I was L6 at Amazon and joined Meta as an E5 with ~700k initial grant at ~300 price. Since then my TC has more than halved but overall I enjoy working at Meta more than Amazon. I have an option now to return back to Amazon to the same org for the same L6 level but am also on the verge of being promoted to E6 at Meta, maybe even this cycle. I don't have Amazon offer in hand yet, still need to do the full loop but I know everyone in leadership in that org and have been a top performer and can still LC real well so am very confident in passing if I do interview, ofc would have to spend some time preparing. I really don't know what to do here, the main pro of Amazon is that they would give me a new stock grant at current price. On the other hand getting E6 promo at Meta seems like an overall better career move then essentially reverting back to my old job. Both companies had layoffs already and might have more so I can't say one feels more secure than the other.
It is a hiring freeze and probably nobody is going to grant huge sign up bonuses for a while
I haven't received a signup bonus even when joining Amazon before COVID. What I meant was I would get a new stock grant at the current rate. According to levels.fyi the L6 offers are still nice
How long has it been since you left? If it’s less than 2 years I wouldn’t do it if I were you. Makes it seem like all you care about is $$. Even if that’s true with most people, there is a facade that people care about the company, it’s mission values and the team.
It has been slightly over 2 years. I do care about $$$ a lot, especially with inflation so high. I left Amazon because they couldn't do anything about my cliff after 4 years. My former manager understood my logic 100% since my FB offer was almost 2x TC after the Amazon cliff.
Nobody cares about this facade while hiring at L6.
Which role/work and culture you enjoy the most? Money is definitely factor but whichever gives you more peace and wlb pursue that as other things like stock price, layoffs etc is outside your control.
I liked the role at Amazon more, L6 is much rarer there than E5 here and I was always leading at least 5 people on a project. However my ass was on fire all the time. At Meta it is way more chill, but I am honestly doing absolute BS now. The WLB is much better, I can basically just not turn the laptop on some days, not too frequently ofc, and it is still stressful but nothing compared to Amazon. I really hate the PSC culture though, where everyone is trying to lead everyone else for that sweet Direction axis. I think best case would be joining Google perhaps as something in between the two, but they are not replying to my applications so that sucks :(
So you have a great WLB and do not turn on your laptop during the day sometimes and yet believe you are close to E6 promo. I probably work in some other company.
I'd personally stay, if I like the place more, especially considering the potential promo to E6. L7 promo would be harder anyway. If you only care about TC, maybe get the numbers from Amazon first and then compare
The problem with staying and promo is that the TC bump is negligible and the new stock grant is spread over 4 years again. Roughly staying with promo will be extra 50k TC at most. Leaving for Amazon according to levels.fyi would be a 100k TC bump immediately and then much more if the stocks recover to precovid levels.
Based on what you shared below, that it might be awkward to interview and not accept because of the offer, maybe you could discuss the compensation beforehand?
Get the offer first since your primary motivation to go back seems to be money. E6 pay bump at meta would be good too. Only when you have both numbers would it be the right time to make that decision
The problem is it might be really awkward for me to interview and then not take the offer because of the numbers. I would likely be interviewed by some former peers and know the hiring manager personally.
I understand that… Be honest with your amazon manager about your compensation expectations before you interview. Because that’s the only reason you would go. Unlike many here, you are actually happy at Meta. So your reasons to go back are different. My friend just had the same situation. He joined meta from amazon with a huge pay bump (when meta stock was 300+). Now it didn’t make sense for him to stay and he got his old manager at amazon to bring him back with a comparable compensation and hopes of a amazon stock revival in the future. He got back into amazon around 90$. He is going to make a windfall eventually
Amazon team has hc?
dont look for short term stock grants, getting to e6 at meta is a much better option long term. It's much harder to go to L7 in amazon. In fact I got the same offer to come back as L6 at Amazon too couple of months back, though I refused.
Do you think going from E6 to L7 at Amazon is possible? The whole point of getting E6 here potentially would be to get a higher level somewhere else. And I am not sure if people did E6 ➡️ L7 moves much
There are no L7+ external postings at Amazon. Unless someone at Amazon wants you at L7 level, joining at L7 is not possible
Stay. Here is hell.
If you enjoy your current job and company, why would you look for something else. Stay and enjoy it.
Maybe wait a month lol
What will happen in a month? I'm not sure I can stall this much since, like I said, it's a very specific role in a specific org and if they fill it I will likely just have to interview for a random team.
You need to read the WSJ article