Offer comparison. Amazon/Adobe/Microsoft

Have the following offers. I have 3 years of exp and a masters.
Please help me understand how the offers stand, pros and cons of each.

Amazon research (not scientist and not aws) downlevel from L5 to L4
165k base
Year 1 86k sign on
Year 2 64 sign on
Rsu 60 shares ~ 175k (5/15/40/40)
Tc: 260k Sunnyvale

Microsoft (ads team) l61 -l62 (hasn’t confirmed)
170k base
150k rsu
Year 1 25k
Year 2 25k
Perf 10% avg (20% max)
Tc: 250k Sunnyvale (2years)
225k after

Adobe (ml org)
145k base
300k rsu
Year 1 25k
Perf 10%
Tc: 260k Sanjose
235k afterwards. Possible refreshers

Are these offers good for the location ?
In terms of work, I don’t have a preference of Wlb and mostly want to grow, and work with systems( main reason of downlevel). Although I’ve read some books and practiced a few system design questions, I want to discuss and build systems that solve an ongoing problem in work. Not sure which company in this scenario will help achieve this goal.

Adobe might give good refreshers and being mid sized can show more individual impact and faster promotions. But scale or number of parallel projects might be less which might reduce the pace of learning. And they have the HQ in San Jose, so free gym, some food etc (different experience after Covid times)

Amazon is great for learning, minus the pip culture and might be a useful to join later as an sde 2 solely for money difference as internal promotions are not lucrative for the amount of headache, that the pip culture brings. Also, good to get on resume because no faang experience, adds a positive bias in interviews(sometimes).

Microsoft is good to learn, gives enough time to match the pace with the team and might have better responsibility(if l62 is given). It also has a nice Wlb but not sure if the campus in Bay Area is as good as the Redmond one. Refreshers are less to non existent but compensates by lack of pip culture and security in work. Similar to Amazon, it has a brand name that can be useful in the future.

Amazon and Adobe are both initial level roles and given that I’ve already worked for 3 years as an sde I’m inclined to Microsoft for the extra responsibility and challenges that come at a higher level. However, the low refresher rate, 🥜increments is something concerning especially with the high COL in Bay Area.

I would really appreciate some guidance from folks in the industry, and people who have already worked in these firms.

I would also like to know if there is any scope for negotiation with these offers.

Blind tax:

Tc 220k
Yoe 3yrs

#engineering #software #Adobe #Amazon #Microsoft #machinelearning