When does Amazon's compensation overtake Microsoft's?
Amazon's TC for new grad SDEs is about $135k while Microsoft's offers seem to be in the range of $160-180k. It's a pretty big gap and it gets even bigger if you take benefits like 401k match and tuition reimbursement into account. However, the consensus seems to be that Microsoft underpays its senior devs. So, at what level does Amazon's compensation become more desirable?
New grad offer is that much at msft? I knew some sr sdes there making less than 200k ;(
Well, the offers I've seen for new grads are $108k salary, 25k signing, 5k relocation, and $120k stocks over 3.5 years. Plus, a target 10% annual performance bonus.
Relocation doesn’t count. All the big tech companies do that. It’s also much more than $5k usually.
L6
L6 is da correct answer.
So, does that mean that Amazon's comp is uncompetitive for junior engineers? Is it better for a new grad to join Microsoft and then jump ship down the line?
Yes, for average employees, TC is much higher in other companies.. this is Amazon's hiring philosophy.. once someone reaches to L6 (which is also terminal level) then only it gets better.. at that point Amazon pays really good and TC is higher than most of the companies
I really don’t believe your numbers for MS here. Your numbers for AMZN is a few thousand low too. Are you sure you’re not comparing SF to SEA comp?
My numbers are based on the salary sharing thread on /r/cscareerquestions. Fhe MSFT numbers were reported for Redmond. The typical offer is 108k salary, 25k signing, 120k stocks over 3.5 years. That's 167k for the first year. Add on another 10k for the performance bonus. MSFT is also open to negotiating new grad salaries unlike Amazon. The numbers for Amazon are 106k salary, 35.5k signing/relocation for the first year, and 65k stocks vested at 5/15/40/40. If you don't count the 10k relocation, that works out to $135k.
I still don’t believe the msft numbers, maybe that’s after negotiating. The number is really high, even for FB or G new grads. Also note that the second year according to this is that TC would drop the second year due to no sign on bonus however at least AMZN offer bonus for two years, pretty sure MS does too. Once sign on bonus is gone you’ll be making more at AMZN either way.
L8
How are stock distributed during annual performance period at Amazon? At Microsoft pretty much every engineer (80-90%?) gets rewarded some stock and cash bonus. If you were average at Amazon how much do they reward you?
Nada
Very very dependent on performance if you’re just average they give you average stock and it doesn’t go up during performance reviews etc so it pays to work hard
Looks like we have a push where we want new grads who are more malleable to new tech and are talented. Which IMO is a good thing. I've seen some pretty great new grads in my org so far. It sucks for the long timers like L64s though because it's a big fuck you and an indirect signal to start looking elsewhere for better pay
It’s $145k+ now for NG, btw
What does L6 correspond to MSFT level?
L64/L65 usually
L6 is a pretty clear difference
What are compensation numbers usually like at that level?
200-400K depends on performance, department, etc. like if you move up the ladder internally and get pay bumps laterally thru job families your base will be super high compared to your peers at any level