full-time freelance audiobook editor? I didn't realize that was a position. What exactly does this entail and how did you get started with it?

I don't work at Amazon, but I have caught on to what, to me, seems to be an unsettling concept. This may or may not be new, but the concept I am getting it is often referred to as "internal equity" - considering what salaries are already in place for similar positions.

This appears to be one of many variables HR uses for salary negotiations and I recognize that. I don't see why this necessarily matters for most work places. Shouldn't you just pay for what the candidate brings to the table (skills, experience, etc.) and not consider what, even someone with a similar background is currently making in the company. I suppose salary negotiations/the labor market isn't an efficient market where a price can be assigned given x, y, & z.