Why do people stay at Amazon?

Genuinely curious. I heard the culture is shitty. Pay isn't great. Stock is doing well but not THAT well compared to other giants. No on campus lunch even. Is the work that good?

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Amazon baB22 Mar 7, 2018

Yes. It is. And you own stuff here. Even a fresh graduate does.

Snapchat bbbbbbbb Mar 7, 2018

Amazon is not the only place where you can own stuffs. Also “owning stuff” is really how they brain wash you to accept a lower pay. Think about it, why the fuck is rewarding a worker with “Real responsibility” better than actual money?

Microsoft Fang Mar 7, 2018

@bbbbb great point. I will also add that ownership is a great way to give PIP or load of work without manager taking the responsibility. In other words, great way to blame somebody and delegate the management stress to an IC. Ownership should be on the manager. What Amazon does with ownership is similar to what happens in my home country where engineers frequently quit to switch to other profession after going through multiple mental disorder and physical damage due to stress. One of the great things about US is leadership and the leader taking responsibility. That vapors with this ownership to ICs. Enjoy it until you eventually get PIP and manager survives for any project delay or failure.

Amazon gdSe61 Mar 7, 2018

“Pay isn’t great. Stock is doing well but not THAT well” - Do you live on a different planet than earth?

Facebook public Mar 7, 2018

Which part are you claiming to be untrue?

Oath SerRando Mar 7, 2018

Pay. Have you seen the Amazon hockey stick? A 300k TC on paper is a million TC 5 years later.

Amazon baB22 Mar 7, 2018

Stock is doubled since I joined last year. Paid more than apple and Microsoft and LinkedIn for that matter.

Amazon EWhU53 Mar 7, 2018

True statement. Shot from $750 to $1500 a share in less than one year.

Amazon JezzBefos Mar 7, 2018

What other Giants have better performing stock? Also culture varies in companies this large, what you hear from it is the worst. There's many other things that go well and allow for good career growth/wlb

BlackBerry SolarShift Mar 7, 2018

Netflix. Check it out hotshot!

Fitbit B.B. Mar 7, 2018

I wanted to clown u for working at blackberry, but took a look at fitbit stock 😭

Microsoft SayTheWord Mar 7, 2018

Moved from msft to amazon a few months ago. He culture is fast paced and customer driven. You own stuff even if join at the lowest level and there is a lot of opportunity for learning and ownership. Work is great, although it depends on the team you join. You become a better engineer in a matter of months due to all the exposure you get. Again, dependent on team like any big company but much better in terms of growth than microsoft. Also, stock has been killing it so comp is much much better.

Airbnb microsvc Mar 7, 2018

it’d be interesing to compare overall package accounting for stock growth. amzn stock has performed pretty well over the past few years but the initial grant size at lower levels (before SDE3) is lower on average than comparable companies. if you join the right team the technical challenges are pretty good, but certainly not an exclusive feature of amzn.

Facebook $tarboy Mar 7, 2018

The stock, buddy.

Airbnb microsvc Mar 7, 2018

also backloaded vesting schedule combined with stock perf

New
AYTZM Mar 7, 2018

+1 on the culture being trash for sure

Amazon baB22 Mar 7, 2018

The culture trash is bull shit, lots of good teams and learning opportunity if you don't want to laze around