Hey, Blind fam! I got 2 offers, luckily I also survived layoffs at Indeed. However, I have lost confidence in SLT here, it seems they gaslight a lot. I have a few options below, help me decide. Indeed has the best work-life balance, although my time here has been chaotic, with multiple reorgs, and 2 rounds of layoffs, the morale is just very low. They are also very sensitive to interest rates, so if a real recession hits, then they will have more layoffs. Plus, you never know if you will be on the chopping block here. AWS Team is one of the core teams working on serving gen ai workloads, it will be safe from layoffs. I don't mind working for Amazon, I am sure I can navigate my way around there. OCI is building a new service from scratch. I liked the team. I think it will be a good learning opportunity. There are a ton of negative Blind reviews for OCI, although, I think it will be a good learning opportunity nonetheless. Since it is a new team, they do not have oncall.
330k base in Bay is equivalent to 250k in Seattle
By switching to either company you’d basically be taking a pay cut next year. 330k is worth more in Seattle (indeed) than it is in California (aws). And OCI is 306 in Seattle next year. Do you care if you take a pay cut to switch companies?
I know, I am taking a pay cut. There is also a possibility of getting another 100k refresher at Indeed, which will further increase my salary to 350K, next year. Although, as I mentioned before, I have zero confidence in SLT here. I am pretty sure there will be another round of layoffs here. The second thing with the current TC is the stock bump, the stock rallied after layoffs, so my TC increased. I am thinking of prioritizing learning for now. Eventually, if the market recovers, I will jump back to greener postures, but no one is negotiating right now. All the offers are take it or leave it :(
It looks like a case of if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Something to definitely ponder on, however, I gave it a good thought and came to this conclusion that it is better to switch :)
This is the least exciting kind of change. Changing a job is a big deal, one wants to get excited inspired, either for money or the company or the work. In your case money drops, neither company is a fresh breath of air. So if you must, then go for the more interesting work.
Go to indeed, bright future ahead
I am already here and the future is not looking bright at all my mate
just gotta get out just gotta get right outta here
Ignore what non indeedians are saying. I would say it's okay to take a pay cut. In return you get the opportunity to focus on actual work rather than just worrying about the next layoffs/reorg. People who don't know about Indeed. Culture has gone shit. SLT has been exposed. They have no product vision. Just a single product which they can't milk further for growth. They can't do a reorg properly forget about product vision from them. Only way to pump stock is regular layoffs which is also logical as there is redundant headcount with no new initiatives. ValueAct will push for more layoffs in future. And to save severance money they are forcing attrition by intentionally destroying the culture. Just before recent layoffs, SLT was enjoying some onsites
In India i stick with Indeed even i was having same salary offer from Amazon, as SWE layoffs in Indeed India only targeted low performance also most of the teams were not impacted by re-orgs. But USA case is different, layoffs criteria is becoming random and teams may get trimmed irrespective of the performance. AWS may be a good choice, but you will need a thick skin to navigate, it’s Amazon, lot of operation load and toxicity in other forms, you will be expected do everything. OCI: I am not sure, but if you are joining a new team be careful as new teams are easy to shut. Your learning opportunity may not be a good idea, AWS may be better suited for learning things.
Worked at OCI on a greenfield project then moved to Indeed. You will definitely learn a lot more at OCI then you will at Indeed. But the pace will be very fast and if you aren’t a top performer you won’t get any extra bonus or refresher
Your indeed offer seems super high relative to levels.fyi - are you L2-II?
Please state yoe too
YOE - 5.5