AMZ SDE III engineers who’ve lasted 2 years or more : Please tell me why you took the role

Apple / Eng
Schneider

Go to company page Apple Eng

Schneider
Dec 1, 2018 56 Comments

AMZ doesn’t really have the best impression to outsiders, due to its screwed up vesting schedule, sub par facilities and benefits and lastly, base cap.
I’m being relentlessly targeted by AZ recruiters these days (multiple ones in single week), and though I’ve been shooting them all down, I can’t help wondering what drives people to accept their offer knowing all the shortcomings.
Please share your thought process that led to applying and accepting the role, and how did your impressions change after being in the job for 2+ years.

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TOP 56 Comments
  • Google
    🌈⚡️🌈⚡️

    Go to company page Google

    🌈⚡️🌈⚡️
    they got rejected from microsoft apple google fb and other companies that are better
    Dec 1, 2018 20
  • Apple / Eng
    Schneider

    Go to company page Apple Eng

    Schneider
    OP
    Also, I know a very skilled (I mean world class skilled - fewer than 10 ppl in the world have equivalent skills) engineer who moved there, so something must be appealing there that I’m missing
    Dec 1, 2018 16
    • Amazon / Mgmt
      Seattle111

      Go to company page Amazon Mgmt

      Seattle111
      Correct the Amazon signing bonus especially for higher roles is significantly higher than other companies. I’m talking 10x vs Google.
      Dec 1, 2018
    • Apple
      Sharingan

      Go to company page Apple

      Sharingan
      Given sign on is generally 50k or more for senior engineers, 10x is likely an exaggeration, more like 4-5x. Comp aside, amazon does have some great tech, especially server side.
      Dec 2, 2018
  • Amazon / Eng
    L6SDE

    Go to company page Amazon Eng

    L6SDE
    I like it here because the environment is set up to allow me to get stuff in front of customers regularly and quickly.
    Dec 1, 2018 4
  • Team matters. It’s better to work on some cutting edge technology for Amazon, instead of some no name internal plugin for Google
    Dec 1, 2018 6
    • Amazon / Mgmt
      Seattle111

      Go to company page Amazon Mgmt

      Seattle111
      Because it’s Google, duh. And managers are people too. We like to manage and set direction for cutting edge products just like the people we manage.
      Dec 1, 2018
    • AirBnb and MSFT, not exactly. Lots of things could happen. There may not be any opening in the best team, or the boring team just pay better and you need paycheck, or you are just a new grad who doesn’t have much experiences yet, or you learned some new skills and get offers from both AMZN and GOOGLE but one of them is not relevant to the new skills, etc. There’re just some many possibilities in this world and your career path will never be exactly same with someone else. BTW, MSFT cutting edge tech is not just AWS, and there’re always some AWS team works on non duct taping part. Don’t be so mad about yourself just because you stuck in some dumb role and team forever. You always have opportunities to change.
      Dec 2, 2018
  • eBay
    ckhnx

    Go to company page eBay

    ckhnx
    At any rate Jeff bezos is better than Tim cuck so I don’t even think you are in a position to question who goes to Amazon
    Dec 1, 2018 3
    • Google / R&D
      screwdriver

      Go to company page Google R&D

      screwdriver
      Does not matter unless yourself is CEO
      Dec 1, 2018
    • Apple / Eng
      Schneider

      Go to company page Apple Eng

      Schneider
      OP
      @ebay - that’s kindergarten logic (my daddy strongest etc), except it’s sadder since it’s not even “your daddy” (pop quiz - who is the ceo of eBay?) in question - I hope your benefits include free Employee Assistance Program for counseling
      Dec 2, 2018