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Always amused on Blind about people posting leaving Microsoft for Amazon because TC is the only thing folks seem to focus on there. I've known dozens of Amazon

Always amused on Blind about people posting leaving Microsoft for Amazon because TC is the only thing folks seem to focus on there. I've known dozens of Amazon engineers and I've never met one that was happy.

mynameisash 4y ago
At the risk of sounding the "+1" bell... I left Amazon due to it being a total shit show (for me and my mental well-being but also for the team I was on). Went to Microsoft and found it to be absolutely wonderful. I was working at 6pm one day and my manager, as he was leaving, chided me and said, "Go home to your family. Work will be here in the morning." I have had friends/colleagues leave to go to Amazon for the TC. One even tried to get me to go over there for a PE role that likely would have meant a huge pay increase. But I value my sanity and have no plans to go back there ever.
- manfre 4y ago
  > my manager, as he was leaving, chided me and said, "Go home to your family. Work will be here in the morning." You had (have) a good manager. A manager who actively cares about the work life balance of their team is more valuable than a huge chunk of TC.
  - trobertson 4y ago
    I've been working at Microsoft (in the Office org) for a bit over three years now and this managerial attitude is very common. I'd go so far as to say that managers making sure their reports have a good work life balance is standard. It comes with the age of the company. Unlike start-up land, loads of people in Microsoft have families and kids, and value their family more than they value work. It's normal to leave work on time, and it's concerning if someone stays late.
- tmaly 4y ago
  How long have you been at Microsoft?
  - mynameisash 4y ago
    Almost 10 years.
phillipcarter 4y ago
The Microsoft boomerang is very common. Leave, get some better pay elsewhere, then come back and get hired into the level you feel that you should have been promoted into internally (with more pay).
Justsignedup 4y ago
Spoke to an Amazon sr engineer a week ago. "its incredibly high pressure and demanding, but worth it" The money is the drive. And I worry about going for a money job that I hate because getting used to the lifestyle will mean it is that much harder to leave. I am already in that boat where leaving my current job basically means a pay cut or going to a FAANG. It is very limiting especially with family pressure.
- cvhashim 4y ago
  Plenty of companies that pay well and have a good wlb not named Amazon
- FooBarBizBazz 4y ago
  In my experience, "incredibly high pressure and demanding" is code for: - Hacky code with quick turn around times. - Lots of reporting and CYA. - Very conservative behavior (nobody's going to go out on a limb to write something new because they're too busy churning through those "high pressure" Jira tickets). In the long run you just have an army of engineers, their backs whipped raw, toiling frantically at a mountain of tech debt.
zeruch 4y ago
TC seems to be the only focus on Blind. It's almost laughable, but I suspect the demographics on it skew very early stage career/young. And yes, I've met two people who worked at AWS and liked it, essentially because they were hyper-specialized and had the rare cushy gig there. Everyone else loathed it within months, and no one lasted longer than a few years because AWS squeezes out 'productivity' with everything short of rusty pliers.

mynameisash 4y ago

At the risk of sounding the "+1" bell... I left Amazon due to it being a total shit show (for me and my mental well-being but also for the team I was on). Went to Microsoft and found it to be absolutely wonderful. I was working at 6pm one day and my manager, as he was leaving, chided me and said, "Go home to your family. Work will be here in the morning." I have had friends/colleagues leave to go to Amazon for the TC. One even tried to get me to go over there for a PE role that likely would have meant a huge pay increase. But I value my sanity and have no plans to go back there ever.

manfre 4y ago
> my manager, as he was leaving, chided me and said, "Go home to your family. Work will be here in the morning." You had (have) a good manager. A manager who actively cares about the work life balance of their team is more valuable than a huge chunk of TC.
- trobertson 4y ago
  I've been working at Microsoft (in the Office org) for a bit over three years now and this managerial attitude is very common. I'd go so far as to say that managers making sure their reports have a good work life balance is standard. It comes with the age of the company. Unlike start-up land, loads of people in Microsoft have families and kids, and value their family more than they value work. It's normal to leave work on time, and it's concerning if someone stays late.
tmaly 4y ago
How long have you been at Microsoft?
- mynameisash 4y ago
  Almost 10 years.

phillipcarter 4y ago

The Microsoft boomerang is very common. Leave, get some better pay elsewhere, then come back and get hired into the level you feel that you should have been promoted into internally (with more pay).

Justsignedup 4y ago

Spoke to an Amazon sr engineer a week ago. "its incredibly high pressure and demanding, but worth it" The money is the drive. And I worry about going for a money job that I hate because getting used to the lifestyle will mean it is that much harder to leave. I am already in that boat where leaving my current job basically means a pay cut or going to a FAANG. It is very limiting especially with family pressure.

cvhashim 4y ago
Plenty of companies that pay well and have a good wlb not named Amazon
FooBarBizBazz 4y ago
In my experience, "incredibly high pressure and demanding" is code for: - Hacky code with quick turn around times. - Lots of reporting and CYA. - Very conservative behavior (nobody's going to go out on a limb to write something new because they're too busy churning through those "high pressure" Jira tickets). In the long run you just have an army of engineers, their backs whipped raw, toiling frantically at a mountain of tech debt.

zeruch 4y ago

TC seems to be the only focus on Blind. It's almost laughable, but I suspect the demographics on it skew very early stage career/young. And yes, I've met two people who worked at AWS and liked it, essentially because they were hyper-specialized and had the rare cushy gig there. Everyone else loathed it within months, and no one lasted longer than a few years because AWS squeezes out 'productivity' with everything short of rusty pliers.