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Public protest against Amazon

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Public protest against Amazon

#291

Post by Apocryphon »

vkou wrote: post #235
Tehchops wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely not. We don't want union cruft within a hundred miles of tech. It's already far too hard to shed incompetent people.

I don't want corporate politics and all the worst parts of MBA culture within a hundred miles of tech, yet here we are. Solidarity is the only way that workers can negotiate on an even playing field.

Always, it's insane how people who work in this tech can think about reshaping this social convention or disrupting that industry and still think that "nope, unions are inherently bad and always will be bad, there is no way for us innovators to redesign labor relations for the good of workers."

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#292

Post by 29athrowaway »

nojvek wrote: post #251
thtthings wrote: post #187

Indian here. If your manager is from India, he probably sucks. He is insecure, has zero empathy, leadership skills or any skills. He probably memorized data structures and algo's interview questions and got a job at Amazon. He got ahead by sucking up to his boss and being political. His boss is probably an Indian too who sucks up to his boss and so on. But that is okay, as this company is stable and they just need pe…

> If your manager is from India, he probably sucks. He is insecure, has zero empathy, leadership skills or any skills. Racism! Seriously? We going there?

You are conflating country of origin discrimination with race discrimination. Both are illegal but they're not the same.

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#293

Post by not_kurt_godel »

kevinventullo wrote: post #285
not_kurt_godel wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both of those numbers are possible, but much higher than average by my estimation. Glassdoor says average ~$111k for software engineering as a whole[0]. A more realistic expectation for a 'good' compensation package would be ~$80-95k for junior engineer and ~$180-250k for senior. Obviously there are many factors to account for, and both those numbers can vary widely, but the ones you gave are not what one should be e…

At least for big tech companies, Glassdoor has notoriously low numbers. Last I checked, levels.fyi was closer to the truth.

May I ask (in good faith) how you know what the real "truth" is? I would totally believe Glassdoor is a bit low. Levels.fyi, which I didn't know about but just checked, seems really high. I believe both are based on real data points, but is there any reason to believe either is a better reflection of the actual numbers? (My relatively poorly-informed speculation is that Glassdoor is using old/irrelevant statistical data while levels.fyi is suffering from some pretty extreme selection bias being a comparatively obscure site relying on self-reporting.)

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#294

Post by pmiller2 »

gwright wrote: post #215
ownagefool wrote: post #14

I had a manager that took over from a previous person when I was working remote. There were a few issues, but the one that stands out is they flew me down to London for a week, set me up in a hotel, and had me take taxis back and fourth to the office and expense food etc. After returning home, he rejected my expenses because of variance of costs of the taxis, despite me pointing out that I was using the stipulated ve…

What does his or your age have to do with anything? Just sounds like a penny wise pound foolish story to me.

What 25 year old has the resources to take on even a 100-person corporation, much less a megacorp?

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#295

Post by kevan »

nostrademons wrote: post #185
avinium wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is this standard in the software world? This is standard in every world. Corporate credit cards are usually reserved for senior executives or people who travel/entertain a lot (e.g. sales reps). Cash advances aren't a thing outside of small companies.

Huh? Google made it super easy to get a GCard, you just request it on a web form and it arrived a few days later. It was pretty common for L4 engineers (that's the level below senior) to have them.

Same story at Amazon but most people I know prefer to use their own cards to churn points.

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#296

Post by all_blue_chucks »

not_kurt_godel wrote: post #272
all_blue_chucks wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Software engineer pay at tech companies in the US tends to be $150k for junior engineers to $300k+ for senior engineers.

Both of those numbers are possible, but much higher than average by my estimation. Glassdoor says average ~$111k for software engineering as a whole[0]. A more realistic expectation for a 'good' compensation package would be ~$80-95k for junior engineer and ~$180-250k for senior. Obviously there are many factors to account for, and both those numbers can vary widely, but the ones you gave are not what one should be e…

Glass door either only shows base salaries or is completely out of touch with tech companies.

Sure, the lone "web developer" at a small nonprofit might make $80k, but at a FAANG? Please.

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#297

Post by cobookman »

seltzered_ wrote: post #147
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was recently offered a job by a software company, work from home, paid monthly. I presently work in metal fabrication. Not only was their offer $30,000 below my current income, their deal was I front cash for expenses and submit claims monthly. Is this standard in the software world? Because from my perspective there’s only one possible answer to paying expenses out of pocket and having to claim them back: No.

Echoing the HP employee, submitting claims monthly for remote work expenses (phone/internet bills, office supplies, travel) is normal. Ive worked as an apps engineer at a couple BigCos with same policies and the process never bothered me, I submit my claims as soon as a trip ends or when I get the bills. The thing I would press is to get paid fairly, and bi-weekly. I’ve never had a salaried job that was paid monthly.

Google let's you choose. But yes common practice.

A huge benefit of fronting the costs is getting points on the spend, it adds up quickly

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#298

Post by ummonk »

ownagefool wrote: post #14

I had a manager that took over from a previous person when I was working remote. There were a few issues, but the one that stands out is they flew me down to London for a week, set me up in a hotel, and had me take taxis back and fourth to the office and expense food etc. After returning home, he rejected my expenses because of variance of costs of the taxis, despite me pointing out that I was using the stipulated ve…

Wait you didn't contact authorities and/or sue them?

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#299

Post by pault »

EpicEng wrote: post #282
r00fus wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly! I sure bet the lifts ran on time in the Death Star...

Unfortunately he wasn't trained in mechanical engineering and failed to spot a serious error during design review.

Eh, I don't know. Why bother securing exhaust ports when someone can just jump to hyperspace and destroy your whole fleet?

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#300

Post by throwawaymjabba »

gamblor956 wrote: post #200
avinium wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is this standard in the software world? This is standard in every world. Corporate credit cards are usually reserved for senior executives or people who travel/entertain a lot (e.g. sales reps). Cash advances aren't a thing outside of small companies.

It's actually quite unusual to make employees anything except for incidental expenses (like meals) up front. Generally, making employees pay big-ticket expenses (including travel) and seek reimbursement is a legal and accounting nightmare, so it's something that a well-run business tries to avoid. (In some states, it's even illegal to require employees pay for necessary business expenses.) The exception tends to be l…

My employer wanted us to pay upfront and then claim. I was an Indian h1b. One time, they forced me to relocate to another state even though I didn't want to. "I will snip you" was my ex-manager's words when I refused. My moving expenses was about $3500k. I paid everything from my pocket. When I tried to claim, finance team refused to pay and agreed only after a lot of escalations. I finally got the money after about 1.5 months. This plus many other bad experiences made me literally throw away everything and come back to India.
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