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Ex amazonian here, but in Ireland, I left (thankfully) at the end of 2015. I was a systems engineer in Dublin and the only significant payraise I got was after
by amzn_irl_taway 11y ago
Ex amazonian here, but in Ireland, I left (thankfully) at the end of 2015.
I was a systems engineer in Dublin and the only significant payraise I got was after I left the company for 4 months to then rejoin, my salary was bumped up 12k euros, for a total of 62k/yr, with 150 shares over 4 years (sorry I do not remember the vesting scheme).
The HR department in AMZN has the tendency to screw internal employees upon promotion.
The way it was unofficially explained to me by a low-level buddy in HR is that there are salary ranges for each corporate level, and during a promotion you get just over the lower bound of the salary range for your new corp level, that's the policy, that's what happens.
New hires instead have negotiation margin and, while the hiring manager can't offer a salary higher than the approved salary range, more often than not the offer will end up in the upper bound of the range, to lure the candidate in.
Furthermore, there are huge differences between salary ranges in job roles, a Systems Engineer will always be paid 15 to 30% less than a Software Development Engineer at the same level, despite the fact that the skills and duties are not that much different, why? Again unofficially "because Amazon values more people that write software". Except the fact that in my ex-team, we all wrote software and the expectations were all the same regardless the job title (there was however a difference between levels).
So yeah, as internal promotion you have absolutely NO leverage regarding salary, if you want a salary increase and your organization is hungry for people but is having trouble in hiring (like it happens frequently in Dublin where the job market is quite competitive), I'd suggest you start looking around for a new job, accept the offer and then come back to your same team 4 months later. If you leave the company for less than 6 months and your position hasn't been filled in the meantime, the hiring manager is able to extend an offer without sending you through an interview loop, you'll get your old job back but with a nice pile of money on top.
- amzn_irl_intern 11y agoIn case any students are curious how much Amazon in Dublin offers (Undergraduate) students. I was offered: €25000.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- iolothebard 11y agoSeems dickish toward the company you work at for 4 months though. Were your offices by that famous Gaol? I thought it was interesting seeing a mix of the old and new so close together.
- solarmist 11y agoThat's pretty harsh for not knowing any of the circumstances. Who said he was at another company for those four months? And who's to say the company didn't just fold in that time or earn someone walking out on them?
- amzn_irl_taway 11y agoI was speaking with another company, but unforeseen family matters took precedence and I ended up not taking the job there. Another ex amazonian did accept an offer from the same company I was speaking with and in hindsight it was for the best, it did not work out exactly smoothly form him so... And yes, the office was exacly in front of the Kilmainham Gaol, unfortunately the office was quite depressing, so much so that it was an inside joke that the Amazon office was 21st century Gaol. Luckily they moved in a much better place now.
- wde-sde 11y agoI think it's true that the different engineering roles do similar work but the SDEs are paid better. This is why most people I know (including myself) who started as non-SDEs chose to first convince their manager to switch job roles. Personally, this netted me a 10% base pay increase. More counting the performance stock bonus that came with the change.
- justinlardinois 11y agoAdmittedly I'm American and I've never worked for Amazon, so my situation might be different than yours. But what? Returning to the employer you quit from seems like a terrible idea. If it was years later, maybe you could explain it away with interview BS like "changing direction" or "finding your place." But months later makes you not much better than the guy who shows his boss an offer from another company to negotiate a raise. It might work in the short term, but then you're branded as a flight risk. The next time they need to lay someone off (or if you slip up and they have a legitimate reason to fire you) you'd be high up on their list of disposable employees, perhaps moreso because you're more expensive than you were before.
- bezoslave 11y agoPeople leaving and rejoining Amazon is supercommon. That includes Principals. It feels like most people who have been at the company for 8+ years have been out of the company for some of the period. And you can even get the colored badge for tenure from non-consecutive employment.
- amzthrow23424 11y agoMaybe in the past, but not in the future. People are much more aware of Amazon's "peculiar ways" thanks to the media. People in Seattle have far, far more options these days.
- aluskuiuc 11y ago> a Systems Engineer will always be paid 15 to 30% less than a Software Development Engineer at the same level, despite the fact that the skills and duties are not that much different, why? In the past couple of months this was fixed by the creation of a new role called 'Systems Development Engineer'.
- aws_1918 11y agoPretty sure I know who this is and I'm happy to see you back in the role you deserved. Was your short leave to a German startup by any chance?