I am a fresh Ph.D. student with no experience. I got an offer from Amazon at Seattle for sde 2 position with a total compensation of 230k. Is my offer fair? I don't want to negotiate and look greedy when I am already getting a fair offer.
Wrong! Negotiate. They already knew you were a PhD and they still interviewed you
Always negotiate, but that’s a solid offer.
If TC is calculated without signing bonus, it is good.
This almost certainly includes sign on. Amazon is different since they have back loaded stock vesting with signing bonus to compensate for the first two years.
Oh yeah, now I remember the offer I got. I had singing and anniversary bonuses to compensate slow vesting schedule. Then, I think it is a little low for a fresh PhD (but okay offer to start negotiation).
You got a Ph.D I’m sure you can answer this.
It depends on a lot of things. What's your PhD topic? What school? Did you have other offers?
Just so you know, recently, I was interviewed at Amazon for SDE III role, I have 4.5 YOE. Was offered $255k. I am currently at IBM had an H1B denied last year. Didn’t get picked this year. Just to be on safe side I decided to not leave IBM and rejected their offer. But I am sure, if I were to leave IBM, I would have still negotiated no matter what.
Um, on a side note. Are you on OPT/L1? How did Amazon interview for SDE 3 at 4.5 years experience?
Well, yea I am on OPT. For the second question, I dunno why did they interview. All I know is I said yes when recruiters approached.
I have seen PhD candidates hired as L4 research scientist and paid much less.
I've also heard of 2yoe L3s being hired for more.
There is nothing unfair unless someone is willing to pay you more.
What's the TC break down?
The offer is 130k base + 190k(sign on bonus divided two years) + 200k worth stock option(vested 5% 15% after that 20% each 6 months).
It is a very good L5 offer