My Interviews with Amazon
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My Interviews with Amazon
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Re: My Interviews with Amazon
#2Sounds like my experience last month, except I was interviewing for a low-level software position and didn't get an offer. :/
Actually, I only asked for $130k base and felt guilty about that.
Re: My Interviews with Amazon
#3Interesting, I get pestered by them constantly, and never actually considered going for it. For one thing, the common sentiment on HN seems to be 'friends don't let friends work for Amazon'.
Amazon seems like a meat grinder, where getting hired isn't as hard as it seems, and they just burn through young people who don't know better. This is as someone completely on the outside who's only heard stories, though. When I brought this up to one recruiter a few years ago, they basically acknowledged the reputation and their intent to improve.
Perhaps unlike HN, I've never seriously considered joining a mega-corporation like Google, Facebook, or Amazon. I just don't see the appeal, nor do I want to work in a city (SV, Seattle, NYC, or otherwise).
Re: My Interviews with Amazon
#4Sounds like my experience last month, except I was interviewing for a low-level software position and didn't get an offer. :/ Actually, I only asked for $130k base and felt guilty about that .
No joke, I've heard of companies equating ask-salary to self-worth and that a modest request can cost you.
Re: My Interviews with Amazon
#5Good on the author for making the decision based on his and his family's needs and not "but it's a top-tier company, man, you gotta work for the best be the best do the BEST."
People often don't consider cost-of-living when making job decisions. I think the way to do it is to equalize the salaries based on cost-of-living across each company you're considering. So if you make $60,000 in a small midwestern town, that's the same as making $120k in Seattle or the Bay Area. If you make $80,000 in a small midwestern town, you're coming out ahead of the guy/gal pulling six figures in SF.
It's an important consideration and one I think many employers try to get you to ignore.
Re: My Interviews with Amazon
#6Sounds like my experience last month, except I was interviewing for a low-level software position and didn't get an offer. :/ Actually, I only asked for $130k base and felt guilty about that .
No joke, I've heard of companies equating ask-salary to self-worth and that a modest request can cost you.
That thought has crossed my mind. Sometimes I feel like that question is some sort of bullshit test to see if you over- or under-value yourself. Based on the StackOverflow transparency discussion yesterday I think I am underpaid by about $10k to begin with, which I have still not fully internalized.
Re: My Interviews with Amazon
#7Interesting, I get pestered by them constantly, and never actually considered going for it. For one thing, the common sentiment on HN seems to be 'friends don't let friends work for Amazon'. Amazon seems like a meat grinder, where getting hired isn't as hard as it seems, and they just burn through young people who don't know better. This is as someone completely on the outside who's only heard stories, though. When I…
Interestingly, I opened the Amazon door as a new dev and found something very different than what this post describes.
The first step - before speaking to anyone about my background or interest - was going to be an intensive, one-hour coding session. It looked like it would be more "independent proof of competence" than "friendly programming task to evaluate you". I was expected to be on webcam the entire time to verify identity and prevent cheating. No joke about the entire time part - there was a reminder to get any water or office supplies I would need before sitting down, because the interview would be terminated if I left the frame of the cam.
Between the blind hostility of that opener and the meat-grinder rep, I passed without interviewing (and passed with the next Amazon recruiter shortly after, who had no idea they'd pinged me before). I'm sure this routine is reserved for new grads, and the weird "don't lean out of frame" stuff seemed to be from some interview-management third party, but it was still the most stilted process I've seen from an actual software company.
Re: My Interviews with Amazon
#8Interesting, I get pestered by them constantly, and never actually considered going for it. For one thing, the common sentiment on HN seems to be 'friends don't let friends work for Amazon'. Amazon seems like a meat grinder, where getting hired isn't as hard as it seems, and they just burn through young people who don't know better. This is as someone completely on the outside who's only heard stories, though. When I…
>When I brought this up to one recruiter a few years ago, they basically acknowledged the reputation and their intent to improve.
I recently interviewed, one of the interviewers actually brought up the NYT article and said that the retail side is intense, the tech side is more laid back, for whatever that's worth.
Re: My Interviews with Amazon
#9I had a similar situation (but with Microsoft), and although in my case it would have been a net improvement in income (probably), there was impact on family and stability to consider, so I declined the offer.
I think being aware of priorities for each person and each phase of life is important. There's times when big name or (relatively speaking) big salary is the prime factor, and that's great, and go for it! There's also times when being close to family, staying rooted, and being stable is the prime factor, and that's ok too.
Re: My Interviews with Amazon
#10Interesting, I get pestered by them constantly, and never actually considered going for it. For one thing, the common sentiment on HN seems to be 'friends don't let friends work for Amazon'. Amazon seems like a meat grinder, where getting hired isn't as hard as it seems, and they just burn through young people who don't know better. This is as someone completely on the outside who's only heard stories, though. When I…
>When I brought this up to one recruiter a few years ago, they basically acknowledged the reputation and their intent to improve. I recently interviewed, one of the interviewers actually brought up the NYT article and said that the retail side is intense, the tech side is more laid back, for whatever that's worth.
I'm sure he did say that ;) but consider that he was not entirely truthful.