4 ms·

How many friends do you have who worked for a company more than 5 years? Work for Amazon for 2 years, learn a lot, get paid a lot, move on.

by ses1984 7y ago

philsnow 7y ago
Except the vast majority of your equity award, which itself makes up the vast majority of your total compensation at Amazon as an engineer, vests in your third and fourth years. Your first and second years you vest 5% and 15% (reportedly).
- praneshp 7y ago
  Being an intern is a huge bonus here. My wife got a decent equity grant under the terrible 5/15/../.. plan, but also a 20k cash bonus for each of the first two years for being a returning intern. This makes it very attractive to quit after two years, imo
  - rifung 7y ago
    I don't think you need to be a returning intern to get the cash bonus. At least I got one without being an intern
  - inlined 7y ago
    And yet Facebook offered $50k for retuning interns on their first year. This was 5 years ago when I was an intern manager.
    - praneshp 7y ago
      That's nice! In the time I've been in the industry, fb has generally been considered a better payer than amazon, I think. Would you agree? I was just trying to say that the amazon vesting percentage doesn't adversely affect a returning intern's total first/second year comp.
- mrep 7y ago
  You get cash bonuses the first two years to make up for that so your total comp doesn't actually change that much.
- lawnchair_larry 7y ago
  You get a first and second year signing bonus that is equal to the total comp target that you’d have with your 3rd and 4th year stock, so it’s the same thing.
algaeontoast 7y ago
Amazon benefits are shit and you generally can't negotiate a raise within 2 years. Generally, you're not really off the chopping block until you're an SDEIII or entered as an SDEIII and performed "above the bar" for at least 1.5 years or a requisite number of quarterly reviews.
- ses1984 7y ago
  Shit compared to what? If you think Amazon benefits for software engineers are shit you should check where the surface of your bubble is. There's a big world outside it.
mountainofdeath 7y ago
Amazon does not even pay a lot. It's 80% of everyone at best (yes, including the grossly overweight restricted stock units). Amazon (among others) imports legions of new-graduates and mid-level engineers from oversees on a variety of visas, pays them the local wage but in the US. If you leave the company for any reason, you have something like 7 days to pack up and go home. It's modern indentured servitude.
- barry-cotter 7y ago
  80% of the other FAANG companies is at least double what most developers make, right, at mid career? https://www.levels.fyi/SE/Amazon/Google/Facebook https://www.levels.fyi/SE/Amazon/Google/Facebook has Amazon at 116K, Google we 123K and Facebook at 112K, just cash for all three, not including bonus or stock, for entry level employees. Paying Chinese employees Chinese wages, but in America, would be both hella illegal and very obvious.
  - ses1984 7y ago
    Thank you for pulling out the data. That's a cool site.

How many friends do you have who worked for a company more than 5 years? Work for Amazon for 2 years, learn a lot, get paid a lot, move on.

philsnow 7y ago

Except the vast majority of your equity award, which itself makes up the vast majority of your total compensation at Amazon as an engineer, vests in your third and fourth years. Your first and second years you vest 5% and 15% (reportedly).

praneshp 7y ago
Being an intern is a huge bonus here. My wife got a decent equity grant under the terrible 5/15/../.. plan, but also a 20k cash bonus for each of the first two years for being a returning intern. This makes it very attractive to quit after two years, imo
- rifung 7y ago
  I don't think you need to be a returning intern to get the cash bonus. At least I got one without being an intern
- inlined 7y ago
  And yet Facebook offered $50k for retuning interns on their first year. This was 5 years ago when I was an intern manager.
  - praneshp 7y ago
    That's nice! In the time I've been in the industry, fb has generally been considered a better payer than amazon, I think. Would you agree? I was just trying to say that the amazon vesting percentage doesn't adversely affect a returning intern's total first/second year comp.
mrep 7y ago
You get cash bonuses the first two years to make up for that so your total comp doesn't actually change that much.
lawnchair_larry 7y ago
You get a first and second year signing bonus that is equal to the total comp target that you’d have with your 3rd and 4th year stock, so it’s the same thing.

algaeontoast 7y ago

Amazon benefits are shit and you generally can't negotiate a raise within 2 years. Generally, you're not really off the chopping block until you're an SDEIII or entered as an SDEIII and performed "above the bar" for at least 1.5 years or a requisite number of quarterly reviews.

ses1984 7y ago
Shit compared to what? If you think Amazon benefits for software engineers are shit you should check where the surface of your bubble is. There's a big world outside it.

mountainofdeath 7y ago

Amazon does not even pay a lot. It's 80% of everyone at best (yes, including the grossly overweight restricted stock units). Amazon (among others) imports legions of new-graduates and mid-level engineers from oversees on a variety of visas, pays them the local wage but in the US. If you leave the company for any reason, you have something like 7 days to pack up and go home. It's modern indentured servitude.

barry-cotter 7y ago
80% of the other FAANG companies is at least double what most developers make, right, at mid career? https://www.levels.fyi/SE/Amazon/Google/Facebook https://www.levels.fyi/SE/Amazon/Google/Facebook has Amazon at 116K, Google we 123K and Facebook at 112K, just cash for all three, not including bonus or stock, for entry level employees. Paying Chinese employees Chinese wages, but in America, would be both hella illegal and very obvious.
- ses1984 7y ago
  Thank you for pulling out the data. That's a cool site.