TPM at Amazon - Shall i take it !
i recieved a TPM offer at amazon (seattle) with significant pay raise. i am hearing horror stories about the company. Shall i take it? is extra money worth it ? edit : I’m comfortable at my current position. Extra money attracted me. ive heard 1. Amazon is extremely political. You have to always be on the lookout. People will always try to throw you under the bus. I’m very bad with politics. I believe it live and let live. 2. I’ve heard to be ready with long hours of work all day everyday. I can work long hours in peaks but all day everyday will burn me out. I believe in working smart than hard. Is amazon right for me or are these rumors ?? current TC : 180k amazon TC : 275k.
What team? And what are you hearing? Amazon has this tendency to hold people accountable and likes it when teams deliver stuff, especially when they deliver stuff quickly. It’s not for everyone (as in, 99% of the people I’ve met at both Oracle and Salesforce in the past wouldn’t hack it)
I’ve heard that 1. Amazon is extremely political. You have to always be on the lookout. People will always try to throw you under the bus. I’m very bad with politics. I believe it live and let live. 2. I’ve heard to be ready with long hours of work all day everyday. I can work long hours in peaks but all day everyday will burn me out. I believe in working smart than hard. Is amazon right for me or are these rumors ??
The politics is accurate, but it’s often more around promotion. Are you going in at L6 or L7? And what team? That matters a lot. Generally I find that Amazon people are openly self-interested and only self-interested. Frequently few other passions; lots of smart, boring people there who want the next level or getting the Orange/red/purple badge for years of service. As for hours. That really depends on what area you’re in, and I’ve only really seen peaks being demanding, not usually an always-on thing.
What does TPM stand for?
Technical program manager
My job title currently doesn’t say TPM. It say Sr Program manager but all my roles and responsibilities and what I do day to day is same as what TPM does.
Take it.
Dmed you
Amazon TPM has to know technical details and capabilities of all teams they interact with. I see many times they design the architecture and have many iterations after talking to various teams about feasibility. This is much different than usual program management role. Think about this too apart from culture and hard work
I don’t design the architecture but I have good technical knowledge to give inputs when required and point out risks. I use my technical knowledge to drive things forward. Is that enough. Are rumors true about culture and long hours?
Make it clear with HM about the role. Many TPMs had to propose architecture that involved working with multiple teams but that depends on org and projects. can't say about long hours for TPMs because most of them are females in my org and could be working from home too.
TPMS are the ones who are always thrown under the bus. SDM will try to retain sdes. And directors will try to retain sdms.
So you recommending I don’t take it ? I am pretty comfortable in my current role. Is extra 95k worth the stress. When you say “retain” do you mean they put TPM on PIP
That's high L6 offer. Take it. 180k Cisco Bay area and 275k Amazon Seattle is no brainer TC breakdown? Amazon offers are tricky so make sure you calculated correctly Culture varies by team greatly. Some have good work hours
Take it.