[AMA] I’m a former Amazon Bar Raiser. Ask Me Anything!
I used to bar raise for Amazon prior to jumping ship. Did hundreds of interviews and I think I have a pretty clear idea how the BR system works. What do you guys want to know? Ask me (almost) anything. YOE: 12 TC: 600 #amazon #aws #barraiser #interview
Which was your toughest interview loop?
The split loops with an overeager-to-hire Hiring Manager are always the toughest. It typically goes like this: team is expanding or under stressful workload, HM is desperate to hire asap, loop results come back split with both inclined and not inclined to hire, HM says they are willing to "accept risks and have detailed onboarding plan" and pushes for an "Inclined to hire" vote. These loops often end up in fairly contentious conversation and lots of steering and course correction.
Did bar-raising help fix your inferiority complex?
It did help me grow in a handful leadership and negotiation skills yes.
What's a bar raiser? Is that an official title?
An impartial interviewer on your interviewing panel, ideally outside of the Hiring Manager's org and free from conflict of interest. BR leads the post-interview debrief, guide the discussion, and needs to give a green light for an offer to be made. BR also has veto power and can override HM in making hire decision. Internally you can look up someone's profile to see if they are a BR.
Heard bar at amazon is quite low to begin with. Did you raise it from a 4/10 to a 5/10?
You heard it wrong.
How was your wlb at Amazon? Weren’t you burned out?
Yes I did get burned out. Quite bad actually
Yeah. As an SDE-2, I get burned out. For bar raiser, I can assume how bad it would be.
Who influences the outcome in the interview panel
Hiring Manager and Bar Raiser both have to be inclined for an offer to be made. However BR (and only BR) has veto power and can veto HM's inclined vote. It's rarely used though.
Why did you created AMA post?? Do you think Blind give a fkkk about being a bar raiser at Amazon ?
Because sharing is caring. When I was interviewing for Amazon I had no one to tell me what a BR does or how to prepare for it. Got anxious coming into interviews thanks to that. I don't want folks to feel the same anxiety. Interviewing is already stressful enough. But I guess you don't really care do you :)
So, did you raise the bar??
Yes I did.
What questions did bar raiser ask
Why would one need a bar raiser?
I have answered this above ^
I don’t know. Do they?