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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

#391

Post by spinlock »

lexhaynes wrote: post #144
p4wnc6 wrote: 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"?

Never "decline". I say I consider the entire compensation package because I realize they are a startup and need to sweeten their offer with stock because they don't have the revenue to pay a market rate.

It's important to neg them a little when you guess what they will offer. Male them self consious about lowballing you without insulting them.

I actually am beginning to think that its weak to ask them to throw out a number. Why not state a deal that's 10% better than what you want? Are you really going to be heartbroken if you get more than you want?

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

#392

Post by amzthrow23424 »

lexhaynes wrote: post #155
amzthrow23424 wrote: post #75

SDE, Level 5, four years, started w/ bonus: $126k, ended: $117k New job: 175k + equity (fuck you amazon)

Is it common for salaries at Amazon to decrease?

It is when your signing bonus/cash advances expire and raises are never higher than 2%. Also had 100 or so RSU's.

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

#393

Post by noonespecial »

p4wnc6 wrote: post #128
JoshDoody wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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…

And now you know everything you'll ever need to about the "shortage" of tech talent.

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

#394

Post by spinlock »

elbigbad wrote: post #326
stale2002 wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There IS another solution to this. When someone asks how much you are currently making, you should flat out lie. They won't check. I've job hopped a bunch, and usually I just take whatever I was currently making, and add 15%, and say that that was my base. If employers are going to play negotiation games, you shouldn't feel bad about playing them too.

I have been asked for proof of current salary (paycheck stubs, etc.) to be included with all my onboarding and HR forms when the current salary formed a basis for my new salary, FYI.

That is none of their business and you should not feel bad about saying no.

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

#395

Post by rbritton »

meric wrote: post #332
philovivero wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your anecdote is the exception to the rule. I've been in the industry for 20 years and can affirm the rule: you don't get raises from your current employer. You get raises by changing employers.

I second his anecdote. Have received large raises twice, but had to negotiate hard for it, with offers from outside in hand.

A previous employer of mine actually had a policy of never matching offers from other employers. I'm no longer there.

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

#396

Post by spinlock »

wheaties wrote: post #342
stale2002 wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There IS another solution to this. When someone asks how much you are currently making, you should flat out lie. They won't check. I've job hopped a bunch, and usually I just take whatever I was currently making, and add 15%, and say that that was my base. If employers are going to play negotiation games, you shouldn't feel bad about playing them too.

You do this and they catch you, you will be fired. I am a manager who believes in pay people more. Pay them what they want, not what they were making. That said, if you lie to me, I don't take it well.

It's a fair point. Never lie. Say I need $x to move.

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

#397

Post by delecti »

boren_ave11 wrote: post #268
delecti wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure about that? I have at least three anecdotes that seem to directly contradict that claim, and while I realize the plural of anecdote isn't data, but it's still enough to make me skeptical of your claim.

This is what I was told, but others ITT seem to have heard differently. In the examples that you know of, was the person relocating to Seattle or somewhere else, like SF? It may be that what I was told was correct, but they were referring only to Seattle and not places like SF where cost of living is very high.

A college friend and I both got hired to Amazon in the same round of campus hires. We both accepted Seattle positions, but then between accepting the position and graduating, his team moved to SF, and his offer got increased to compensate for the higher COL there.

Two other situations involved coworkers transferring teams from Seattle, one to Toronto and one to India, both had COL adjustments to their salary.

(Admittedly the evidence is less strong in the latter two cases because they involved simultaneous country changes)

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

#398

Post by CydeWeys »

sdenton4 wrote: post #339
sterl wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find tying my income to stock highly motivating :)

The best argument I've heard on this front is about diversifying risk. If your company tanks and you're rank and file, you're getting laid off and your stock holdings are tanking. Best to not be doubly exposed to the company's risk profile.

That's why I have autosale set up for my stock.

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

#399

Post by p4wnc6 »

enraged_camel wrote: post #353
JoshDoody wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 e…

A lot of recruiters say that it's not about ensuring the candidate gets the lower end of their expected range, but that's just what they say.

I actually have a friend who worked at one of the aggressive boutique recruiting firms who mostly focus on the New York investment banking jobs.

He told me that almost always, their client companies would tell them that if they were able to get a candidate to come in with a salary below X, the recruiting firm would get an extra bonus on top of their commission, and the bonus was priced to make sure it was more lucrative to try to suppress candidate wages than to adequately represent the candidate's higher-end expectation.

Whenever I hear a recruiter say anything like, "Look, I don't get paid unless you do so clearly I'm trying to get you the most that I can..." it's an immediate dealbreaker. They are probably being paid a bonus precisely to ensure I come in at a lower salary than what I could otherwise command.

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

#400

Post by [deleted] »

p4wnc6 wrote: post #96
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'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 (…

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