IBM research, Amazon or NVIDIA
Need help evaluating and choosing between these offers. Ph.D. 1 YOE. What do you advise? Good pay, work-life balance, and future career growth are equally important to me. Pls leave a comment and fill the poll also. #aws #nvidia #ibm IBM Research: Research Staff member Base: 185K || Sign on: 30K ||Stock: 0 || Location: Upstate NewYork AWS: SDE2, L5 Base: 154K || Sign on: 103K || Stock: 240K || Location: Virginia NVIDIA: Performance Engr, IC3 Base: 171K || Sign on: 15K || Stock: 265K || Location: Santa Clara
I worked at IBM Research in California a long time ago. And the WLB is fantastic. Also the quality of people I worked with was just amazing - not sure if that is still the case. A lot of my then colleagues moved to Google and other FAANGs. But career growth is slow and now sure if the pay will grow as quickly as the other 2. Amazon - don't really expect WLB (there could be a few teams which are an exception but it's not the norm). You can grow quickly till L6 (SDE3) and progression beyond that will depend on factors outside your control.
Amazon is offering the most by far considering the cost of living in VA. OTOH, it’s Amazon...
AWS because having lived in both VA and CA you will save 1/3 more money living in VA. NIVDIA is very promising though but if you're looking at an average tenure of 3 to 5 years I'd go with Amazon
Thanks guys. It seems that in terms of compesation and knowledge Amazon may be better. But for WLB, may be IBM. However, most people on the poll are going with NVIDIA. Can anyone give the reasons why?
I think because it has the best growth potential and security. Amazon has a lot of negative work culture attached to it
OP, are you looking for an industrial research role or engineering? What kind of growth are you hoping for? You didn't say if amazon and nvidia are research roles. If they aren't, your choice isn't between the 3 offers. You should first figure out jf you want to stay in research or not. Whatever answer will leave you with fewer options.
My goal is to get into a technical director level leadership position as fast as possible. I am open to which ever will get me there faster. The Amazon and NVIDIA positions don't have the research title. But will involve new product/service prototyping like the IBM. Might be able to publish a few papers more with the IBM though.
Getting to director at IBM Research will take longer than Amazon for sure. And the scope of work is also very different as a director in IBM Research vs Amazon / NVIDIA. The commerical pressure is low to non existent at IBM where as it will be very high in the other two.
Ask if there's an applied scientist or research scientist role at Amazon. I've seen several people hired in as SDE that really should have been in a science role, then it takes them a while to get transferred over. Sounds more like what you're looking for.
Applied/ Research Scientists barely make Director and looks like that is what OP wants
I mean, most SDEs won't become directors either. Given that there are far fewer scientists than SDEs to start, is the proportion that make director less? I know of several science guys who've been in research director roles.
You will learn the most at Amazon but also consider location and what job you will enjoy most.
I think this is just a standard belief among Amazon employees but not really true. The learning at IBM Research and NVIDIA will be equally high but different.