Although I get that you guys want to be "sure" about the person joining the team it does feel like a huge effort for the "privilege" of working on AWS. Suppose if you really want the job the effort is worth it.
The potential upside is enormous.
International relocation is much easier when it is an intra-company transfer, allowing more global mobility. Having Amazon in your resume will make it easier to get into any name brand company in the future.
The compensation for engineering talent can be huge. In Seattle a Senior Principals Engineer can make up to $800k/y TC. I am sure there are at least a few Cape Town engineers making R2m+ in TC. If someone spent time in the US and moved back, this could easily be 2x+ even that.
The scope of work is interesting too - millions of machines, a whole host of cloud technologies from GPU computing to massive databases to Machine Learning as a service, etc.
Is it true you guys give starting bonuses paid out over a couple of years but you are locked in for that time period? Example:
Dev starts with salary X.
Dev is given starting bonus of Y over 24 months.
Dev gets paid X + (Y/24)
...and after 24 months dev is suddenly short on monthly income?
Not quite, so assuming this works the same way as the US:
You will get an initial stock grant. This is paid out at roughly 5% after year 1, 5% after year two, 45% after year 3 and 45% after year 4.
So, sounds a lot worse than what you have above... BUT:
You will typically get refreshers every year, each with the same 4 year vesting schedule. The amount depends on your level and performance. So after 4 years, you will typically be getting a full year worth of vested stock every year. If you leave, you walk away from whatever isn’t vested (typically, 2 years on average). When you are in the industry, you will typically organize with your next employer to get compensated for this loss.
