Hi All, Please help me decide between the two offers. Amazon - L4 SDE-1, Alexa Smart Home, India Base: 22 LPA JB: 7 LPA first year + 7 LPA second year RSU: 7 units (5-15-40-40) Relocation: 1.5 LPA Microsoft - L60, India Base: 22 LPA JB: 4 LPA RSU: 50k USD (25% per year) Relocation: 3.86 LPA Annual Bonus: 0-20% (10% for avg performer) of base I am leaning towards Microsoft as I have gone through a few bad phases of anxiety and self-doubt in the past year or so, hence would like to have some time aside from the job to work on myself, improve my software engineering skills, and work on a few side projects to have some clarity on how I would like to progress in my career. From general consensus, I might get less time to do so at Amazon. However, I would like to know from you guys whether this would be a good move, as some may suggest to join Amazon early in the career. YOE: 1.9 Current TC: 20 LPA (including base, bonus and stock) Points to consider: • Have heard very mixed opinions about Alexa org. • Amazon PIP and WLB. • Cannot negotiate further, these are the final offers. • Amazon recruiter said that I will be eligible for SDE-2 promotion in 6 months. But, have heard that it may still take me 2 more years in general to become SDE-2. • Have accepted Amazon offer a few weeks ago, and got MS offer recently. The Amazon joining date however is still more than a month away. #engineering #software #swe
Is this Amazon Pune? I heard good stuff about Pune Alexa.
Bangalore. Team is US-based, they are seeding out a new team in Bangalore
Have no idea about Alexa org. You can change teams on day 1 if you want. Yes, you'll be eligible for promo in 6 months, but can take 2 yrs as well. In general, promos, good work, growth as an engineer at Amazon are looot better/faster than MS. In general, WLB, chill, benefits are looot better at MS than Amazon. I personally would avoid MS (non-Azure) unless I have decided to retire - but people differ. I haven't gone through mentally hard time as yours, but I can empathise with you. Figure out your priorities first and then decide. Also, pay would be *significantly* better at Amazon, at every level, infact the difference would grow a lot as you up-level. Something to think about since you would anyways be aiming for L5. Ignore PIP - too much noise on blind, not that common at all. WLB is definitely a concern, varies greatly across different orgs - I personally don't work more than 4-5 hours a day (and that's actually butt-in time, I work way less lol) but know teams where people work 10. Very hard to say anything, I have no idea about Alexa org. I have given you decent info. Make your own decision now - list the things you value the most, and understand the tradeoffs well.
Thanks for the detailed info. Personally, I would like to have an year or two of good WLB to improve upon myself. But have concerns on whether it would be a good move to prefer WLB early in the career, plus there is always the risk of missing out on good growth/learning opportunities.
If things don't work out well at MS, I would want to apply for SDE-2 roles after an year or two at Amazon/other companies. However, I can just hope that I don't get blacklisted if I reject the Amazon offer after accepting.
From your post it seems you need wlb, hence microsoft.
Hi, did you negotiated with Microsoft for this offer?
No, this was their initial offer. Tried to negotiate, but recruiter said this is the max they can offer.
How long does it take them to send you an offer after your last rounds of interviews?
Talk to the hiring manager.. go with the person whom you feel comfortable with.
Go for MS. All benefits and WLB aside, your 1st year TC is much better at MS! That's rare. Also, you can probably negotiate a couple more lacs in JB using your Amazon offer. There's no harm in trying, they won't rescind the offer for this. As someone else mentioned not all teams are bad at Amazon, but there is a high number. Given your mental health, there's no point in taking this risk for less money! I took this risk and although it turned out well for me, all the worrying (of the risk) did affect my mental health.
A lot of people say not all teams are bad, that blind is a bit biased against Amazon and I agree with this, it depends on team and manager/ skip manager. Although one thing these people fail to mention is that learning is also team dependent. There are teams where Ops load is so high, most people spend their time putting out fires.
why dont these people change teams? If you are ok to deal with bad work, might as well go to a team with low ops and good wlb
Microsoft looks better if you consider all aspects. Just wanted to ask how much time Microsoft took to roll out offer letter after verbal confirmation?
Thanks. I had received the offer letter after 4 days of offer confirmation.