Ask HN: How much do you make at Amazon? Here is how much I make at Amazon

Re:Ask HN: How much do you make at Amazon? Here is how much ... by TheRealDunkirk on Saturday March 19, 2016 @08:31AM (#11318268)

These discussions feel good, but are ultimately useless. This is just going to be a collection of anecdotes from people who self-select to report because they feel good about where they're at, or because they feel righteously justified in complaining about their situation. And, as they say, the multitude of anecdote does not data make.

Unfortunately, salary "surveys," like the recently-reported Stack Overflow one, or the classic Computerworld one, are much the same. Self-selection ruins the data. The responses have to be random to be useful. And the silly thing is that most people who are involved in this business know this.

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Re:Ask HN: How much do you make at Amazon? Here is how much ... by boren_ave11 on Saturday March 19, 2016 @01:23PM (#11319397)

I disagree, I think it is useful.

You are correct that this is nothing close to scientific, but that is not the goal. The goal is to increase transparency around employee compensation in order to correct the imbalance of power in salary negotiations that results from not knowing what others in similar roles are being paid.

For this, statistically valid data is not necessary. It can be enough to know of one or two individuals' compensation to shift power in a salary negotiation.

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