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I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months

benadam.me

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Re: I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months

#61

Post by dragonwriter »

itsdrewmiller wrote: post #46
Waterluvian wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Formatting is a very very distant minor gripe compared to what I think is the main reason this is a problem: versioning. That being said, if it works, it works. If it doesn't work, make a case for why and develop a _holistic_ understanding of the costs and benefits of changing the current process. Maybe you can change it, or maybe you learn why it doesn't change. If it works, but it offends your sensibilities, perhap…

Excel has versioning now! But it doesn’t work when people email around hard copies instead of links to the shared file, which they still constantly do. >:-O

> email around hard copies

I get what you mean but...

Re: I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months

#62

Post by matsemann »

> When I read through they offer they were pushing aggressively for a start date (2 weeks from the offer).

Huh, in Norway the normal resignation period is 3 months. Maybe long, but goes both ways, so you always know your job isn't swept away from under your feet one day.

Re: I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months

#63

Post by BoiledCabbage »

klodolph wrote: post #27
chrsig wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - Amazon has the least amount of holidays of all FAANG, why? probably too focused on frugality to consider retention

They do consider retention, make no mistake.

> They do consider retention, make no mistake.

As in they consider retention unimportant, and something to not prioritize?

Because it sure seems that way.

Re: I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months

#64

Post by pcthrowaway »

delecti wrote: post #16
teg4n_ wrote: post #8

The idea of leaving before the year mark at a company that does signing bonuses stresses me the fuck out. Don't you have to pay back the bonus? When I got an Amazon offer that was the case

You have to pay them back pro rated. If you leave after 10 months you'd only have to pay back 2/12 of the bonus. At least that was the case when I started at Amazon (admittedly almost a decade ago).

If you get a signing bonus that you pay taxes on, then have to return part of it the following year, do you get to deduct it from taxes?

Re: I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months

#66

Post by ryanianian »

> The churn I experienced was significant

One thing I don't see mentioned enough is the forced PIP policy.

Basically every manager is forced to stack-rank their entire team, and the bottom N percent is put on a PIP. So even if your entire team is comprised of very top-notch engineers you will see forced attrition. It also disincentivizes helping team-members in deep ways and incentivizes back-stabbing politics.

Of course every org/VP has some latitude, but this is a common principle adopted by many VPs to appease the "bar raiser" standards as well as giving enough motivation to axe employees with considerable equity despite how good they may be on an absolute scale.

This was the policy at a number of orgs when I was there 5 years ago, and I have heard similar stories as recently as 2019 pre-covid.

Re: I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months

#67

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

sharkweek wrote: post #25

Hey congrats on making it 10 months! "Urgent to not block progress, but also ironic that they are asking a person who has no clue what they are doing to deliver critical work" Friend of mine started a role there (this was 4-5 years ago) and was fired (sorry... more or less asked to leave, being told he could keep his signing bonus if he just left) within about six weeks because he wasn't immediately delivering on som…

> I've never seen him so happy.

I've shared about how I was forced into early retirement, in 2017. I had tried getting another job, after leaving my company, but no one would even talk to me (I won't go into why).

It absolutely infuriated me. It was humiliating and scary. I decided that I didn't really need to be patronized and insulted anymore, and just gave up.

But I was quite able to stand on my own. I didn't need the money; just the work.

After over four years of working (harder than I ever did, as a corporate shill) for a nonprofit (and learning new stuff), I can't see myself ever going back to the rat race.

Re: I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months

#68

Post by dpark »

klodolph wrote: post #27
chrsig wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - Amazon has the least amount of holidays of all FAANG, why? probably too focused on frugality to consider retention

They do consider retention, make no mistake.

I’m sure they do. They just also don’t care until it becomes a critical issue.

I am contacted by an Amazon recruiter at least once a week. I’m sure every engineer I know is. I wonder how much of their money they blow on recruiting and how much engineering time is spent in interviews replacing all the burned out engineers. Plus all the talent that won’t even entertain a job at Amazon.

Re: I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months

#69

Post by jsiaajdsdaa »

jjoonathan wrote: post #35
jsiaajdsdaa wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Business moves at the speed of now.

This sounds like a '90s marketing meme -- do I have that right? I didn't enter the industry until after.

It probably is but I mean that excel and email solve problems right now, despite having flaws

Re: I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months

#70

Post by spike021 »

This is like my situation. I just left after being there for 20 months. Various reasons on the team side. Imposter syndrome is a bad excuse but it contributed. Tried switching but other teams insisted on a full interview loop before I could even see it that team would be a better fit.
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