Amazon Internal Transfer
Joined Amazon just over 7 months ago as L6 SDM (location- US) and I already hate it. Some coworkers are good, but the tech stack, manager is not to my liking at all. I have been considering moving to AWS. 1. Is it advisable to switch only after February because year-end ratings are locked? 2. I know that the moment I hit the "Apply" button my current manager will get notified. But per the internal documented procedure, hiring managers are not supposed to interview before employees formally apply. So, how can you avoid interviewing with internal teams without your current manager knowing? Why would a HM even accept to interview you unofficially without formally applying (unless you're friends outside work)? 3. Given that 7+ months is not long enough, what kind of retaliation can I expect from my manager? Lot of posts suggest that they might put you on dev plan or PIP, but is that possible after ratings get locked in Feb? #amazon #move #transfer #lateral-move #switch
HMs know the policy for interviewing transfers and also know that some managers retaliate and have ways to get away with it, or at least that this perception exists and transfer candidates want to avoid it. Just frame it as an informal conversation to explore a possibility, and discuss what it would take (interviewing, sharing feedback/reviews) while keeping it informal. Try to satisfy the new HM and get some sort of commitment, preferably in e-mail. Then click apply. HMs will accept this because they have an incentive to hire and grow. Not every manager will try to retaliate or has the means to make it work. It's against policy anyway and part of Develop is supposed to be supporting transfers. But yes, it can happen. In some orgs and locations, 6 months tenure will be expected before transferring. Given you're an SDM you should know your org's practices. Ratings are not ever "locked". You can get TT in an OLR and if your manager has a way to justify it to HR and your skip, they can put you in Focus on the next day. It's just really unlikely because it pretty much requires your manager and skip to both make shit up and that's uncommon.
Thanks for offering useful advice. The only reason I was suggesting to wait until February was because if I get decent rating in the annual-review and inform my current manager that I want to look around internally then he can't simply put me in focus or PIP immediately because then it will look very odd because he just rated me "meets the bar" and this can't just change in could of days. Also, I'm interested in Training & Certification (T&C) org in AWS. Currently make in mid 300. Any idea if T&C can even match this TC?
Don't tell your manager till you have offer. What if you tell and you don't get offer & have to stay back? Also, TC is no issue for internal transfer.