↓Skip to main content

What I learnt about moving to London from an Amazonian

·2 mins
  • Teams in:
    • London.
      • AWS Code Guru.
      • Prime Video (i.e. PV) has a huge presence.
      • Alexa.
      • A new team from IMDb TV, possibly because they have some technology overlap with PV.
    • Cambridge.
      • S3.
      • Kinesis.
  • His team, CDK, is geographically distributed, so he reports to a manager in Seattle.
  • Visa and relocation:
    • Amazon relocates on some tier 2 general work visa.
    • Monthly quota (as opposed to yearly quota in H1B).
    • Took him 2.5 months, even after delays.
    • Temporary accommodation for 1 month.
  • Stay:
    • City Center, which is where Amazon is. (No downtown.)
      • Amazon in zone 1.
    • Buying a home:
      • Zone 1 crazy expensive.
      • Zone 2 & 3 - apartment maybe.
      • Zone 3 onwards - houses maybe.
    • Zone 4 to office - 45 mins one way through subway.
    • Rent:
      • Some US-style apartments, but mostly condos rented out by owners.
      • Managed either by owners or, more commonly, by agencies.
      • Horror stories common.
      • If landloards specific about how tenant should maintain the place, that’s a sign that the place might be good.
      • ~2000 pounds for 2BR in zone 2.
  • No car needed. Good public transportation.
  • Finances:
    • 30-50% salary drop.
    • Significant increase in tax.
    • No car expenses.
  • Life:
    • Cultural diversity is insanely good.
    • Outdoors not as accesible (because you’ll probably take trains which will take time) or as beautiful as that in PNW.
    • Flights to Europe dirt cheap.
↑