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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

#201

I worked for Amazon (2013-2014), fresh out of college. Title : Software Development Engineer (SDE I) Base : 98,000 Sign on : 50,000 (2 year period) Relocation : 10,000 (2 year) Stocks : worth $70,000 (4 years)

Above someone mentioned being SDEIII, what's the meaning of these levels ?

I is fresh grad, basically right out of school, II is mid level, III is basically senior engineer. at that point it goes onto principal and beyond.

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

#202

Ieee FML this has been a depressing read. Is anyone else realizing they are severely underpaid? Passes the virtual whiskey

I'm reading it thinking, "Hmm, do I really hate working for other people that much?" I've run my own companies since I was in my early 20s, and have never taken on more than contract work for others. But, I've very rarely been able to pay myself as much as even modest developer or IT salaries at big companies in major cities. But, that may mean I just need to stop trying to make a living out of Open Source software.…

Maybe pick Open Source Software which people pay good money for skills in? :)

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

#203
post #63

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.

Are you taking stock into consideration? At current price, 104 shares of AMZN equals $57,408 which puts my total 2016 pay at $130,408.

You get stock annually? Otherwise, you have to vest that over several years, severely reducing your annual. AND you're locked in for years just to cash out at maximum value.

Unless you get that kind of equity yearly—which is crazy, and brings up dilution questions—you're better off taking a higher salary and investing as much as possible.

But—adding X market value for equity vesting over Y years with 40% capital gains tax for the first 12 months of holding it leads to a 2016 pay of.... just your salary.

Oh, and you get equity every else in addition to that nice pay, and they don't strap your pager to your face.

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

#204
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the handful of cases where the company was OK with my non-answer about salary, and I went on to get all the way to a job offer, the salary ended up being entirely miscalibrated to a candidate of my skill and experience, and the overall interview process (which usually included some technical screens, programming tests, take-home tests, and long on-site technical interviews) was a massive waste of my time, not to m…

How do you respond when they ask you for your salary information? Would it be perceuved as rude to say "I decline to state"?

State the one you want, not the one you're currently making. They won't (and legally should't be able to) check.

And if they do and somehow, your previous employer disclosed this to them (a big no no), you can always say "I was underpaid then and what I was making there is not relevant to the position I'm applying to with your right now. I also think I've learned a lot in my past position, which justifies this jump in compensation".

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

#205
post #63

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.

Are you taking stock into consideration? At current price, 104 shares of AMZN equals $57,408 which puts my total 2016 pay at $130,408.

Yes, back when I graduated (with a prior internship at a big tech company) my amazon offer was over 100k, similar sign-on bonus, 150k stock.

I ended up not accepting that offer because another company gave me a more interesting role. Also their stock vesting schedule is horrible (most of the money comes in year 4), and many people find amazon to be soul-sucking. You're likely to leave at the 2 year mark, thus losing out on most of the stock anyways. 4 years is a long time to be at Amazon (though if you're the right mix of "in-it-to-win-it" and "workaholic" you might thrive there)

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

#206
post #97

You're not getting "ripped off" by having a base salary of 125K USD (with benefits and equity) fresh out of college. Tell you what, with a Bachelor's in Chemistry (in my year 176 people started, only 42 finished the degree so it's not a free lunch) I can expect to make between 40K and 60K CAD out of college and pay higher taxes than in the US. With a master's that I'm working towards, I'd be on the upper end of that…

And other people will make significantly less than that 40k. So boo-hoo to those only making 40k with access to free healthcare.

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

#207
post #86

I'm genuinely curious, this post has over 208 points and is only 3 hours old.. why is it falling off the front page already?

From my understanding there is a formula that factors in the ratio between upvotes and number of comments.

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

#208
post #108
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah that helps, but then the question is do you really want to work somewhere that directly ties your compensation to the company's share price? If Amazon has a few bad quarters and you lose 20% of your yearly income that's a major deal. In Seattle you probably want to be making around $120-160k/yr to live a solid middle class life, afford a house, etc. I would still look around at MS, Google, etc. where they give y…

I find tying my income to stock highly motivating :)

You realize you have approximately 0 effect on the stock price, right? Why would this be motivating to a rational person?

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

#209
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 f…

While it doesn't help for all of that, looking at H1B data on a site like http://visadoor.com/ helps fill out some of the picture. You can see specific numbers instead of just ranges while also adding some context about national origin.

Those are also deflated prices compared to americans with equivalent education and skills, though. Which is the entire point of the H1B.

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

#210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right? I like the one from amznnewgrad: $90k base as a new grad and "needless to say" they declined the offer. Needless to say? I was hired after a year out of college in 2010 at aboyt $37k and it felt like I hit the lottery. Granted, where I live costs much less than Seattle, and I also make significantly more now, but still not $90k.

amznnewgrad is trolling for sure!

I can confirm that it sounds reasonable. My offer was over 100k at amazon a few years ago as a new college grad (though I declined). Glassdoor seems to confirm that this is the norm nowadays.
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