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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

#531

Post by nommm-nommm »

learc83 wrote: post #351
gnoway wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 acc…

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

Yes they do. There's a company owned by Equifax called The Work Number that collects such information.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Work_Number

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

#532

Post by boren_ave11 »

Dr_tldr wrote: post #488

The OP is being kind of cagey about what their role is. Nearly everyone at Amazon who does what we would generally be considered a primarily dev role is either an SDE (Software Development Engineer) or a WDE (Web Development Engineer). Are you a support engineer, by chance? As for salary negotiations, the best piece of advice I got was to never say a number. You really don't have to, you can just keep saying some var…

The OP is being kind of cagey about what their role is.

You're right, I am.

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

#533

Post by grogenaut »

philovivero wrote: post #217
maxaf wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

Not true, I pointed it out to my employer and they were like "oh dang, can't loose you, you get that raise" after I had already gotten a 17% raise.

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

#534

Post by grogenaut »

tamana wrote: post #386
dsr_ wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is another reason for a PIP: the employer thinks the employee has been doing their job badly but could do acceptably well. The PIP is the last available tool to get them back up to speed.

Once the PIP appears, improvement has already failed. If your peers and manager can't fix your performance problem, his could some arbitrary HR paperwork process?

because sometimes "Oh fuck this is real" works.

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

#535

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

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

#536

Post by stale2002 »

jwatte wrote: post #490
stale2002 wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shoot thats a good one I need to add to my list! Fake counteroffer from own employer. (Fake competing offer from a different company probably wouldn't work, because they would ask for an "offer letter". A counteroffer from current company isn't going to require proof)

I'm all for solid negotiating tactics, but if you consider telling an untruth, you are not welcome on my team. You may still find other teams in the world that you can dupe, but in the end, I expect lies to hurt your overall prospects (in life as well as work.)

The whole point is that its impossible to verify....

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

#537

Post by mixmastamyk »

Diederich wrote: post #515
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 take the opposite approach. The last time I moved, I made a secure web page that had my current comp package, in detail, and the minimums on my required comp package, in detail. This I sent to every recruiter that had contacted me in the previous 18 months. Scores of them. Before I would speak to any of them on the phone, I'd get a soft confirmation via e-mail that they had a position that could meet my requirement…

Is it necessary to state your current info?

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

#538

Post by nicholas73 »

p4wnc6 wrote: post #184
deeteecee wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's my only question with the negotiation technique of not disclosing a desired salary. So is it expected that the other side should state the salary offer? That was my only problem with all these negotiation techniques saying "never mention your salary." Eventually, one side or the other needs to mention and at the end of it all, most articles online never closed it off with saying either side would state the exp…

The candidate could put their minimum acceptable salary in an envelope. The employer could put their maximum acceptable salary in an envelope. The two parties could agree with a third party arbiter that if the maximum from the employer is larger than the minimum from the candidate, the salary will be set to the midpoint between the two numbers, and otherwise, no deal can be reached so both walk away. That's one way,…

Most companies want to ask the candidate, as most will give a number, and give the company the advantage.

Why pay for a service when you can just ask? Basically they do it on purpose because they have the upper hand.

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

#539

Post by jondubois »

ftwynn wrote: post #482
diskcat wrote: post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that when you share your salary people who make less than you start despising you and people who make more than you start looking down on you. It's less of a corporate conspiracy but more "this is why you can't have nice things". People just can not handle it in a mature and responsible way, which is why the 'don't talk about money' "common sense" developed.

My experience is that people tend to hate the employer, not the employee. Less, "You make more than me? You earn too much!" and more "You make more than me? I should be paid more!"

Yes, I think engineers tend to undervalue themselves when compared to many other professionals such as lawyers, traders and financiers.

Perhaps it is because our work puts us is a position where we aren't able to practice our people skills (and negotiation skills) and we don't have good instincts when it comes to how the free market works (we get boxed in and caught up in our work and forget about the financial realities of life).

When you think about the enormous value which engineers have created over the past 50 years and you compare that to who actually benefited the most from that value (in terms of wealth accumulation) - The people who benefited the most are business people, lawyers and financiers.

Every field of industry has been significantly enhanced by engineers... Heck, even medicine would still be voodoo pseudo-science if it wasn't for all the awesome tools created by engineers... Yet in spite of talent shortages, the education/intelligence barrier, the extreme amount of after-work hours required; we barely get paid more than an Australian construction worker.

It comes down to the fact that we don't stand up for ourselves - And we should.

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

#540

Post by hn_user23 »

bezoslave wrote: post #174

Salaries for Germany anyone?

It would be awesome to see such a thread for not only Germany but Europe. There is no way you can compare the salaries from the US with the salaries here.

I can speak for SIEMENS where they publish the pay for open positions internally. However it is very hard to get into SIEMENS currently, given their savings plan.. I heard that the salaries for the open positions are fixed. I have no idea if this is true. I will refer to the IG Metall Entgeldtabelle for Bavaria: http://www.igmetall-bayern.de/metall-elektro/

- Level: Entry level Software Developer, Bachelor or Master - Location: Germany, Nuremberg - Salary: EG9 ~49000€

- Level: Sysadmin, min 3 Years experience - Location: Germany, Munich - Salary: EG10 ~54600€

They cost of living in Munich are the highest in Germany. So in the end you will probably will have less money if you take the Sysadmin job in Munich.

They don't differentiate between bachelors and masters. I will find out in the near future if you are able to negotiate a higher EG level based on that..

It would be interesting to see some salaries from other companies in Europe. But i'm possibly to late in this thread.

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