Amazon as an employer

A

aigle2am

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Hi guys

Been in touch with a manager at Amazon looking for software engineers. Anyone here who worked for them or has any knowledge about the way they operate? Looks like they are always recruiting, which bugs me abit in truth. Thanks
 
People I know who have worked there say that there is no shortage of hours to be working and that there is always loads of projects for you to get involved in, and it is extremely fast paced...
 
I had an SA recruiter contact me, who told me that they have senior devs that earn R1m CTC (this was about a year ago), and managers R1.2m. So at least the range appears to be there.

Most of the people I know who work there (SA and USA side) seem reasonably happy - many have been there for 5+ years.
 
cguy said:
I had an SA recruiter contact me, who told me that they have senior devs that earn R1m CTC (this was about a year ago), and managers R1.2m. So at least the range appears to be there.

Most of the people I know who work there (SA and USA side) seem reasonably happy - many have been there for 5+ years.
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When my one friend started work there around 5 years ago, they also provided incentives in the form of some significant stock options and the like. Well remunerated employees.
 
For that good remuneration I might add you need to really be at the top of your game. And that excludes most of the current crop of ZA developers.
 
Koosi said:
For that good remuneration I might add you need to really be at the top of your game. And that excludes most of the current crop of ZA developers.
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I heard an entry level dev there can earn upwards of 50k... but they get their monies worth.

Its something like 8 interviews and they only want the best.
 
Lul, comparing US salaries with SA cost of living. I made that mistake too in my younger days.

50k there is like 20k or less in SA, especially if you have to pay for your own accommodation.
 
TJ99 said:
Lul, comparing US salaries with SA cost of living. I made that mistake too in my younger days.

50k there is like 20k or less in SA, especially if you have to pay for your own accommodation.
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It was clear to me that we were talking about the SA operation hence the need for me to add my 2c
 
Raevinn said:
Amazon has a South African office?
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The development center sine 2005-2006 and customer center since 2010.

I have a few buddies working there and from what they tell me, working your way to the top is hard but worth all the effort.
 
TJ99 said:
Lul, comparing US salaries with SA cost of living. I made that mistake too in my younger days.

50k there is like 20k or less in SA, especially if you have to pay for your own accommodation.
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Besides accommodation, what else makes the cost of living that much higher?
 
aigle2am said:
Hi guys

Been in touch with a manager at Amazon looking for software engineers. Anyone here who worked for them or has any knowledge about the way they operate? Looks like they are always recruiting, which bugs me abit in truth. Thanks
Click to expand...

Friend of mine works for AWS in Cape Town. Loves the job. They're just expanding at a massive pace, hence all the open jobs. The pay is pretty decent from what I hear.
 
droidx said:
Besides accommodation, what else makes the cost of living that much higher?
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Food, clothing, pretty much all necessities except electronics and cars are very cheap in SA compared to the rest of the world. Excluding 3rd world dumps like India or China of course.

Even the rest of Africa is a lot more expensive to live in as I found out the hard way. The US and Europe are even more so. If you look at the comparative indexes you will see SA is usually at half or less of US prices.

Here is a PPP map (yes it's from Wikipedia and a few years old, but I couldn't find anything more recent). The bluer the country is the less expensive the general cost of living. Most of Europe is orange indicating similar price levels to the US and Scandinavia is red indicating stupidly high costs as we know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PPP2003.svg
 
TJ99 said:
Food, clothing, pretty much all necessities except electronics and cars are very cheap in SA compared to the rest of the world. Excluding 3rd world dumps like India or China of course.

Even the rest of Africa is a lot more expensive to live in as I found out the hard way. The US and Europe are even more so. If you look at the comparative indexes you will see SA is usually at half or less of US prices.

Here is a PPP map (yes it's from Wikipedia and a few years old, but I couldn't find anything more recent). The bluer the country is the less expensive the general cost of living. Most of Europe is orange indicating similar price levels to the US and Scandinavia is red indicating stupidly high costs as we know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PPP2003.svg
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Thanks, apologies to all for going off topic.
I'll go do some research.
 
The PPP exchange-rate calculation is controversial because of the difficulties of finding comparable baskets of goods to compare purchasing power across countries.[citation needed]

Estimation of purchasing power parity is complicated by the fact that countries do not simply differ in a uniform price level; rather, the difference in food prices may be greater than the difference in housing prices, while also less than the difference in entertainment prices. People in different countries typically consume different baskets of goods. It is necessary to compare the cost of baskets of goods and services using a price index. This is a difficult task because purchasing patterns and even the goods available to purchase differ across countries.
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Seems dubious at best to me... it is definitely cheaper to live in some overseas countries.
 
Koosi said:
Seems dubious at best to me... it is definitely cheaper to live in some overseas countries.
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Nope, you're just absolutely and completely negative about South Africa in every possible way... Don't let your bias get in the way of facts.
 
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