Chicago Software Engineer. experience: ~3 years. salary: 87k. bonus: ~3k. stocks: none. vacation: 4 weeks. yearly raises: ~3%
Ask HN: How much do you make at Amazon? Here is how much I make at Amazon
631–640 of 717 posts
Re: Ask HN: How much do you make at Amazon? Here is how much I make at Amazon
#632These discussions feel good, but are ultimately useless. This is just going to be a collection of anecdotes from people who self-select to report because they feel good about where they're at, or because they feel righteously justified in complaining about their situation. And, as they say, the multitude of anecdote does not data make. Unfortunately, salary "surveys," like the recently-reported Stack Overflow one, or…
I disagree, I think it is useful.
You are correct that this is nothing close to scientific, but that is not the goal. The goal is to increase transparency around employee compensation in order to correct the imbalance of power in salary negotiations that results from not knowing what others in similar roles are being paid.
For this, statistically valid data is not necessary. It can be enough to know of one or two individuals' compensation to shift power in a salary negotiation.
Re: Ask HN: How much do you make at Amazon? Here is how much I make at Amazon
#633Earlier 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've wanted to share my thoughts and experiences regarding the "never be the first to quote a number" strategy for some time, but I usually see these threads when they're too stale to comment on. My background: I'm a senior-level engineer in my early 30s, in SF. After a consulting stint, I interviewed heavily in 2013, and again in the second half of 2015, and currently speak with 1-2 recruiter cold calls per week to…
You're in a hard spot. I know, because I'm in basically the same one.
Jobs in the $2X0 range are basically outside the range where a company will trust the normal recruiter/interview process to bring in a good candidate. You must start working your network, and you must either go to one of the big 6 you mention, or you must find a company that desperately needs somebody really senior and where you have an "in" -- somebody who knows the quality of your work and knows you're work $2X0.
It's not that hard to be worth that -- that's about two senior-ish engineers in Silicon Valley. But it's very hard to prove you're worth it. You have to know somebody and they have to know you.
You'll see a lot of advice about becoming a "thought leader" and "noncommodity." And to be fair, that helps -- I give talks, wrote a book, etc. But those things won't usually let you interview cold and get $2X0. At this point, maybe $200, barely? Beyond that, it's networking or seniority.
I can't tell you about $3X0, that's out of my personal experience.
You'll occasionally see massively outliers, up to maybe $6XX (which includes stock, not just base.) But those are almost invariably people who rose in the ranks at very profitable companies -- either big 6 or a small niche company that makes bank. It's very hard to be hired into a role like that unless you're well-known by the company in question.
Re: Ask HN: How much do you make at Amazon? Here is how much I make at Amazon
#634This thread is depressing, but I'll post my information:
Company: small, non-startup software company in DFW
Position: Senior Research Software Engineer
Tenure: 4 years
Experience: 14 years (4 EE, 2 non-IT SysE, 8 SwE)
Salary: $92,500 (started at $78,000)
Signing bonus: $0
Yearly bonus: $0
Stock: 0
Many of the comments here make me feel like I ab seriously underpaid. However, over the past several years in my interactions with prospective new companies (ranging from startups to subsidiaries of huge defense contractors) I get the impression that my salary is slightly above average.
Re: Ask HN: How much do you make at Amazon? Here is how much I make at Amazon
#635Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've wanted to share my thoughts and experiences regarding the "never be the first to quote a number" strategy for some time, but I usually see these threads when they're too stale to comment on. My background: I'm a senior-level engineer in my early 30s, in SF. After a consulting stint, I interviewed heavily in 2013, and again in the second half of 2015, and currently speak with 1-2 recruiter cold calls per week to…
Most everyone I know who is primarily technical who's total compensation, ah, starts with a two has a base that isn't out of your range and the rest is bonus/stock. So yeah, on a good year? (like last year) a quarter million is completely reasonable, but that's not gonna hold if the company has a bad year. also, everyone I know in that income tax bracket works for those big companies. Startups just don't pay that kin…
It's possible to work for a startup and have a base salary starting with a two. And even to be hired into the role at that level. I speak from experience. But yeah, that's the very high end.
Re: Ask HN: How much do you make at Amazon? Here is how much I make at Amazon
#636Earlier quoted context omitted.
One technique I've tried that seems to get a particularly stubborn hiring manager or recruiter past the salary question is giving a generic number range. Before talking to anyone I usually do some basic research to get some idea of what a generally reasonable range is for the position, and adjust that based on my situation at the time. If pressed (I still don't give it up right away) I give that range. Example: today…
You're suggesting less than 100 for iOS Dev, and above you someone is suggesting 150+ for devops/sysadmin. That ratio seems quite skewed compared to other sources of data on the web. Are you very junior, or talking about a non-prime job market/locality?
Senior DevOps roles pay bank. Easily on a par with the same seniority of software engineer.
This makes sense. You have to be as good as the same quality of software engineer, do work that is less glamorous, and carry a pager.
Re: Ask HN: How much do you make at Amazon? Here is how much I make at Amazon
#637Earlier 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…
It's tough to decide where to leave this reply, and this seems like a good place to address a few things I've seen in the replies to my comment. Usually, my advice is "don't share you current or desired salary", but the one exception I've discussed with some people is when they're concerned they'll be low-balled. In those cases, I've suggested it might be better to just disclose your desired salary. I've been rethink…
There are a couple of us here in the weird position of being senior enough that companies don't recruit for us through normal recruiters.
On the one hand, that screws up the usual "don't give a number" advice, including this advice -- there's usually not a defined salary range for a startup's catchall "we want somebody who does backend" poorly-defined job req.
On the other hand, I suspect "don't give a number" isn't the biggest mismatch happening there.
Re: Ask HN: How much do you make at Amazon? Here is how much I make at Amazon
#638Earlier 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.)
Are you certain everybody on your side of the negotiation is fully truthful? Do you include management, HR and recruiters in "everybody"?
If so, you're not talking to your recruiters. You should find out more about what your side of this negotiation looks like to a candidate.
Re: Ask HN: How much do you make at Amazon? Here is how much I make at Amazon
#639I'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 ove…
Indeed big increase in revenue compared with cost of living. I'm surprised that you've decided to move to Seattle instead of switching to another company in SF. Can you please share the reasons why?
Re: Ask HN: How much do you make at Amazon? Here is how much I make at Amazon
#640A reminder to everyone that the National Labor Relations Act prohibits companies from firing employees for discussing their salaries: http://www.govdocs.com/can-employees-discuss-pay-salaries/
You are right, and you also don't know Amazon (as well as many other powerful corporations).
Second that :) Reality is not binary. You can't reduce it to either 0 or 1...