[jjwhitaker]

I interviewed at Amazon recently but didn't get an offer.

I'd say there is clear division between white and blue collar conditions and though I don't want in on the warehouse side their main offices would be a major career bump for me. I'd be one of those 3-5 year survival jobs where, like my other AMZN main office employee friends, a promotion means changing teams asap to capitalize on the good PR internally. Like, do my best working long hours on a project, succeed, take my congrats email to another team. As I learn that team's systems, I get time to recover from the last role. Rinse and repeat until I can apply outside for a long term sustainable role.

I'm not saying it's good, but it would be a a jump from my current role and provide a lot of crazy opportunity a smart 20 something could handle. Instead I found a career role with a local company and I'm excited. I wouldn't trade it for any number of AMZN interviews or offers due to the company culture, history, position in the industry, an the quality of the team.

But as a contractor needing a pay bump, AMZN looked great.

[scarface74]

I’m seriously debating what I want my next role to be. I’ve reached close to the statistical peak[1] of my earning potential as a software developer/team lead/architect in my local market (Atlanta) and definitely will not be moving to the west coast. That only leaves a few options.

1. Stay in development and make sure I do enough Resume Driven Development to stay current and be happy with cost of living wages. Not a bad thing, my wife and I make enough to enjoy ourselves and reach our short and long term goals and I enjoy development.

2. Go into management - mid level managers don’t make enough more to be worth the headache and I really don’t enjoy managing.

3. Consulting (not staff augmentation), I have the skillset to be an overpriced “digital transformation consultant”/“Enterprise Consultant”/various AWS consulting roles, but I’m not sure I want to do it. But that would be basically the only way I could make significantly more without moving. AWS hires SAs, TAMs, and other consultant type roles that don’t require relocation but require a lot of travel.

[1] I’m sure there is a company out there that is looking for a “rockstar ninja developer” that would pay a premium over market value without having to relocate but that would be rare.

[rhizome]

you'd think, but no. "rockstar ninja" hunters always offer "competitive" compensation, which means below average.