Amazon more than doubles max base pay to $350k • Hacker News Board

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

#71

Post by CarlosEscobedo » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 5:24 PM UTC

_dain_ wrote: post #43

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.

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.

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

#72

Post by padobson » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 5:24 PM UTC

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?

How many people do you think it took to build that yacht?

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

#73

Post by radicaldreamer » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 5:24 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #29

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…

I always thought about MSFT as like working for the government: A somewhat boring, stable, 9-5, predictable workplace, but you're exchanging that for lower total compensation. But you can stay there for an actual career , family and all that. Whereas the more "fun" companies like Google/Facebook/Amazon will chew you up and spit you out, and you just have to make as much money as possible in your 20s/early 30s before…

You can stay at Google or Facebook forever, it's just a matter of finding yourself on the right teams with the right work-life balance. If you chase the most exciting projects at any company, it's a recipe for burn out because you'll be working a lot more than you would be on a "necessary, stable, boring" project/system.

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

#74

Post by jefftk » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 5:24 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #29

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…

I always thought about MSFT as like working for the government: A somewhat boring, stable, 9-5, predictable workplace, but you're exchanging that for lower total compensation. But you can stay there for an actual career , family and all that. Whereas the more "fun" companies like Google/Facebook/Amazon will chew you up and spit you out, and you just have to make as much money as possible in your 20s/early 30s before…

That hasn't been my experience at Google. I feel like the work life balance is pretty good, and I typically work under 45hr/wk.

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

#75

Post by dymk » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 5:24 PM UTC

LatteLazy wrote: post #57

dymk wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the average tenure is 1.8 years, it certainly is working. That's nearly 50% of their tenure resulting in less than 20% of their equity vesting. The way Amazon does vesting is a scam for any engineer willing to work there, IMO. Big shiny number that they can dangle in front of engineers, and everybody thinks "Oh, sure I can do 4 years for that..."

It's only a scam if you assume the first year you work there you are as productive as the 3rd. It takes most people at least 3 months just to get started, let alone actually contribute. Based on that, I don't think it's unreasonable to pay less for the first X months etc. That's all this is really. It's pretty standard in Finance that you're not eligible for a bonus until you have been with the company for a full yea…

> It's only a scam if you assume the first year you work there you are as productive as the 3rd

It's a scam when it's compared to how every other tech company does it. The standard is a 1 year cliff at which point you get 25%, then uniform vesting every quarter.

> that you're not eligible for a bonus until you have been with the company for a full year for exactly this reason

This is exactly the standard in tech as well, but we're talking about an equity grant vesting schedule, not a bonus payout.

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

#76

Post by isbvhodnvemrwvn » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 5:24 PM UTC

f6v wrote: post #53

_dain_ wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100-200k is incomprehensibly large for me

You realize that’s before taxes, right?

You realize that it's incomprehensibly high in most of the countries in the world regardless of how it's taxed?

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

#77

Post by arcticbull » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 5:25 PM UTC

_dain_ wrote: post #46

aantix wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Move to the U.S. where your skills have a much higher value?

hard to get visa. and I don't fancy trekking across the mexican desert to get in the other way.

If you are a Mexican citizen, then a TN visa for a software engineer is pro forma - should be about $50, no caps/quotas and adjudicated in a few weeks. If from further south then why not have an employer sponsor you for an H-1B around lottery time and you either get it or you don't? The employer handles the cost and paperwork. You don't start until they do. If this really is life changing money it seems like the risk-reward profile favors application.

Of course if you're willing to take 20-30% less pay, immigrating to Canada and working for one of these tech companies in Vancouver or the Toronto area is much, much easier.

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

#78

Post by seanmcdirmid » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 5:25 PM UTC

f6v wrote: post #50

_dain_ wrote: post #31

US tech salary discussions always throw around incomprehensibly large numbers and complain that they are "small"

I briefly browsed Zillow in Seattle. It looks like a good 2-3 bd house is 700k+. And of course you need a car since public transport isn’t a thing there. Sending children to a good colleage is probably 50k+ a year just in tuition. I get a feeling money is different there.

> And of course you need a car since public transport isn’t a thing there.

Are we talking about Seattle? We definitely have public transit here.

> Sending children to a good colleage is probably 50k+ a year just in tuition.

If they don't get into UW you mean? UW in-state tuition is only $11,745 (I say "only", but it is much higher than when I went there). However, it is a very competitive state university to get into.

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

#79

Post by dv_dt » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 5:26 PM UTC

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…

What happens to those incentives if the fed increasing rates bumps the stockmarket back to flat or down for some time I wonder.

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

#80

Post by lbriner » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 5:26 PM UTC

_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.