5 ms·
No change since the NYT article. Amazon only changes things when it has to, and only in a lip-service kind of way. There was a flurry of discussion and proposa
by anonazon123 8y ago
No change since the NYT article.
Amazon only changes things when it has to, and only in a lip-service kind of way. There was a flurry of discussion and proposals when the article was published, but it's all died down and we're back to where we were beforehand.
Compensation, culture, and perks are infinitely better at Google, Facebook, Lyft, Uber, etc. All of them start vesting your stock monthly after 1 year, whereas Amazon has a ridiculous vesting schedule (5% after year 1, 15% after year 2, 20% every 6 months thereafter). Not to mention the awful 401k matching, no free food/drinks, terrible drab offices, etc. All in the name of "frugality." Leadership claims that our competitors waste their money on these things, despite all of them being insanely profitable with higher employee happiness and retention.
I'm working on moving to one of the above competitors now. I recommend avoiding Amazon, even if the role you've been offered sounds cool.
- tinderliker 8y agoThanks, this made things clear. I was seriously considering joining until the responses in this thread. Its better to wait for another offer for few more months rather than suffering for the next 2-3 years.
- ImSkeptical 8y agoI think it really depends on the team you're on at Amazon. (well, the vesting, free drinks etc doesn't). I never found the NYT article to be even slightly representative of my time at Amazon, and the group I was in at the time made additional changes to help improve morale that really worked. I believe you can find a good, or bad, team to work on at Amazon, and I assume the same is true of other big companies too (I have worked at another big company and it was true there too).
- pc86 8y agoIf anyone here honestly believes free food and office decor stack up as benefits right alongside retirement benefits and vesting schedules, please take a step back and evaluate your life. I'd rather live on a software developer's salary with no 401k access and a 6 year vesting cliff than live on 2/3rd the salary with immediate vesting and a generous 401k match.
- shwin 8y agoWhat's your math? In year 0-6, I would think the latter case comes up better, assuming (which is definitely true at like, all large tech companies) that yearly stock + 401k match (not even touching tax benefits) is better than 1/3 of your salary? I would think stock + 401k > 1/3 salary basically (this was true for me at Workday, anyway)
- sjapkee 8y ago>no free food/drinks It's sooooo important.
- mjlee 8y agoIt's a cheap perk that makes employees happier. Employee happiness is important.
- rusk 8y agoIt also means you don't have to put energy into sorting out your lunch, which I see personally as a huge productivity boost.
- chimprich 8y agoIt's also generally more cost effective for the company to buy food in bulk compared to passing the cash onto you in your salary for you to buy food on an individual basis. Plus (and this is dependent on the company handles the providing free food business), food cooked or prepared on site is potentially healthier and tastier than whatever calorific sandwich and chocolate bar you picked up on the way to work. Healthier and happier employees are a win for both parties.
- swarnie_ 8y agoI definitely stay at work, and stay on campus longer because of the free breakfasts and lunches.
- charliesome 8y agoI don't understand how this is an argument in favour of free food/drink. You're selling whatever additional time you give to your employer for a rock bottom price. It's not a good deal.
- rusk 8y agoWithout knowing details of compensation you can't really say whether they've given their extra time at a rock bottom price or not.
- jedberg 8y agoI'm curious as to what level you're at. I hear that there is a pretty hard line between Principal engineer and SDE, in that Principle engineer is a pretty good gig.
- kukdoo 8y agoPrincipal engineers write more docs than code. It’s a good gig depending on what you want to spend time on.
- pjc50 8y agoI'm curious, does this apply to all of Amazon globally? I was considering Amazon Dublin and would be interested to hear what it's like there.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- DoubleGlazing 8y agoI interviewed for a C# dev job at their new Dublin offices in the old Irish Nationwide building. I had to attend a recruitment open day watching presentations about why Amazon is so great and then come back a few days later for a surprisingly easy technical and HR interview. Despite being refurbished their work space looked very basic and clinical, but at least there were good views on the higher floors. No free food, just tea and coffee. The package they offered me was pretty poor. Salary was above average for my skill level, but zero perks. No share options, no flexi-time, and a PRSA pension scheme instead of a real one. I asked about perks only to be told they weren't offering such generous packages at that time. I found this odd as I didn't contact them, they found my details on LinkedIn and approached me. In those circumstances I would have expected some perks to sweeten the deal. I declined the offer.
- a-j-h 8y ago> their new Dublin offices in the old Irish Nationwide building Amazon also have a new build office block on Burlington Road which they are currently moving into.
- anonknowsaguy 8y agoA colleague of mine moved to a senior position in Amazon Dublin about 3 years back. He quit in less than a year after being fed up with the ultra conservative attitudes of the people calling the shots there. He also mentioned they're pretty frugal when it comes to employee perks. Also you had to be on call two weekends a month. But it's a big company so maybe he just had a bad experience.
- 8y ago
- cletus 8y agoOne minor but important correction: some of those companies you mentioned don’t even have a 1 year cliff anymore.
- throwaway84742 8y agoI heard FB starts vesting monthly right away these days, which imo is absolutely the way it should be. Google, take notice.
- mattzito 8y agoGoogle is also doing this now, fwiw.
- throwaway84742 8y agoDidn’t know. Then, Microsoft, take notice. :-)
- freeone3000 8y agoMicrosoft starts vesting immediately at 20% every 6 months. Amazon, take note.
- throwaway84742 8y agoAre you sure? This means the whole grant vests in 2.5 years. Their vesting period used to be much longer than that.
- freeone3000 8y agochecking myrewards, some are on the 20% schedule every 6 months (for 2.5 year for full vest) and some are on the 10% schedule (for 5 year for full vest), and some are on a 5% schedule every 3 months (for 5 year for full vest).
- pc86 8y agoPerhaps it would be better to actually have knowledge about the topics on which you're commenting?
- 8y ago
- skate22 8y agoI know some amazon employees that work in a WeWork office. Free beer & food regularly
- infinitone 8y agoHow do you compare Amazon to Microsoft?