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Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

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Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#271

Post by not2b »

abj wrote: post #51
spyspy wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man if I could just work there a month and then quit with 18 months of guaranteed paid severance...

That does sound nice. Ideally though the company wouldn't chose to enforce the non compete because the new employee hadn't picked up any secrets worth sharing in a month. Actually, this might incentivise a new employee to hunt for secrets so they could quit as soon as possible and enjoy their serverance. That might not be ideal.

Even in the absence of non-compete clauses, you're still obliged to keep your company's trade secrets when you leave, or they can sue you. California companies sue each other all the time over things like this.

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#272

Post by ec109685 »

gtsteve wrote: post #106

I once met a guy who was a programmer for a hedge fund. The strategies and knowledge he had would be very useful to competitors. They didn't have a non-compete agreement in the contract, as this is almost never enforceable here, instead he agreed to a six month notice period - after working two months' notice they then paid four months' salary for him to take a holiday while his knowledge became less and less useful…

Even without a non-compete, you can’t divulge company secrets to new employer. NDA’s are enforceable.

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#273

Post by posixplz »

bsg75 wrote: post #204
burtonator wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These things can always be childish when working with a bad interviewer. I once had an engineer keep interrupting me while I was explaining how sockets work because I wasn't covering small minutia details. Interviewing is an insane process. This is why building networks is more valuable so you're basically being interviewed by people you've already worked with.

> I once had an engineer keep interrupting me while I was explaining how sockets work because I wasn't covering small minutia details. I'm going to be in trouble when it comes time to interview again someday. I am not nearly as accepting of muscle flexing (anti-social behavior) as I was 10 years ago.

Makes me appreciate working for a large cloud with a core value “don’t be a jerk.”

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#274

Post by ec109685 »

whycombagator wrote: post #89

IIRC salaried workers at Amazon get 10 PTO days. This stops me from even applying. I wouldn't ever again consider less than 20, and really need a minumum of 25.

As long as they let you take unpaid leave, you can negotiate that into your salary ask.

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#275

Post by Fission » 

  If someone signs an agreement to this effect, 
  what possible job could they take after leaving 
  Amazon that wouldn’t potentially run afoul of this 
  clause? I’d have said “writing a newsletter making 
  fun of AWS,” but—lo and behold—they’re already in 
  the business of making fun of themselves by 
  launching services with names like Systems Manager 
  Session Manager.
I wouldn't be surprised if they've automated out an RNN system to generate names

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#276

Post by mkl »

jaf656s wrote: post #165
pavel_lishin wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm betting dvt won't work for Facebook, either, and I applaud 'em for it. (How do we specify that we're referring to a user here, anyway? On reddit, I'd just type /u/dvt and be done with it, seems weird to do it here.)

a lot of people like the single quote, e.g. 'pavel_lishin

I'm pretty sure I've never seen that on any forum anywhere.

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#277

Post by mruts »

ssully wrote: post #158
mruts wrote: post #154

Amazon pay is shit. I was laughed out of the room for asking for a salary that some analysts make in finance. People get paid so much more in finance than any other industry that I wonder why tech people aren’t more interested in those jobs. Also the work is more exciting and challenging. And it’s better for the world, though I suspect I’ll get a lot of downvotes for that one.

Can you elaborate on why you think it's better for the world? I ask from a position of honest ignorance.

Finance, fundamentally, is about managing risk and allocating money from the people who have it to the people that don't. Without finance and without banks, almost nothing we have today would even exist. There are people with ideas, and there are people with money. Without finance, neither would be able to meet. But when money and ideas meet, something magical and great happens: innovation and progress.

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#278

Post by steelframe »

dvt wrote: post #5

I've also turned down countless Amazon interview offers. In fact, I don't get how I'm still on their recruitment lists after asking several times to be removed. Amazon has arguably the worst culture out of any large tech company, and generally treats its workers like dirt. Given all my friends that worked for them, almost all have quit within 5 years. Given their abysmal warehouse management, it's no surprise they ha…

> In fact, I don't get how I'm still on their recruitment lists after asking several times to be removed.

My strategy has been to completely ignore emails from Amazon recruiters, under the assumption that getting a reply from an email address will immediately prompt the recruiter to check a box in their internal tool indicating "You can actually reach them here!"

It's the same strategy with spammers. Clicking "Unsubscribe" often just serves to confirm that there's a real human being reading stuff sent to that address.

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#279

Post by oarabbus_ »

lacampbell wrote: post #260
bsg75 wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I once had an engineer keep interrupting me while I was explaining how sockets work because I wasn't covering small minutia details. I'm going to be in trouble when it comes time to interview again someday. I am not nearly as accepting of muscle flexing (anti-social behavior) as I was 10 years ago.

You and me both. I had to walk out of an interview because the interviewer had become borderline rude and I could not think of anything at all professional to respond with. Here's to future self-employment!

How'd you walk out? "Sorry, but I'd like to respect both of our time and end my candidacy here"?

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#280

Post by barry-cotter »

mountainofdeath wrote: post #221
ses1984 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many friends do you have who worked for a company more than 5 years? Work for Amazon for 2 years, learn a lot, get paid a lot, move on.

Amazon does not even pay a lot. It's 80% of everyone at best (yes, including the grossly overweight restricted stock units). Amazon (among others) imports legions of new-graduates and mid-level engineers from oversees on a variety of visas, pays them the local wage but in the US. If you leave the company for any reason, you have something like 7 days to pack up and go home. It's modern indentured servitude.

80% of the other FAANG companies is at least double what most developers make, right, at mid career?

https://www.levels.fyi/SE/Amazon/Google/Facebook

has Amazon at 116K, Google we 123K and Facebook at 112K, just cash for all three, not including bonus or stock, for entry level employees.

Paying Chinese employees Chinese wages, but in America, would be both hella illegal and very obvious.

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