Here’s How Much I Made at My First Job at Amazon — and What I Make Now
Written by
Laura Beck
Edited by
Jenna Klaverweiden
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Craig Martin knew from the start that working in an Amazon warehouse would be grueling. The nonstop walking, strict regulations around breaks and screening processes were all par for the course. “That place could be brutal,” Martin said of his time at the facility. “We were just worker bees keeping the operation going.”
At $17 an hour, the paycheck was decent, especially with benefits like health insurance and tuition assistance kicking in quickly. “Those perks were vital for a broke kid fresh out of school,” Martin explained.
But even those advantages couldn’t make up for the demoralizing reality of being treated as a “replaceable cog” in Amazon’s machine.
The Day-to-Day Grind
Martin’s experience on the warehouse floor largely depended on his assigned facility’s management priorities. Some bosses upheld workplace safety guidelines and quality control. But others appeared singularly focused on extracting maximum productivity from employees – at all costs.
“It was really the luck of the draw,” Martin said. “Get a manager who cared, and it was manageable. But those obsessed with profits would run you into the ground without blinking.”
A Crucial Foothold
While the seemingly relentless Amazon grind proved to be an ill-fitting long-term path, Martin now looks back on those three years as an important first step. The warehouse job provided an initial career foothold and opened the door to his true calling – just not in the way he expected.
“Landing at Amazon was huge because their tuition assistance allowed me to start taking classes for becoming a veterinary technician,” Martin said. Despite the draining nights of juggling third-shift hours and then biology and anatomy coursework, he remained driven by his passion for animal care.
“I was a zombie after clocking out at 6 a.m., but I pushed through for my love of learning about pets,” he said of that time. “Not to be too corny, but immersing myself in their health and physiology lit a fire under me.”
Trading Prime for Pups
Today, that labor of love has fully blossomed into Martin’s role as a $22-per-hour veterinary technician at an animal hospital. It’s a modest pay increase from Amazon, but the difference in job satisfaction is night and day.
“More money is nice, but nothing beats being there to help nurse a sick puppy back to health,” Martin said of providing expert care and comfort to ailing pets. “That work is what really excites me to go to the clinic each morning.”
A More Fulfilling Path
Martin now plans to parlay this experience into a program to become a full veterinarian. As he reflects on his career path, Martin sees how his time at Amazon actually helped him in the long run. “I know I can handle hard work and I love animals, so it’s a natural fit,” he said.
“I’m grateful to Amazon for that initial opportunity,” he continued. “But being just another replaceable worker isn’t sustainable, for me personally.”
He added, “I’m not caught up in the rat race of earning some outrageous CEO-level salary. But I can tell you, I’ll take saving a dog’s life over packing boxes any day of the week.”
An Unconventional Journey
Martin’s circuitous path from an Amazon warehouse to animal care underscores how finding the right job sometimes involves unexpected detours and left turns. His story makes clear that not every calling can be perfectly planned or achieved through sheer determination.
“Sometimes you have to explore some dead ends and random career pivots before finding your true passion,” Martin said. For Martin, an Amazon warehouse job allowed him to ultimately realize his dream of caring for pets — and that makes it all worth it.
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