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Paradoxically, I think Amazon has been able to get away with this because their stock is doing well. When your stock is going up 10%-30% per year, people will p

Paradoxically, I think Amazon has been able to get away with this because their stock is doing well. When your stock is going up 10%-30% per year, people will put up with a lot (my new grad offer there 10+ years ago is worth $500k/year now). I really do think that if they have a few down years, they'll have an incredibly hard time with retention and hiring.

aynyc 5y ago
The question I have is this, is amazon doing well because of this? Or in spite of this?
- chii 5y ago
  a positive feedback loop. High pay attracts talents, which if utilized properly, will produce higher profits, which in turn, can afford higher pay.
- mindvirus 5y ago
  I think both. But what I do think is that they've leaned heavily on this flywheel, and if it stops it'll be very hard to get it going again. I could see most people sticking around Google or even Facebook for a few years of downward stock, but there not so much.
u678u 5y ago
Same for most of tech. My friends in finance are working for banks where the stock is lower than 10 even 20 years ago. Completely different attitude.
MuffinFlavored 5y ago
> my new grad offer there 10+ years ago is worth $500k/year now Are you saying in 2021 new graduates out of college with bachelor degrees in computer science are being offered $160k/salary + $340k in stock grants at Amazon?
- mindvirus 5y ago
  No, I'm saying 10ish years ago, my offer was about $85k/year + $50k of stock over 4 years - at around $90/share. Now at over $3400/share, that stock would be worth $1.75 million today. The point being that anyone who joined Amazon saw massive growth in income, which I think means they didn't have to figure out morale or career growth or even compensation strategies, since everyone (software engineers at least) was getting rich.
- benmller313 5y ago
  No, he's not. He's saying the stock award, had he vested it all and not sold it, would have been worth 500k per year because of how much the stock has gone up. New grads at amazon make 100 - 120k + 30-60k of stock or bonuses per year.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

aynyc 5y ago

The question I have is this, is amazon doing well because of this? Or in spite of this?

chii 5y ago
a positive feedback loop. High pay attracts talents, which if utilized properly, will produce higher profits, which in turn, can afford higher pay.
mindvirus 5y ago
I think both. But what I do think is that they've leaned heavily on this flywheel, and if it stops it'll be very hard to get it going again. I could see most people sticking around Google or even Facebook for a few years of downward stock, but there not so much.

u678u 5y ago

Same for most of tech. My friends in finance are working for banks where the stock is lower than 10 even 20 years ago. Completely different attitude.

MuffinFlavored 5y ago

> my new grad offer there 10+ years ago is worth $500k/year now Are you saying in 2021 new graduates out of college with bachelor degrees in computer science are being offered $160k/salary + $340k in stock grants at Amazon?

mindvirus 5y ago
No, I'm saying 10ish years ago, my offer was about $85k/year + $50k of stock over 4 years - at around $90/share. Now at over $3400/share, that stock would be worth $1.75 million today. The point being that anyone who joined Amazon saw massive growth in income, which I think means they didn't have to figure out morale or career growth or even compensation strategies, since everyone (software engineers at least) was getting rich.
benmller313 5y ago
No, he's not. He's saying the stock award, had he vested it all and not sold it, would have been worth 500k per year because of how much the stock has gone up. New grads at amazon make 100 - 120k + 30-60k of stock or bonuses per year.
deleted 5y ago
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