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Amazon more than doubles max base pay to $350k

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Re: Amazon more than doubles max base pay to $350k

#111

Post by asd88 »

darknavi wrote: post #19

As a low-ish level MSFT employee I laughed at this line: > The move promises to bring Amazon’s base pay more in line with other big tech companies, including Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft. As a ~62/63 (almost senior or senior) at Microsoft my peers at Facebook, Google, and Amazon can easily make literally twice as much compensation a year in salary, stock, and cash bonuses. Microsoft isn't even in the ballpar…

Considering Google/Facebook your “peers” is a common mistake people at MSFT make when they complain about comp. MSFT targets 67 percentile pay (which is actually above median, contrary to what everyone says), while GOOG/FB target > 95. They may be your competitors, but they are certainly not your peers (at least market-wise). Microsoft has managed to have great business results with 67 percentile SWE talent for a decade.

Re: Amazon more than doubles max base pay to $350k

#112

Post by jeffbee »

xiphias2 wrote: post #13

As a Googler I was approached by Amazon, and when I started to look at the culture, a photo came out with Jeff Bezos using a door because he was too ,,frugal’’ to buy a desk… I would never join an office where people are proud of that.

As a Xoogler I would have been very pleased indeed with a door-sized desk instead of the little A4-sized desks they were cramming everyone on when I left in 2018. The downward trend of personal space in the industry has been awful. As a part-time undergraduate sysadmin I had a private office. At my first commercial job in the 90s I had a door on filing cabinets. My last desk at Google wasn't even big enough for my display and laptop at the same time. The only bright side of permanent WFH, IMHO.

Re: Amazon more than doubles max base pay to $350k

#113

Post by xxpor »

strikelaserclaw wrote: post #14
xiphias2 wrote: post #13

As a Googler I was approached by Amazon, and when I started to look at the culture, a photo came out with Jeff Bezos using a door because he was too ,,frugal’’ to buy a desk… I would never join an office where people are proud of that.

this the dude who just bought a 500mm yacht?

Seems pretty easy to me to differentiate someone's personal spending from their business values.

Re: Amazon more than doubles max base pay to $350k

#114

Post by [deleted] »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #2

We had an office near an Amazon office. I interviewed a lot of people trying to leave Amazon. I don’t ask candidate’s compensation, but a lot of them volunteered it anyway. I was always surprised at how effectively low their comp was in the first few years due to the vesting schedule. The internet is adamant that everyone with FAANG jobs is rolling in TC, but there are a lot of people out there who are getting into F…

[deleted]

Re: Amazon more than doubles max base pay to $350k

#115

Post by clerk_occam »

lbriner wrote: post #80
_trackno5 wrote: post #65

Finally Amazon is realising their trash comp won't get them any hires in the current market. They were not even close to being competitive with other FAANG before. Couple that with the bad culture and I'm sure they were feeling the pressure to get new hires.

Trash comp? You might be talking about FAANG companies but very few Devs (maybe London) in the UK would get close to $160K, let alone $350K. They might want to attract talent but I suspect there are diminishing returns after a while, you only have to look at Amazon music App, Amazon web site, GMail and the Netflix app on my smart TV to realise they are not releasing good stuff all the time.

This is mostly for US, particularly in the Bay Area. There, fresh grads (SDE1s) are making $175k total comp, with $133,500 base salary. The base hardly increased for higher levels (SDE2/SDE3) before today, only being able to rise $26,500 before hitting the old cap.

Re: Amazon more than doubles max base pay to $350k

#116

Post by ghaff »

CarlosEscobedo wrote: post #71
_dain_ wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100-200k is incomprehensibly large for me

money is one thing, you also need to take into consideration how much work US tech expects, how little vacation is provided, and how things like Health Care isn't universal.

That's a very broad brush statement. Many US tech companies have pretty reasonable work/life balance, less vacation than is typical in Europe but still in the 3-4 week range, and you'd probably be hard pressed to find a large or even not-so-large employer that didn't offer healthcare (albeit you may have to pay half the premiums or so).

Re: Amazon more than doubles max base pay to $350k

#118

Post by EduardoBautista »

CarlosEscobedo wrote: post #71
_dain_ wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100-200k is incomprehensibly large for me

money is one thing, you also need to take into consideration how much work US tech expects, how little vacation is provided, and how things like Health Care isn't universal.

Point me to a US company paying 150k that doesn’t cover your health care. The majority of companies also have very generous vacation (unlimited in a lot of cases).

Re: Amazon more than doubles max base pay to $350k

#119

Post by petilon »

sydthrowaway wrote: post #98

So the base pay was 185, now 350k Doesn't really make much difference, unless you were hiring finance bros. The total comp is what mattered.

> The total comp is what mattered.

Assuming you're going to stay at Amazon for a long time, yes, total comp is what matters. If not then base pay matters because you don't get to keep most of the stock if you leave after a year or two. Amazon's vesting schedule is pretty bad. Just 5% at the end of year 1!

https://avieradvisors.com/amazon/amazons-rsu/

Re: Amazon more than doubles max base pay to $350k

#120

Post by Kranar »

aantix wrote: post #40
Mountain_Skies wrote: post #20

I'm amazed both with the number of messages I get from Amazon about job openings and the aggressiveness of them. Add on how many are for ill fitting or basically Hail Mary type positions (During the height of the pandemic I got one wanting me to move to Ireland to work in an Amazon office there. They even acknowledged the oddness of the situation but they were really desperate for people to fill those roles). Seems l…

Agree. Looking at HN, Blind, Glassdoor, very rarely do I remember seeing an engineer that would openly state that they love working there.

Plenty of software developers would kill to work for Amazon, sure the work conditions and prestige is not as great as the other big companies but Amazon still pays pretty darn well.

The big issue is the developers Amazon wants to hire are not the same as the developers who want to work there, so Amazon is basically paying a huge premium to attract people. That said let's not kid ourselves, the majority of people at Amazon are happy to be there, get paid very well, and are reasonably competent.

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