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

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

#41

Post by Kopion »

AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #24
Kopion wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 got my education in audio engineering at a leading music conservatory, so moving into audiobook editing was a pretty easy sell for me. An audiobook is made in four basic steps: 1. A voice actor records the narration for the book. 2. The editor takes the raw audio recordings and edits these files for pacing, flow, and aesthetic flavor. The editor also makes note of any errors in the narration which require a re-reco…

If you don't mind me asking, how were you compensated for this? What was the model?

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

#42

Post by nickff »

dsp1234 wrote: post #25
nickff wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not sure whether keeping salaries confidential is good for the employer, employee, neither, or both, but you are stating what appears to be the most common belief. Different people have different preferences, and some managers probably have mistaken beliefs about what is good for them and their employees.

It seems to be simple economics and negotiation tactics to me. Backed up by the fact that it's such a taboo subject among coworkers, almost always for reasons of 'don't want to rock the boat' and 'don't want to get fired'. From a negotiation standpoint, the employer (generally) wants to hire, or give raises to, the employee at the lowest possible total cost. Whereas the employee (generally) want to be hired, or get a…

People value transparency, and it might be that they would prefer a lower salary at a more transparent workplace. In addition, providing wage transparency allows for further transparency in other business areas, such as gross margins, R&D costs, etc. which may be valuable in allowing employees to understand the business better and contribute in more meaningful ways.

You are also only addressing the workers with below-average wages (who may be qualified for higher pay) when you say that secrecy helps employers. Half of all employees have above-median wages, so I would assume that transparency could be used to bargain them down, as the below-median workers were helped in bargaining-up; I am not sure what the net effect would be, and don't know why we should assume it goes one way or the other.

I am not an advocate for wage transparency or opaqueness, because I don't know which way the effects go for anyone. I am also an advocate of deregulation, and abolition of most laws, simply because there are so many that nobody knows what is illegal; this seems to be yet another case of governmental over-reach.

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

#44

Post by iolothebard »

amzn_irl_taway wrote: post #22

Ex amazonian here, but in Ireland, I left (thankfully) at the end of 2015. I was a systems engineer in Dublin and the only significant payraise I got was after I left the company for 4 months to then rejoin, my salary was bumped up 12k euros, for a total of 62k/yr, with 150 shares over 4 years (sorry I do not remember the vesting scheme). The HR department in AMZN has the tendency to screw internal employees upon pro…

Seems dickish toward the company you work at for 4 months though.

Were your offices by that famous Gaol? I thought it was interesting seeing a mix of the old and new so close together.

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

#47

Post by advisedwang »

DennisP wrote: post #6

Staying anonymous is probably best but fwiw, policies which prohibit sharing one's own compensation violate federal law. http://www.npr.org/2014/04/13/301989789/pay-secrecy-policies...

The law they cite only seems to cover employees sharing pay with each other (and anything else involved in collective bargaining), but I can't see that it clearly authorizes publicly sharing pay.

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

#49

Post by wde-sde »

amzn_irl_taway wrote: post #22

Ex amazonian here, but in Ireland, I left (thankfully) at the end of 2015. I was a systems engineer in Dublin and the only significant payraise I got was after I left the company for 4 months to then rejoin, my salary was bumped up 12k euros, for a total of 62k/yr, with 150 shares over 4 years (sorry I do not remember the vesting scheme). The HR department in AMZN has the tendency to screw internal employees upon pro…

I think it's true that the different engineering roles do similar work but the SDEs are paid better. This is why most people I know (including myself) who started as non-SDEs chose to first convince their manager to switch job roles.

Personally, this netted me a 10% base pay increase. More counting the performance stock bonus that came with the change.

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