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> Complaining about promotions seems a bit unfair since he was only there for 5 months He has a decade of industry experience, took a new-grad level because he

> Complaining about promotions seems a bit unfair since he was only there for 5 months He has a decade of industry experience, took a new-grad level because he figured he needed to get his foot in the door, and discovered that the promotions process doesn't take his prior experience into account; he might as well not have worked anywhere else at all. The real issue he has with Amazon isn't that it's bureaucratic - that there's a form to fill out for promotion, or that a variety of senior people he needs approval from seem to be fuckwits. His issue is that he wasn't treated as a person. Meetings weren't about getting the benefit of his knowledge and experience, they were about getting people to figure out how to parrot the figures produced by internal monitoring and circumstances in ways which best fit the Amazon Leadership Principles. That ultimately makes people feel like robots, like cogs in the machine. It's deeply alienating and unsatisfying - nobody really wants to work in an environment like that.

rburhum 8y ago
He should not have accepted the job if he wasn't happy with the SDE position in the first place. It would have saved Amazon and him money if he would have been upfront about what he wanted.
- solatic 8y ago
  And I'm sure that he agrees with you now. Recall that the guy moved his wife with him halfway across the globe to Vancouver to get the job, and has to move all the way back again now that he has left it (because of work visa limitations). If you think he didn't spend sleepless nights thinking through the consequences, you're (probably) mistaken. Hindsight is 20/20. The opportunity to make a FAANG salary, even if it requires putting in some time at the lower ranks, is not one to be turned down lightly. The average computer engineering salary in Tel Aviv is somewhere around $85-95k, before (high) taxes, in a city which is the 9th most expensive city on the planet in cost of living, supposedly more expensive than New York. Level aside, $110k guaranteed, before lucrative RSUs, (I presume) lower taxes, lower cost of living... should speak for itself.
  - rburhum 8y ago
    So then you do it like we used to back in the day, where we do our time (at least one year) while you look for a different job. Then your visa does transfer over. Choosing to leave before the one year is up is his fault, too.

rburhum 8y ago

He should not have accepted the job if he wasn't happy with the SDE position in the first place. It would have saved Amazon and him money if he would have been upfront about what he wanted.

solatic 8y ago
And I'm sure that he agrees with you now. Recall that the guy moved his wife with him halfway across the globe to Vancouver to get the job, and has to move all the way back again now that he has left it (because of work visa limitations). If you think he didn't spend sleepless nights thinking through the consequences, you're (probably) mistaken. Hindsight is 20/20. The opportunity to make a FAANG salary, even if it requires putting in some time at the lower ranks, is not one to be turned down lightly. The average computer engineering salary in Tel Aviv is somewhere around $85-95k, before (high) taxes, in a city which is the 9th most expensive city on the planet in cost of living, supposedly more expensive than New York. Level aside, $110k guaranteed, before lucrative RSUs, (I presume) lower taxes, lower cost of living... should speak for itself.
- rburhum 8y ago
  So then you do it like we used to back in the day, where we do our time (at least one year) while you look for a different job. Then your visa does transfer over. Choosing to leave before the one year is up is his fault, too.