I joined Amazon a month ago. It was a big jump from my previous TC and I really wanted to grow as an engineer. So I threw myself into this situation fully expecting I would be grilled for a couple of years. As soon as I joined, I find out my 2 year old is on the autism spectrum. This has put a lot of pressure on us as a family. We had to scurry to figure out therapy centers and so many other things. Most of my time is spent picking and dropping my kid from therapy centers and other eraly childhood centers. Now somehow I got an offer from another tier 2 company where I had interviewed a month ago. This company has great benefits and great WLB apparently. To my surprise they were also willing to match my Amazon TC. It is also aligned with my career trajectory. Should I possibly burn the bridge at Amazon to join this new company? If I do decide to leave Amazon, how should I go about it to not burn bridges? TC before Amazon: 220k TC at Amazon and new company: ~360k
Family and well being comes first.
Who cares about what Tier the company is. If they have better WLB and they’re going to match your pay at Amazon why wouldn’t you leave to be more present for your child/family? This seems like a blessing for your family and you may be overthinking it. Amazon is a company you probably won’t work at forever. Your child will always be your child.
Very true. Thanks!
Family and wellbeing over everything anyday!
These are extenuating circumstances. I think if you are transparent with your Amazon manager that bridge should not be too badly burned (assuming they’re a human being). You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to be there for your family.
That's what I want to believe too but you never know
Health always comes first. If Amazon is willing to support you through this then you can stay. Best way is to discuss with your manager and see what he says. Based off their response to your current family/health situation you can take a call whether to stay or resign. Also, in any company wlb is highly team dependent. Anyone talking about wlb at a company level is just generalising and over simplying things
Since it's only been a month, I honestly don't even know how to ask my manager for support. If I had a better understanding of the domain or the work, I could come up with a concrete plan.
There’s not gonna be a way to guarantee that you don’t burn the bridge. But I will say this. Any manager with a heart should understand the situation and have compassion. If they don’t, you shouldn’t be bothered by whether the bridge with them is intact or not. That being said, is Amazon actually more stressful right now? Or is this a preemptive move based on things you hear on blind etc. it’s equally likely that a more chill place could have incompetent leaders and thus be more stressful. Grass isn’t always greener. Either way I would do what’s best for you and your family no matter what. If you know with some certainty that the WLB is actually better at the new place then 100% go for it.
I'm not completely basing it off of Blind posts. I can totally see how fast they expect us to ramp up here without proper support or guidance. I spike to some co workers about WLB and they all alluded to it being tough.
Makes sense. I would choose family 100% then.
Family first. And that’s a major amount for a “small” company to match! Definitely read the fine print. I think any halfway decent manager would understand you wanting to get out before (potential pip) things really ramp up
It's not a small company for sure. It's just not FAANG level. It's a public company too. So I'm not going to trapped in private equity in this market
Just one thing to note before you leave, have you considered the health care coverage changes? Make sure you’re getting good coverage. It might be better to take FMLA for awhile.
The new company better benefits compared to Amazon. Company pays full insurance premiums for entire family
What’s the WLB difference? Is that really that big? I’m not in favor of burning bridges. People switch jobs after couple of years, it may come with a pay raise, but lead to burnouts IMO. You are not connected to the organization emotionally and basically don’t care. So you get burned. Fine a place , or a department in a place, that you feel like you care about and stick with it. Make sure you are paid market value +. Is Amazon a place like that? If they care then they won’t mind you having better WLB when this happens. I’m all for talking and asking, give them a chance.
how bad is the autism?
It is level 1
o nice! have you considered not doing the therapy with your kid? Or reducing it? Ive been wondering what the long term implications of a kid having a crutch of support is in autism, like other disorders, if the kid uses that as a crutch in early years, they may always use it as a crutch