EDIT: I went back to finance, I now earn $580k. FU Amazon Did I get tricked? Is terrible TC normal for London? Should I give up with FAANG? Would like to be able own my home and retire before 80, what should I do? Interviewed for L7 SDE in London, downleveled to L6 due to "lack of breadth of experience" - this was the only feedback (however, everyone I interviewed with was over 45 so I'm guessing that being in my 30's was the real issue). Passed E6 interview at Google and Facebook but no suitable roles in London (I've no interest in SRE or production engineering though understand why it's important and know people who love it). Took them 2 months to finally make an offer. Really annoying process. Kept on trying to get me to say the minimum I would accept (tried this 5/6 times). After making an offer they absolutely refused to negotiate on anything, was told that another offer "would be lower than this". 1 year Base: $135K, Sign on: $89k, stock $10k = Total: $230k. 2 year and beyond goes down by 15% unless stock appreciates (which it has recently so some bright side) Was told that I was "one of the top 10 highest paid L6 engineers in London". Is this true? Awful pension scheme (employer match up to 5% only). They also pass on employer NIC Tax to the employee meaning that a stock grant is reduced by a further 10% (on top of normal income taxes which in the UK are mostly at 50%). No free bananas and cannot take the dogs into the London office. Can't understand why anyone works here. Manager says there is no hope for promotion in the next 2 years. Accepted as nothing else suitable. Not really learning anything new in the team which I couldn't learn in my free time. So much bureaucracy, writing of docs and "leadership principles" to get anything done. Thinking of giving up with FAANG and going back to work in finance, where I used to be paid $350k, was extremely good at my job, but didn't play the political game, became burnt out due to working 85 hour weeks, commuting 3 hours a day and never seeing daylight or my kids. Moving to the west coast isn't an option. I think I can find a 9-5 finance job which pays similar as before... YOE: 12 TC: $230k (L6 SDE London) #offer #tech #amazon #finance
No, definitely aim to get into fang.
Woosh Try that url in your browser.
Spooky
Offer is good for l6 sde.
But for someone who should get an L7 offer, it’s dogshit.
My friend joined Amazon L6 London not too long ago, similar YOE to you and $230k is indeed high. Why in USD though? L7s in London are reserved for older folks, seriously I think they have an age requirement. And honestly don’t dream about getting to L7 within 4 years. WLB is not too bad though.
You passed 6 at G and FB and ignored it? FB has loads of roles E6+ outside of production engineering in London. Your L6 offer looks normal (close do 180k GBP tc) but could go a bit higher. You could get almost twice that at E6 at FB.
Fuck amazon
Damn , compared to USA your leaving soooo much money on the table This isn’t high even for l5 in the states... Is the col in London (not middle of nowhere) really 30-40% lower than big cities in the us? I doubt it. (Before there will be doubt - I lived outside the us and have many friends in uk and eu)
Not OP but it’s definitely not. I *think* these decisions are based on what the market will pay not cost of living and while London is expensive it’s not a tech city it’s a banking/finance one so the market rate for SDE is low
The CoL in London is *higher* than San Francisco. And this offer is taxed at 50% overall, instead of about the <25% you'd pay in America using smart tax strategies (the options trick for RSUs, royalty income depletion for salary) plus the LTCG tax for your stock grants. So the offer is a full quarter lower in take-home pay. That's what leftist policies get you. Low salaries slashed further by high taxes in cities with extremely high CoL sustained and subsidized by those taxes for low performers at life. But you get mediocre free healthcare with long waits to make up for it! Great trade.
Its the retire before 80 for me
You dropped your ✨
You should take the FB or G and transfer teams. Amazon is low balling, and you should be aware L6 at Amazon means you're downleveling
^ This. FB and G L6 is Amazon L7.