I’m trying to decide between Amazon vs Grubhub offers right now, I’d appreciate any insights/perspectives into my dilemma! Here’s my personal pro/con list TC for both companies is the same at ~220k, both are for the NYC location Grubhub: + Higher Title (SWE II) + Higher scope of responsibility + Interesting and high visibility/impactful work, I genuinely think I would be interested in the problems I would be solving (pretty high scalability too, just not at Amazons level) + Better WLB - Big portion of money is locked into stock (yearly vesting, so I have to stay at the company in increments of 1 year to get the full value) - Stock price has been dropping (might be a pro since I would be joining low?) - Name is meh on resume Amazon: + FAANG name on resume + First two year compensation is pretty much all cash (not locked into AMZN stock, financial flexibility means I can live more comfortably, throw more money into ETFs. Most importantly I can leave Amazon whenever I want and not lose out on stock vesting) + Super high scalable work means I'll learn a lot and will gain lots of relevant experience with highly distributed systems (Working on a portion the main Amazon website, so customer facing) - Potentially bad WLB - Lower Title (SWE I, got downleveled) TC: 115k YOE: 3 #Grubhub #Amazon
Without more info, Amazon. Name brand and learning alone is worth it compared to GrubHub imo. That said, your experience at Amazon will be highly dependent on your team, so only go if you clicked with the people on your loop
I think Grubhub isn’t bad when it comes to learning too - the team I would be on deals with pretty high volume (probably the highest at GH), though not quite at Amazons scale. Just comparing the two names, how much more would you value Amazons name on a resume?
I don’t think Amazon’s name is worth much these days. I would say either keep interviewing to land something better or go to GrubHub. Higher scope and good WLB.
What’s your opinion on the Grubhub name? Definitely not top tier, but where would you say it lands in the tier list?
Huh? Having amazon on your resume lands you an interview pretty much anywhere you apply Name value is only low on blind, but not in reality
Grubhub is lit, I declined amazon for it because I didn’t wanna risk the PIP but i was also looking for great WLB. Name wise I also think grubhub isn’t too shabby. Pay difference for me also wasn’t that significant.
How many hours a week would you say you REALLY work? Also is there anything you dislike about grubhub so far?
Ummm like 30 - 35 hours. Sometimes even less. But the work is still good. Good tech stack and decent growth. Obviously I’m not an idiot and saying you shouldn’t keep interviewing because you can get way better offers, but between amazon and grubhub I don’t think it would be that shocking to choose grub, but maybe I’m biased 🤣
When I was at Amazon I’ve given hire decision to two sdes from capital one. Both were only able to clear SDE I bar. One had 3 years there and it was clear he coasted at capOne. He only knew how to compare wlb at both places and say how company sucked. 9 months after his welcome email he was pipd. I looked at his CR history and wiki contribution and it was absolutely justified. The other was a TDP with 1.5 yoe but he kept up with learning for the last 2 years and is now on his way to L5 promo. Choose wisely
9 month PIP? My god that’s impressively bad
I’m a TDP alum, but regardless of my background I definitely plan on working hard at wherever I end up next! Just not hard enough to cause any mental stress 😅 I feel like working hard would get me promoted in a year at Grubhub, whereas it would still take me 2 years at Amazon. What are your thoughts on promotion speed at Amazon?
Wouldn’t worry too much about names. Ex-colleagues went to G, F, Amazon, Netflix, Instacart, Airbnb, Mongo, Spotify….etc., I personally know all of them so these aren’t just rumors. I’ve personally done interviews from similar companies and some HFTs, so again, name is not bad at all. Learning is good here, especially with people quitting, plenty of vacancies up there, scope is likely bigger. Given that the Amazon offer is for SDE 1 I’d not take it, sets you back too much. I’d either take GH or keep interviewing. Congrats on your offers.
Thanks for the perspective! Do you mind sharing a bit about your GH experience (how many hours you REALLY work, rough TC and YOE) and if there’s anything you don’t like about GH?
35 hours ish, varies between 25 to 45, disclosing my YOE and comp may expose myself, I will say that YOE is not far away from yours, comp is quite a bit lower than your offer because I joined way earlier, awaiting the supposed “adjustment” that’ll happen in 2 weeks, which is supposed to at least bump old timers’ comp to new hires’ levels, may leave if it turns out to be a huge disappointment. What I don’t like about GH is my comp, otherwise I like my colleagues, WLB, learnings and career development. Edit: Btw ymmv but I feel that if you join us for a year then re-interview at Amazon you’ll likely get an SDE-2 or 3 and a much higher offer. They’re always hiring.
Hi congrats on your offers! Would you mind sharing your prep for coding and sys. design? Were most of your coding questions medium difficulty? Thank you in advance.
I was in the exact same boat as you. Had SDE I from Amazon and SDE II from GrubHub, both remote. GH actually beat my Amazon offer by 15k. I picked GH (joining next month). Here was my thinking: -> I don’t want to be downleveled. -> AWS is pretty brutal, would have to work really hard for a promo and internal promo won’t get me as much as L5 new hire. -> Amazon has brand value on resume but I’ve cracked it once and I can crack it again in the future. -> GH has the culture, WLB, learning env, growth opportunity I’m looking for. -> every person I spoke to from GH was fantastic (smart and kind) and genuinely happy to work there (comp for older folks aside which I hope gets fixed like others are saying).
Woah great to hear from someone who was in the same situation! Do you mind sharing your GH TC? I can DM you if you don’t want to share publicly
Yes you can dm me!
FAANG recruiters reach out to me all the time. I don’t think the Amazon name will make a huge difference for getting an interview. WLB at GrubHub is really good. We recently switched to a 4.5 day work week. Fridays end at 1 PM local time now, and the office is closed that day. Whenever the offices do reopen, you’ll only need to go in 2 days per week. Regarding the low stock, to me it seems like a good time to get stock based pay in general, because the market as a whole is down, so there’s naturally room for it to go up. (Obviously no guarantees with stock). But long term I don’t think GrubHub can compete with Amazon on pay unless you grow way faster here. Your ceiling is probably higher there. And sorry don’t want to reveal level/TC on here.
I agree with everyone from GrubHub here. Also notice how there aren't too many good comments from Amazon employees. Frankly a lower level is not a problem, but considering that you were aiming for sde2, you might as well take GH or just keep interviewing. The offer you received for NYC is quite good. I've seen way lower even recently.
You’ll learn more at amazon but 3 YOE and SDEI is rough, because it’ll likely be 2 years to SDEII
Agreed, it felt really bad being downleveled since it feels like it sets me back 2ish years :(