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Ask HN: Has anyone successfully renegotiated an AWS non-compete?

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Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully renegotiated an AWS non-compete?

#111

Post by x0x0 »

ozzythecat wrote: post #71

I can’t answer your specific question, but I would really encourage you to think more about the AWS offer. Having spent a decade at Amazon, across several organizations, I don’t recommend it as a place to work. There was a NYTimes article about the company in 2015. Everything there still reflects the day to day culture of the company. For me Amazon took an unprecedented toll on my mental and physical health. I did ea…

Not to mention the backweighted RSU vesting schedules. AWS comp is designed around recovering comp back from employees that put in, say, 2 years and decide AWS isn't the place for them. Not how I run a business, but to each his or her own.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully renegotiated an AWS non-compete?

#112

Post by gnopgnip »

pcaharrier wrote: post #76
vlovich123 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AWS definitely has offices and employees in California. The enforcement is not about where you're headquartered but where the employee is determined to be working. An employee living full time in California would be protected. Disclaimer: Not a lawyer.

Not necessarily. Many such contracts also contain a choice of law clause that specifies which state's laws will apply.

For agreements entered into after January 1, 2017, California Labor Code Section 925 clarifies that employers may not require employees––who primarily work and reside in California––to agree to forum-selection and choice-of-law clauses that select non-California forums and/or laws, unless such employee is “individually represented by legal counsel in negotiating the terms of an agreement.”

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully renegotiated an AWS non-compete?

#113

Post by ideamotor »

ozzythecat wrote: post #71

I can’t answer your specific question, but I would really encourage you to think more about the AWS offer. Having spent a decade at Amazon, across several organizations, I don’t recommend it as a place to work. There was a NYTimes article about the company in 2015. Everything there still reflects the day to day culture of the company. For me Amazon took an unprecedented toll on my mental and physical health. I did ea…

Sounds like Severence

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully renegotiated an AWS non-compete?

#114

Post by rsstack »

bqmjjx0kac wrote: post #109
rsstack wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I complained to jeff@ about the spam from recruiters, after emailing them several times to stop contacting me - and even calling the recruiters on the phone once asking them to stop. The final reply in my email thread with them: "I will take a look at these messages and will inform our recruiting team of your concern if these messages are found to be legitimate. Thank you again for sharing your concerns. I wish you w…

That's hilarious, I had no idea his email was public. I have to wonder whether the response was written by an assistant, though.

It used to be his semi-personal email many many years ago, part of his "open door policy" for employees, partners and customers. It was transformed into an escalated support inbox many years ago because it go too busy. Even though he isn't at Amazon anymore, the inbox remained open because people keep contacting it for issues that aren't being resolved through the proper channels.

I'll clarify: The "I" pronoun in the reply I got isn't referring to Mr. Bezos. The email is signed by an Amazon employee who I won't name for his privacy.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully renegotiated an AWS non-compete?

#115

Post by edfletcher_t137 »

ozzythecat wrote: post #71

I can’t answer your specific question, but I would really encourage you to think more about the AWS offer. Having spent a decade at Amazon, across several organizations, I don’t recommend it as a place to work. There was a NYTimes article about the company in 2015. Everything there still reflects the day to day culture of the company. For me Amazon took an unprecedented toll on my mental and physical health. I did ea…

This is incredibly enlightening, thank you for this.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully renegotiated an AWS non-compete?

#116

Post by edfletcher_t137 »

AlchemistCamp wrote: post #81
ozzythecat wrote: post #71

I can’t answer your specific question, but I would really encourage you to think more about the AWS offer. Having spent a decade at Amazon, across several organizations, I don’t recommend it as a place to work. There was a NYTimes article about the company in 2015. Everything there still reflects the day to day culture of the company. For me Amazon took an unprecedented toll on my mental and physical health. I did ea…

That fifth paragraph is dark.

And it's the crux of the whole problem.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully renegotiated an AWS non-compete?

#117

Post by optymizer »

Former Amazonian. I didn't renegotiate the non-competes and I wouldn't stress much about this.

To my knowledge, this is one of those overly broad statements they put into the contract because it's advantageous to them and to reserve the right to sue the "VP of something" who took the knowledge and ran away. They won't act on it for your regular employees because it costs them money to do so and developers _routinely_ jump ship, though they want you to know that they technically have the power to because you signed that contract.

Like others said, there are other problems with Amazon you might want to focus on. This one may not be worth fighting over, but you can use it as part of a response with multiple requests, to let them say no to something and accept your other requests.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully renegotiated an AWS non-compete?

#118

Post by kixiQu »

wnolens wrote: post #83
ozzythecat wrote: post #71

I can’t answer your specific question, but I would really encourage you to think more about the AWS offer. Having spent a decade at Amazon, across several organizations, I don’t recommend it as a place to work. There was a NYTimes article about the company in 2015. Everything there still reflects the day to day culture of the company. For me Amazon took an unprecedented toll on my mental and physical health. I did ea…

> Amazons leadership fundamentally does not see their employees as human beings I'm there right now and this is very true. It isn't even a hidden truth about working there. In fact, the company has a set of principles [0] that are necessary to adopt and use to justify all decisions you make or feedback you give to others. And missing from this set of principles? Any mention of the humanity of those you are leading. T…

This isn't a meaningful criticism because -- well, watch what people do, not what they say. But it isn't even coherent because you're working with an out of date list: https://amazon.jobs/en/internal/principles

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully renegotiated an AWS non-compete?

#119

Post by lemax »

I always clarify scope on non-competes. Even if you can get an email back from an HR person clarifying scope, that should be sufficient. They will take it to legal and legal will come back with what they can do. For example, in the last non-compete I signed, it was phrased as something like "Company's business". I clarified that "company's business is X", giving X in my own words.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully renegotiated an AWS non-compete?

#120

Post by systemvoltage »

ozzythecat wrote: post #71

I can’t answer your specific question, but I would really encourage you to think more about the AWS offer. Having spent a decade at Amazon, across several organizations, I don’t recommend it as a place to work. There was a NYTimes article about the company in 2015. Everything there still reflects the day to day culture of the company. For me Amazon took an unprecedented toll on my mental and physical health. I did ea…

I've hired several AWS engineers. Everyone of them, despite of having left AWS had nothing but good things to say. You'd think that since they left AWS, they'd have a boat load of things to unload. The only gripe I heard was occassional work/life balance during launch or critical times. Otherwise, AWS/Amazon is akin to working at Intel, GE, IBM, Oracle, etc. Bog standard corporate job. You are a cog in the machine, get used to it. In return you get a stable career, can raise a family and do better than 99.99% of the people on this planet.

NYT's story was very controversial.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/08/17/432555175...

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/10/amazon-...

https://www.vox.com/2015/8/17/9166023/new-york-times-amazon

NYT has a tremendous agenda and often goes unchecked.

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