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My Interviews with Amazon

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Re: My Interviews with Amazon

#171

Post by Bartweiss »

Joof wrote: post #136
Bartweiss wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ver…

My webcam doesn't work in Linux; and you won't find me programming in Windows under ordinary conditions. I guess I can't work at amazon?

I was living in a place with spotty internet, so I wondered about these issues. It was fine to code online, but if the video got choppy would they blackball me?

Re: My Interviews with Amazon

#172

Post by nilkn »

riot504 wrote: post #106
wernercd wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm at a new job where the "old team" of two developers is being replaced by 5 devs... the old team had ~15 years of experience and can't code their way out of a wet paper bag. Not saying anything about YOU... experience is important... but 15 years experience doesn't mean 15 years of good experience or lack of bad habits.

Only in programming would this type of statement hold any merit. I was an air traffic controller for 10 years prior to becoming a data scientist. Experience is more than just being able to code (or do your specific job), it brings a wealth of knowledge you have to yet notice or realize.

Just the other day I interviewed someone with ~15 years of experience who struggled quite a bit with FizzBuzz. We ultimately decided to pass.

Last week, I interviewed someone about to complete a master's degree from Georgia Tech who also could barely do FizzBuzz.

What should we be doing to identify people who fail FizzBuzz but we should actually be hiring? Honestly the bar for our initial phone screens is very low, and yet experienced and well-educated people still manage to fail, sometimes spectacularly. FizzBuzz is one of the most important questions we ask because of this phenomenon.

Re: My Interviews with Amazon

#173

Post by hacknat »

larrik wrote: post #3

Interesting, 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…

I don't disagree with your sentiment, but Amazon's reputation doesn't really extend to AWS. I lived in Seattle for 7 years, and AWS workers always seemed baffled by their company's reputation. Everyone who worked for the store had horror stories to tell.

On the other hand it is only a handful people who get to flesh out interesting products for AWS.

Re: My Interviews with Amazon

#174

Post by envyUser »

coredog64 wrote: post #81
cookiecaper wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really depends on the individual situation. The biggest cost variance is in housing. In the Midwest, you can get a 2,500 sq ft home for ~1.3k +/- $350. [0] Under normal leasing standards (no more than 1/3rd your income to rent), you can pay that if you have a job in the $50k-$60k range. And that's almost the standard -- big houses and big yards for everyone. In LA or SEA, you're looking at 2.5x-4x that, which is a…

> The other option is to live way out in the burbs, where prices are probably closer to 1.5x-2.5x, and spend 2.5 hours commuting every work day. I think I've mentioned this before, but when I interviewed at Amazon, the topic of affordable housing came up. I asked the interviewer what was affordable these days, expecting Kent, Auburn, or maybe even Buckley. His answer was Puyallup.

Same in SF, you can always live in Concord or Richmond!

San Leandro is a steal as well.

Dallas is the best of both worlds, high salary and low cost of living. I'm not a fan of Dallas but I may end up there again.

Re: My Interviews with Amazon

#175

Post by derefr »

brianwawok wrote: post #63
sgk284 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bezos set a mandate to HR a few years ago that he wanted them to be able to hire a new grad without ever needing to speak to a human engineer. That is, he wants the entire interview process automated (specifically for new grads, at least for now). What you experienced is part of their experiment in figuring out how to make this work. They've got a number of variations of interviews going on right now. I believe this…

Oh that is great, robots hiring staff.

People already set up pre-filter "tasks" to qualify the competence of Amazon Mechanical Turk workers for their real work. There's probably some good data there that Amazon could use to do this pretty well, if they wanted.

Re: My Interviews with Amazon

#176

Post by johnward »

larrik wrote: post #3

Interesting, 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…

Before reading the article I started asking "why". I don't really pay THAT much attention to industry news or even HN but it seems like pretty common knowledge that working for Amazon is terribad. Then again I work for another company with that reputation but I didn't apply I was acquired.

Re: My Interviews with Amazon

#177

Post by envyUser »

jvehent wrote: post #38

And this is why remote work for tech people is the future. Timezones are still an issue, but if you're willing to adapt your work hours to meet the majority, being remote allows you to work for fantastic companies without sacrificing your way of life.

They tried this with India, it failed. It's why we need such a robust H1b "solution".

Re: My Interviews with Amazon

#178

Post by geoelectric »

sgk284 wrote: post #52
Bartweiss wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ver…

Bezos set a mandate to HR a few years ago that he wanted them to be able to hire a new grad without ever needing to speak to a human engineer. That is, he wants the entire interview process automated (specifically for new grads, at least for now). What you experienced is part of their experiment in figuring out how to make this work. They've got a number of variations of interviews going on right now. I believe this…

Do they talk to a human anybody other than the recruiter? Interviews aren't just for the company to evaluate the engineer, it's vice versa as well.

Re: My Interviews with Amazon

#179

Post by riot504 »

nilkn wrote: post #172
riot504 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only in programming would this type of statement hold any merit. I was an air traffic controller for 10 years prior to becoming a data scientist. Experience is more than just being able to code (or do your specific job), it brings a wealth of knowledge you have to yet notice or realize.

Just the other day I interviewed someone with ~15 years of experience who struggled quite a bit with FizzBuzz. We ultimately decided to pass. Last week, I interviewed someone about to complete a master's degree from Georgia Tech who also could barely do FizzBuzz. What should we be doing to identify people who fail FizzBuzz but we should actually be hiring? Honestly the bar for our initial phone screens is very low, a…

I learned to program on the job, I have masters in economic (econometrics focused, which I was hired), but I am not sure how someone can't make there way through FizzBuzz. I am sure mine wouldn't be the best code written, particularly during an interview, but I could make it through the test.

Based on my experience as an air traffic controller which requires more tests than I care to state, when we would transfer facilities we were given oral tests to gauge our experience. We would mark down the areas deficient that needed review and check areas off where knowledge was deemed satisfactory. There would be zero air traffic controllers if we dismissed candidates answering one question wrong regardless of simplicity.

Re: My Interviews with Amazon

#180

Post by markest1973 »

jvehent wrote: post #38

And this is why remote work for tech people is the future. Timezones are still an issue, but if you're willing to adapt your work hours to meet the majority, being remote allows you to work for fantastic companies without sacrificing your way of life.

You are correct. I work remotely for Red Hat in a generally lower cost-of-living area.

Big company salary (plus 401k match, stock, bonuses, etc.) in an area that is, from what I read, ~11% cheaper than average.

Life is good.

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