‘We can’t pay you more’, small tech firms tell laid-off Big tech employees

As lakhs of Big Tech employees make a beeline to secure a job as soon as possible, smaller tech firms are hiring the talented laid-off workers albeit with a caveat: “We can’t pay you any more.”

Eric, a former Amazon software engineer, was on a $200,000-plus salary-and-stock package, before he was laid off in the US, reports The Seattle Times.

When a smaller tech firm offered Eric less than he’d made at Amazon and he tried to negotiate, he was “flatly told” they can’t pay him more and he “eventually accepted a job, and a pay cut”.

A senior software engineer with seven to 15 years experience could expect anywhere from $300,000 to $450,000 in total compensation from a Big Tech firm.