I Quit My Job At Amazon Because of Return to Office.

Summary

The script narrates the story of a software engineer at Amazon who quit after being asked to relocate due to the company's return-to-office policy. Despite enjoying meaningful work and a promotion, the employee valued remote work and autonomy over location, leading to a move to Pinterest with a higher salary without the need to change cities. The narrative highlights the tension between company policies and employee preferences for remote work, emphasizing the importance of work-life balance and personal choice.

Takeaways

• 👩‍💻 Gazi Jaren joined Amazon as a software engineer in July 2022, working remotely from Toronto.
• 🏠 In August 2023, Amazon introduced a return-to-office policy, asking employees to come in three times a week.
• 🚚 Jaren was later asked to relocate to either Vancouver or Seattle to be in the same city as her team.
• 💼 Jaren decided not to move, as she valued her autonomy and didn’t want a company to dictate where she lived.
• 🇨🇦 Despite the option to move to Seattle with a pay bump and visa support, Jaren chose to stay in Toronto.
• 🔍 Jaren began looking for other job opportunities in early 2024, aiming to stay in Toronto without downgrading her career.
• 🤝 In May 2024, Jaren accepted a software engineering role at Pinterest, offering a higher salary and allowing her to remain in Toronto.
• 💡 Jaren believes that remote work is suitable for many software engineering roles, and that companies should allow employees to choose where they work.
• 📈 Switching companies often results in a salary increase of at least 10%, as Jaren experienced.
• 🏢 Jaren values in-person work if the entire team is in the office together but feels it shouldn't be mandatory.

Q & A

Why did the individual quit their job at Amazon?

The individual quit their job at Amazon because they were asked to move to another city due to the company's return to office policy, which they disagreed with.

What was the person's role at Amazon?

The person was a software engineer on the Route 53 team, which handles domain management and is connected to AWS.

How did the individual's experience with remote work at Amazon begin?

The individual started working at Amazon with a fully remote job, with teammates mostly in Vancouver while they were in Toronto.

What was the individual's promotion timeline at Amazon?

The individual was promoted from an entry-level software engineer to a higher level after the first year at Amazon.

What was the individual's concern about Amazon's on-call duty?

The individual was concerned about being on call every 8 weeks, which required them to be available 24/7, including waking up at 3:00 a.m. to fix issues.

How did the individual perceive the work-life balance at Amazon?

The individual found that there was a respect for work-life balance on their team at Amazon, which contradicted the company's reputation for overworking employees.

What was the initial policy regarding returning to the office at Amazon?

Initially, the return to office policy at Amazon was lenient, allowing employees to choose whether to go to the office or not.

What changes were made to the return to office policy that affected the individual?

The policy changed to require employees to be in the office three times a week and later to the return to HUB policy, which necessitated moving to a different city to be with teammates.

What were the options given to the individual for relocation under the new policy?

The options were moving to Vancouver or Seattle, with the latter offering a pay bump and assistance with visa and potential green card.

Why did the individual choose to leave Amazon instead of relocating?

The individual chose to leave Amazon to maintain their life in Toronto and to have the autonomy to choose where they live and work.

What was the individual's new role and company after leaving Amazon?

The individual accepted a software engineer II role at Pinterest, which offered a higher salary without requiring a move from Toronto.

What is the individual's opinion on remote work versus in-person work for software engineering roles?

The individual believes that in-person work is valuable if the whole team is together, but it should not be a requirement, and employees should have the choice to work remotely, especially for roles like software engineering where the work can be done on a computer.