Looking to hear thoughts on what’s a better move. I have been a designer for 9 years and I have been a UX manager for 2.5 years at a startup TC 200k Amazon (Seattle): ~360K = 185k base, 1st year 155k sign-on + RSUS (110 shares total) Dropbox (SF): ~400k = 219 base, 20% bonus, 133k RSUS, 7k allowance Hiring managers seemed nice during the interview process at both companies. Dropbox interview felt a lot harder than Amazon’s. The role at Amazon seems more about people management and at Dropbox more about product strategy. I have not negotiated the offers, yet. #design #ux
Depends if you are ready for the PIP factory.
I’d say Amazon is more stable long term. That’s a big pay difference. I’d go with Dropbox then reassess a move in 3-4 years
Dropbox
I was a design manager at Amazon for 3 years. Switched back to IC role. I was forced to put someone on PIP, even though I thought they weren’t bad. Amazon has a serious URA (unregretted attrition) metric where about 6-7% of the company is rated least effective. Which means they are on a Dev list and potentially a PIP. As a manager, you sometimes have no choice but to have someone fall in that bucket which ends up becoming a huge part of your work. And if you don’t have a thick skin, it affects your mental health. If you’re willing to deal with that kind of process as a manager, Amazon isn’t terrible. I couldn’t do it after a while. I felt like my whole team hated me after I PIP’d a well liked member of the team.
I do know this happens, but as a manager I have never had to put someone on PIP unless I felt very confident it was warranted. I’ve had very healthy orgs that pushed back where it made sense, and luckily what made sense prevailed. I’m sorry this wasn’t your same story though. I just candidly refuse to do that.
I also believe part of it was me being relatively new to management at the time and having a toxic manager myself. Only after the whole debacle did I realize, “what if I pushed back?” So perhaps no one is truly “forced” to PIP but there is a lot of pressure from the leadership during OLR
Depends where at in Amazon. When I interviewed with Dropbox I thought they had a great design team and org in general, but the product is very boring.
You can easily ask Amazon to match or get closer to Dropbox’s offer. That is not the absolute top of band though it is very good.
Following this to see if you made a decision
If it’s Dropbox core then very much yes. HelloSign docsend teams are good people but lots of transition. Coming in for that can be good if you have influence to shape but less stable. Everyone at Dropbox design is really nice and welcoming that I have encountered. Dropbox offers great pay and refreshers, perks you will never get at Amazon, very smart people and nice wlb. If you are out of the SF/seattle area the studios are cool too. Offers some nice travel thru the year if you want. People leave Dropbox for other amazing opportunities. Also surprised I don’t see a sign bonus in your offer. You can def get that number closer to $425k at Dropbox if you are in Sf/Seattle Lots of friends at Amazon and some do like it bc they work on high profile stuff but it’s not an easy job and the culture takes a lot of strength.
Dropbox considering the type of role.