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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

#411

Post by axg11 »

MattGaiser wrote: post #299
axg11 wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

N.B. I have a strong conflict of interest in this conversation, will leave the reason as an exercise for the reader to figure out. Amazon have launched more successful non-core businesses than any other big tech company. I suspect there's a belief throughout the company that qualities of the culture that lead to high attrition rates are the same qualities that breed revenue growth and success. In turn, that explains…

Could some of that simply be because Amazon has always had non-tech competencies? Microsoft, Google, Facebook, etc. Those have always been pure tech plays. Amazon started out competing with Barnes and Noble. But yes, I get what you mean. Companies are very reluctant to change the secret sauce.

This is a great point - the non-tech scaling aspect and intense customer focus contributes to the different culture.

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

#412

Post by kidfiji »

coredog64 wrote: post #264
slaymaker1907 wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually did some statistical analysis of what is supposed to be their hiring strategy and found this exact problem. They apparently use the strategy of always hiring above the mean (so new hires are better than the average employee). This does have some advantages, but I found that it ends up severely limiting growth when you take attrition into account. It would probably be a lot cheaper to change their hiring pr…

> It would probably be a lot cheaper to change their hiring practices to be less strict and reinvest some of that money in training. Isn’t that what a boomerang promotion is?

What is a “boomerang promotion?” I’ve never heard of the term

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

#413

Post by giantg2 »

yanslookup wrote: post #410
giantg2 wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My God. How long do you have to stay for the sign-on to payout? I'd do that job for a year just for the sign-on bonus. $325k is like 2. Decades of saving up.

It's prorated, a portion is paid out every pay check starting from day 1. It's just like normal base cash compensation but they call it a sign on bonus to hack around the low max base comp.

Nice

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

#414

Post by vamega »

coredog64 wrote: post #269
loeg wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The signing bonus is some N shares of stock. The $xxx figures in their comp packages are inflated in years 2, 3, and 4 by optimistically valuing those shares.

Allegedly, if it doesn’t hit the 15% per year, you’ll get a top up refresh for the difference. Except you’re now stuck waiting another year for that to vest.

You don't need to wait according to the changes announced today.

Of course you only get that number if your new target compensation is in line with that number.

So other companies have locked you in to your performance at interview time, while Amazon can give you a 15% paycut each year if your performance isn't high enough to at your offer level.

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

#415

Post by MuffinFlavored »

sangnoir wrote: post #346
MuffinFlavored wrote: post #233

Will Amazon at any point start considering hiring more engineers from countries that command lesser salaries like Brazil/EU than they do US engineers? Why do US engineers command such higher salaries?

Because US tech companies are making a lot of money, and could make even more if they hire more engineers.

My friend seems to think you can get the same value in a Brazilian engineer for $120k/yr (or less) compared to a US engineer for $200k-$300k/yr+

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

#416

Post by munificent »

yanslookup wrote: post #247
munificent wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I received an offer that was 160 base, 325 cash bonus and 5% of my RSUs for my first year, putting my TC at ~510k. I don't understand the appeal of cash signing bonuses. This just seems to me like another way of saying you got hired for a $485k annual salary while giving Amazon the freedom to cut your salary a year from now by up to ~67%. Why give your future self that risk instead of looking for a higher base sala…

I don't follow. Are you saying Amazon might opt to not pay out the bonus as outlined in my offer letter for no other reason than a gotcha? I guess it's possible but highly unlikely...

No, I'm saying that after the first year, they are now only committed to the base salary.

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

#417

Post by roflulz »

StillBored wrote: post #143
rootusrootus wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure a non-trivial amount of that is talk more than average reality. Which isn't to say that there aren't a bunch of people making a half million or more in total comp at a FAANG company, but there are almost certainly a whole lot more quiet people making 100-200K who aren't going to brag on HN about it.

Lol, I got an offer from one of the more coveted companies a couple years back for a position in TX (where i live) and while it was a few $$ more than what I'm currently making at a company that is considered "cheap" (although like everyone else they claim their compensation is market rate), it wasn't enough to make me jump for a job that sounds like its 3x as stressful as the one I've got. I'm guessing the San Jose,…

sounds like Apple!

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

#418

Post by lhorie »

kidfiji wrote: post #412
coredog64 wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It would probably be a lot cheaper to change their hiring practices to be less strict and reinvest some of that money in training. Isn’t that what a boomerang promotion is?

What is a “boomerang promotion?” I’ve never heard of the term

Basically, it's supposed to describe this:

- Bob works at Amazon as a SDE 2

- Bob finds getting promoted to SDE 3 is hard (despite being qualified) because the bar for promotion is too nitpicky/convoluted/whatever

- Bob quits and goes to work somewhere else

- Bob then applies for a job at Amazon again, but for a SDE 3 role. He lands the job, effectively getting a promotion in a really roundabout way.

The premise is that getting hired as a SDE 3 is presumably easier for someone who was already a successful SDE 2 than it is to navigate promotion committee politics internally for that same SDE 3 title.

This "trick" isn't limited to any specific company or role level; rather it's mostly a hypothetical scenario that is used as an insider joke when there's a perception of an overly obtuse promotion criteria.

In the context of this thread, I'm guessing they're saying that lowering the hiring bar would effectively open the floodgates for ex-amazon people to join back at higher paying roles since they were already able to pass the previously harder interviews.

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

#419

Post by yanslookup »

munificent wrote: post #416
yanslookup wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't follow. Are you saying Amazon might opt to not pay out the bonus as outlined in my offer letter for no other reason than a gotcha? I guess it's possible but highly unlikely...

No, I'm saying that after the first year, they are now only committed to the base salary.

I get a significant cash bonus paid out in year 2 as well. They are just as committed to the bonus in both years as they are the base salary. I think I'm missing something here though.

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

#420

Post by doopy1 »

hardolaf wrote: post #246
nebula8804 wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>For instance I received an offer that was 160 base, 325 cash bonus and 5% of my RSUs for my first year, putting my TC at ~510k. Second year was a slightly smaller bonus, and 15% of my RSUs. Jeebus man. What is it that you FAANG developers do that is so much more complex than what regular developers do? For reference: I do Angular and Python development. Is there like some open source project or code samples that giv…

> What is it that you FAANG developers do that is so much more complex than what regular developers do? They quit when the numbers don't match what they feel they are worth. You see the same thing in finance. One bad year can send 20-30% of your workforce walking out the door in a matter of a few months post bonuses.

Where do they go? Is it that easy to hop from one FAANG to another?
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