What you don’t hear when people talk about Amazon and Microsoft.
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Hello,
My name is Alex and I currently work as a software engineer at Microsoft. I’ve previously worked at Amazon and feel that I’m qualified to talk on the behalf of benefits at both companies.
While my time at Amazon was 1 year in 2020–2021, it still gave me enough time to understand the culture and realize what I do and do not value working at a tech company.
Retirement starts now.
If you’re reading this, odds are you’re young and not thinking about retirement at 65 years old. But here’s why you should.
Amazon: Offers a 50% match up to 4% of your salary. Not too bad until you realize you have to stay at the company for 3 years to keep any contributions.
Microsoft: Offers a 50% match on all contributions up to the federal limit. Invest ~20k and get a 10k match from Microsoft. But how long do you have to stay at the company to vest? It vests immediately, leave anytime you’d like.
Wealth in Health.
Every software engineer spends endless hours in front of a computer. That can’t be healthy. Here’s how the two companies handle that.
Amazon: There isn’t a wellness stipend available.
Microsoft: All full time employees receive a $1500 wellness stipend to spend on whatever they’d like including treadmills, gym memberships, bicycles, and athletic apparel.
Product Perks
Microsoft has plenty of products but not nearly as many as Amazon’s retail store. Here’s what you get working at both.
Amazon: 10% off Amazon.com purchases through specific retailers up to $100. No, you don’t get Amazon Prime as a benefit.
Microsoft: 80% off Microsoft Software, 15% off Hardware and XBox related items.
Stock Benefits
Amazon stock has an incredibly price of ~$3304.14 which overwhelms Microsoft’s at ~$318.03. Here’s what to know about working at both.
Amazon: Has a very weird vesting schedule that’s spread over 4 years with 5% at year 1, 15% at year 2, 40% 40 % at year’s 3 and 4 respectively.
