Anyone work at Amazon in VA? What's it really like?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Amazon wife here. Yes, the hours are crazy. Are you looking to go into the AWS DOD business in Herndon? If so I could give you more information.

what are the hours? curious what 'crazy' means in this context.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother works there in management. Crazy hours, no work life balance, and constantly threatened you're going to be fired.

Two posts up seems so different? One says flexible and results orientated, the other says sweatshop. Are these all Herndon?

Got an offer for DoD contract at AWS, engineer position. Is it still this brutal? It seems pretty chill when I visited, and herndon is a nice area (I’m coming from Florida working at a Harris sub ).

Try to negotiate more RSU's. It really depends on your boss - he or she makes a huge difference in your experience. My spouse is happy there. Take it, please, they need more staff.. We find it really flexible as he can work at home some days, no one really cares his hours along as the work gets done. Ask about travel. There is a lot more travel than he was told but he's learn to say no to what isn't important. They have some conferences in good places which is nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Amazon wife here. Yes, the hours are crazy. Are you looking to go into the AWS DOD business in Herndon? If so I could give you more information.

what are the hours? curious what 'crazy' means in this context.

Not them but for us, its an issue as everyone is on different times so the Seattle folks get ramped up when Herndon is ramping down so there are lots of night emails.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in IT and had an opportunity to work at AWS 4 years ago. I would be rich right now had i taken the job. The options would have been life changing. At the time, i had a 2yr old and 5yr old. Frankly, i didn't want their early lives to be a blur that i couldn't remember due to the long hours and stress i would have had to endure as a trade off. My values simply cannot align with the kind of company Amazon is. I get it, some people are OK having their spouse be the primary for their kids and basically functioning as a PT weekend parent and FT ATM machine. That's not in line with the kind of parent i want to be and the childhood i want for my kids. I wish Amazon had come along before i had a family, but i know i made the best choice. I now work in a ROWE and have the best balance that i could have ever dreamed of.

I personally thinknof you are a government worker and switch to Amazon, you will be in the biggest culture shock of your life. I can only imagine a fraction of government workers could survive at Amazon. The mentality is so much differe t

I don't know, I work in satellite operations and the derivation to mission and 24/7 response doesn't sound that different.

How much money did you leave on the table? And you hear the rumors of folks being fired before vesting.. is that real?

We've heard these also. We have a young friend at AWS and while he is making great money, albeit with a crummy work-life balance, these rumors are prevalent and concerning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother works there in management. Crazy hours, no work life balance, and constantly threatened you're going to be fired.

Two posts up seems so different? One says flexible and results orientated, the other says sweatshop. Are these all Herndon?

Got an offer for DoD contract at AWS, engineer position. Is it still this brutal? It seems pretty chill when I visited, and herndon is a nice area (I’m coming from Florida working at a Harris sub ).

Try to negotiate more RSU's. It really depends on your boss - he or she makes a huge difference in your experience. My spouse is happy there. Take it, please, they need more staff.. We find it really flexible as he can work at home some days, no one really cares his hours along as the work gets done. Ask about travel. There is a lot more travel than he was told but he's learn to say no to what isn't important. They have some conferences in good places which is nice.

Are you mid career or have kids? How does that fit your lifestyle? Do you both work?

[Anonymous]

DH passed up a job there several years ago. It paid well and came with $250k of RSU’s (vested over time.) The job itself sounded awful, as well at the QOL and we had little babies at the time. His stock would be worth over $1M today and he totally regrets not sucking it up!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH passed up a job there several years ago. It paid well and came with $250k of RSU’s (vested over time.) The job itself sounded awful, as well at the QOL and we had little babies at the time. His stock would be worth over $1M today and he totally regrets not sucking it up!

Yeah but who knows how stocks will perform — not same as just being paid well. What was salary?role?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother works there in management. Crazy hours, no work life balance, and constantly threatened you're going to be fired.

Two posts up seems so different? One says flexible and results orientated, the other says sweatshop. Are these all Herndon?

Got an offer for DoD contract at AWS, engineer position. Is it still this brutal? It seems pretty chill when I visited, and herndon is a nice area (I’m coming from Florida working at a Harris sub ).

Try to negotiate more RSU's. It really depends on your boss - he or she makes a huge difference in your experience. My spouse is happy there. Take it, please, they need more staff.. We find it really flexible as he can work at home some days, no one really cares his hours along as the work gets done. Ask about travel. There is a lot more travel than he was told but he's learn to say no to what isn't important. They have some conferences in good places which is nice.

Are you mid career or have kids? How does that fit your lifestyle? Do you both work?

He works, I do not. He's later career and its actually one of the more flexible jobs. He comes and goes as he pleases as he can take calls driving to work or at home if needed. If we are sick, he can work at home and take care of us. He usually tries to go in early/leave early to help take kids to activities. If I was still working, Amazon is far more flexible than my old job would have been. He has canceled trips as he/we were sick and it was fine. He has a really flexible boss so that makes a huge difference. The travel is fine as long as its once a month. We've gone to some of the better places like FL and Vegas and had great time. They have no issues with families going and sometimes encourage it if it is a conference. If you are in sales/business, those guys are traveling constantly so it really depends on your position. They had a great take your kids to work day last school year. My kid had a blast. They don't try to keep people so if you choose to leave, they usually say fine but if you leave on good terms you can go back. I haven't heard of anyone fired, maybe sales guys who don't meet quotas.

The negative for us is the max salary. He had to take a pay cut and we don't cash out the RSU's given how stock is going so that's a minor issue as we pay the RSU's out of income vs. cashing them out as you have to pay taxes each time it vests (either come up with the cash or cash out the RSU's).

The other negative is the long commute.

It really depends on the supervisor. My husband is happy there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH passed up a job there several years ago. It paid well and came with $250k of RSU’s (vested over time.) The job itself sounded awful, as well at the QOL and we had little babies at the time. His stock would be worth over $1M today and he totally regrets not sucking it up!

Yeah but who knows how stocks will perform — not same as just being paid well. What was salary?role?

Max pay is generally $160K in this area (plus if you can negotiate a special pay bonus) - private tech companies pay more but no RSU's. Most jobs are terrible. You go with who pays you more.

[Anonymous]

Spouse in air force program making over $500k in DOZd sales with aws this year. Does not include generous stock grants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are shitty situations in any job. There are stressful situations in any job and shitty bosses in any job. Amazon is a high stress environment. If you can't handle that (without even tacking on the long hours or potential shitty boss) then keep looking. Now you could luck out and get someone great, but I don't think the odds are in your favor for that one.

Not true & I wouldn't go seeking them out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are shitty situations in any job. There are stressful situations in any job and shitty bosses in any job. Amazon is a high stress environment. If you can't handle that (without even tacking on the long hours or potential shitty boss) then keep looking. Now you could luck out and get someone great, but I don't think the odds are in your favor for that one.

Not true & I wouldn't go seeking them out.

Sorry, what’s not true?