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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

#61

Post by serge2k »

Op (and others) adding your office would be informative if you are comfortable with that.

Otherwise compensation is hard to compare.

I quit but my pay was ( Lin Seattle, numbers rounded a bit)

90k base 53k initial grant, backloaded 5% after 1 year, 15 after 2, 20% every 6 months after that. 37k signing bonus, 20k lump sum, 17k spread over 2nd year.

Raises were <1% at first review, 3.5% at second. So when I left after just over 2 years I was at 94k base. They did give me some more stock at my second review, but it was 2 years out iirc

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

#62

Post by codeonfire »

seattle_googler wrote: post #46

Seattle Googler here (throwaway account). Position: Senior Software Engineer (level 5) Tenure: 4 years, no prior experience Comp: $300K (160 salary, 40 bonus, 100 stock) Male, native English speaker P.S. We're hiring.

You get 100k per year or over 4 years?

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

#63

Post by tdicola »

IMHO you're being underpaid quite a bit with that base salary in the Seattle area. Time to start interviewing at Microsoft, Google, etc. Those companies usually start fresh out of college developers with a base pay a bit over $100k, then bonuses, stock awards, etc. on top.

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

#64

Post by snacksthecat »

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…

I really enjoy when the voice actors do different voices for different characters. I've always wondered how they do the recording for that.

Do they read all of the dialogue for one character in a big chunk, then move on to the dialogue of the next character? Or do they read through the book naturally and switch voices? I would think that the latter would be very difficult.

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

#65

Post by gravypod »

seattle_googler wrote: post #46

Seattle Googler here (throwaway account). Position: Senior Software Engineer (level 5) Tenure: 4 years, no prior experience Comp: $300K (160 salary, 40 bonus, 100 stock) Male, native English speaker P.S. We're hiring.

If you're hiring, do you take college students for interviews? I've never been clear about the google hiring process and I've always heard mixed things from people who went through it.

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

#66

Post by wde-sde »

I was hired as a "Web Development Engineer I" several years ago (level 4). My base compensation was virtually identical to yours, but my signing bonus and base pay were a little less than half. Stock grants were also very similar at hire. After a couple years my job role changed to SDE, I remained level 4 and was given a better than 10% raise.

In my fourth year my total compensation was estimated to be around 120k.

It's worth looking at the H1B data. I've got some limited anecdotal data, but the H1B data appears to clearly delineate the same salary ranges Amazon gives to US Citizens. (Maybe they will pay citizens 10% more, but the ranges actually look pretty similar to what I've heard.)

http://h1bdata.info/

(I am a US Citizen, English speaker, in Seattle.)

Main moral of the story if you choose to stay at Amazon: don't worry about your level, focus on your job role. You can probably keep doing the work you're doing and become an SDE if you talk to your manager and frame the conversation right.

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

#67

Post by seattle_googler »

codeonfire wrote: post #62
seattle_googler wrote: post #46

Seattle Googler here (throwaway account). Position: Senior Software Engineer (level 5) Tenure: 4 years, no prior experience Comp: $300K (160 salary, 40 bonus, 100 stock) Male, native English speaker P.S. We're hiring.

You get 100k per year or over 4 years?

That's what's vesting this year. It can fluctuate a bit (so far only upwards for me).

Upon hiring and usually each year thereafter we get grants that vest over the following 4 years, varying in sized based on budgets, level & performance scores.

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

#68

Post by AndrewUnmuted »

snacksthecat wrote: post #64
AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I really enjoy when the voice actors do different voices for different characters. I've always wondered how they do the recording for that. Do they read all of the dialogue for one character in a big chunk, then move on to the dialogue of the next character? Or do they read through the book naturally and switch voices? I would think that the latter would be very difficult.

Great question! :)

Narrators actually do switch all character voices in real-time. This does not commonly cause issues that require recording to stop, as the narrators are usually very experienced professionals that come from the Broadway stage or from other voice acting professions (cartoons and the like.) I've also recorded and edited my fair share of bad voice actors (for instance, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich narrated his book 'Beyond Outrage' even though he was told that it really wasn't a good idea.)

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

#69

Post by seattle_googler »

gravypod wrote: post #65
seattle_googler wrote: post #46

Seattle Googler here (throwaway account). Position: Senior Software Engineer (level 5) Tenure: 4 years, no prior experience Comp: $300K (160 salary, 40 bonus, 100 stock) Male, native English speaker P.S. We're hiring.

If you're hiring, do you take college students for interviews? I've never been clear about the google hiring process and I've always heard mixed things from people who went through it.

Yes, we hire new grads, and we offer internships for those who are still studying. Successful interns get an easier path for converting to full-time than grads who apply cold.

Getting somebody you know at Google to refer you is the best way to secure an interview, but you can also apply online.

http://www.google.com/about/careers/students/

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

#70

Post by finnn »

seattle_googler wrote: post #46

Seattle Googler here (throwaway account). Position: Senior Software Engineer (level 5) Tenure: 4 years, no prior experience Comp: $300K (160 salary, 40 bonus, 100 stock) Male, native English speaker P.S. We're hiring.

So, I'm graduating UW in June, where do I apply?
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