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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

#351

Post by learc83 »

gnoway wrote: post #316
HR0000000 wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's absolutely not at all illegal to check and is a very standard part of background checks.

Not sure why this was downvoted, it's not illegal and companies do it via background checks. Quick searches reveal this is a popular question, spot checks of the answers agree that it's not illegal and quite common.

I think the OP means they can't legally access this information other than by getting you or your previous employer to disclose it.

Most large companies won't give out your past salary information, so if they don't force you to provide proof, it's not very likely they will be able to verify it.

>via background checks

Background checks are normally done via a 3rd party background check company, and they don't have access to this kind of data.

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

#352

Post by amzn-thread »

Position: Developer Evangelist

Tenure: 1.2 years

Job Level: 5

Base Pay: $130,000

Signing Bonus: $25k Year 1, ~5k year 2

20XX Stock Vest: 10 shares

LY Review Score: Exceeds

LY Pay Increase: 1.1%

Gender: M

I really enjoyed my job and would go back. No counter offer when I left but that was at my request. Was up for L6 when I left.

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

#353

Post by enraged_camel »

JoshDoody wrote: post #120
p4wnc6 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm interested in what your negotiation principles are. I've always heard that a candidate should never share salary information and require the company to provide the first concrete number in the form of their initial offer. However, I've repeatedly used all of the "business-professional" and "HR approved" sorts of conversational techniques to enact this advice, and the only result that has ever occurred is either (…

One of my negotiation principles is "Don't disclose your current or desired salary" during the negotiation. With persistence, the recruiter or hiring manager will usually just move on. Another principle is that you should always counter. So I'm _extremely_ surprised to hear that 95% of the time, people have refused to continue talking with you. I can't refute your experience, but I can say this has never happened to…

I interview techies, and I always make a point to ask them to give me their expected salary range. The purpose behind this isn't to one-up them and pay them as little as possible. It's just in both parties' best interest to avoid wasting time if the expected pay is too high. Neither we nor the candidate want to go through several rounds of interviews for something that ultimately won't work out.

And at the opposite end of the spectrum, if a candidate gives a number that's too low, we ignore that and offer them what we think they are worth (which is a higher number). Our reasoning is simple: if we treat people fairly, they will be more loyal and less likely to jump ship at the earliest opportunity that pays more.

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

#354

Post by twistedpair »

maxaf wrote: post #199
jmathes wrote: post #165

The most important thing you can do for your career is: * Accept a job somewhere * Get promoted (doesn't matter how) * let yourself get hired away from your current company Getting hired away from your current company is the only way to get a fair raise based on increased experience. Companies never give substantial raises to current employees.

This simply isn't true. I received a >$30,000 raise at one of my previous employers after they realized that I was being grossly underpaid for the work I was doing. Granted, I had to bring my managers' attention to this, but they were understanding & did right by me.

Depends who you are. I've always been ranked in the top tier of employees wherever I've worked, and worked my ass off to make myself indispensable. I've gotten multiple 15-20% raises, and even 30% bonuses without having to jump ship. Make sure you work on visible projects (front office, not back office), and that your managers are fearful of losing you because you're crucial.

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

#355

Post by hmmdar »

I've been at Amazon for a bit over 5 years with 12 years total. Joined with about 7 years of prior experience. From the other post I see I did a very poor job of negotiating when I first joined with my experience. I've always saved the stock and considered it more retirement savings than spending cash.

Hired: 2011

- Level: SDE I (4)

- Location: San Francisco

- Salary: $96k base, $20k bonus, relocation, ~160 stock over 4 years.

- Average yearly total comp: ~ $150k

Promoted: 2013

- Level: SDE II (5)

- Location: San Francisco

- Salary: $110k base, 168 stock

- Average yearly total comp: ~ $170k

Relocated: 2015

- Level: SDE II (5)

- Location: Seattle

- Salary: $125 base, ~160 stock, relocation

- Average yearly total comp: ~ $190k

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

#357

Post by dclowd9901 »

JoshDoody wrote: post #14

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…

I've always been a fan of daylight on salaries. People get uncomfortable thinking about their worth in relation to others, but having it exposed means two things: 1) you can easily figure out who you should be more like and 2) it prevents bullshit from being the cause of someone receiving high pay. If I'm going in for a salary negotiation and I ask my boss why so-and-so makes $50k more a year than I do, he or she better have a damn good explanation for it.

The problem at this point is societal. It's been taboo for so long that people still harbor deep discomfort with it. Maybe they believe they don't deserve the pay they're getting so they wish for it to be quieted. If that's the case, then fuck those people.

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

#358

Post by thechao »

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.

For those of us in the midwest... This compensation package is about 210k$ in Austin. Obviously, outside of expensive cities like Austin/Dallas/Chicago, the equivalent number is lower.

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

#359

Post by donretag »

aluskuiuc wrote: post #281
donretag wrote: post #278

While traveling the world, I feel in love with Cape Town so much, that I decided to apply for a job at Amazon since their recruiters were constantly emailing me anyways. EC2 was started in Cape Town and that office does mainly AWS support tools, but not as much EC2 work any more. I do not remember the details too much, but it was something like $84K for my first year, after stock and all that nonsense. The salary is…

Speaking as someone who just finished a 2-year rotation through Cape Town as an SDE - massive, core parts of EC2 are still there and aren't going anywhere. "not as much EC2 work" is definitely not accurate.

Perhaps what I meant to say is that "control" of EC2 went to Seattle, from what I understood.

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

#360

Post by kazinator »

dclowd9901 wrote: post #357
JoshDoody wrote: post #14

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…

I've always been a fan of daylight on salaries. People get uncomfortable thinking about their worth in relation to others, but having it exposed means two things: 1) you can easily figure out who you should be more like and 2) it prevents bullshit from being the cause of someone receiving high pay. If I'm going in for a salary negotiation and I ask my boss why so-and-so makes $50k more a year than I do, he or she bet…

Oops, boss coudn't explain it. Now you, too, make $50K more due to some bullshit cause. :)
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