Amazon 2nd phone screen
Hi, I have been asked for a 2nd phone tech screen with Amazon. Initially the recruiter said they will just have one as I already have 2 other offers. This is for an SDM role. I had applied for Sr SDM but since I manage 25 people now they said SDM would be right fit. My first phone screen went well and went over by 20 min. Why would they request another phone screen and is it normal? YOE - 16
Don't do it. L7 SDM is not an easy promotion and the pay is substantially different.
Actually I made a huge mistake there. I told him 400k TC would work as it was in line with my current offers. That would have lead him to believe that I slot into L6 better. The recruiter did not educate me on the levels. What should I do now. Feels like I have shot myself in the foot but I was cornered into providing a number first :(..
L6 is appropriate level for 16 YoE. You can tell recruiter later that your comp expectation is 500k+. L7 SDM is equivalent to director in most other companies.
Some data was missing. It could be that you got a bad phone screener and you need to do it again. It could be that the interviewer thinks that you could be interviewed as Sr SDM and a second opinion is needed. It could be that there was some mixed signals or a red flag but the interviewer really believes you are a great candidate and needs a second option on the bad parts. In any case, they want to move forward with your candidacy as you just weren’t rejected.
Does it makes sense for me to ask the recruiter for details as he had originally mentioned only one phone screen?
Don’t know how amazon works. I was interviewing with them for a position on the Kuiper project for their silicon team and they wanted a second phone interview. Just like you, first interview with hiring manager went over 20 or so minutes etc. I figured they wanted to screen as much as they could over the phone before flying someone out to interview in person. I wouldn’t think too much into it.
What was your second one like. My first one was more tech and less LP. We discussed system design and was able to run through the design with 3 scenarios. 2 Happy path and 1 negative test case and I came out feeling positive from the experience. Also lot of questioning around technology selection and why did I choose one over the other. That went well too. Honestly I felt for a manager role the LP questions were very less(2-3) and so maybe they want to ask more LP questions in 2nd round. But the recruiter clearly mentioned that this interview will also be technically focussed.
Amazon is in two words a shit show. I spent 3 months interviewing with them. They are a mess and have you interviewing on the phone for positions that they already have offers out to other people. They will keep rotating you to other categories it teams with the same role to interview Take my word for it, take the best offer you have currently.
I am in the same situation as OP. I had my first phone screen for SDM and they came back to me next morning asking availability for a second phone screen. The coordinator mentioned that there might be upto 3 screens before onsite. I felt i did my phone screen well but we had only 10 minutes for systems design question. So, i am guessing that might be the reason for the second phone screen
I had system design for around 40 min
I am based in ny and applying for roles in ny but was told most of the team is in Seattle. Which location are you applying for?
Quick update on this. Had my second phone screen. It was supposed to be for an hour but went 20 minutes over. Thought I did extremely well. The recuriter email came this morning that we will not be able to move forward. I have 0 idea what it was that they did not like. In the meantime, I got one more offer from another bank. I will be moving forward with one of them. Not sure what FAANG is looking for in their Engg. mgrs. Will try again in another year. The email is encouraging me to try for other opportunities which I guess is a standard response. Disappointed that I did not make it. Perplexed as I dont have an idea about what I need to do better for the next time.
Wow.16