I recently got a SDE2 offer from Amazon. Every few days, I see someone posting that they got PIPed at Amazon. How common is it for people, at Amazon, to end up in such a situation? Is is just based on your performance or do any other factors contribute to it as well?
Do you have any other offer? Also always include tc /offered tc and yoe.
Depends on your manager honestly. If your manager is fair, it will be based purely on your performance. That being said, some managers are evil, and will put you on PIP if you rub them the wrong way. Managers have way too much power in this regard and as a sde, there is not you can do to fight it. Most managers in Amazon are the former and not the latter, but a few bad apples do exist
Also there is still a stack ranking system in Amazon that has been hidden away behind some fancy terms. There is ultimately someone at the top or the stack and someone at the bottom. Someone is definitely going to get PIPed.
I found one post about this. Hope this can help: https://www.rooftopslushie.com/request/The%20sings%20of%20an%20Amazonian%20SDEIIIL6%20heading%20a%20PIP-1702?utm_source=share&utm_medium=link
The hiring bar is very low for the last few years... So, they hire almost everyone as long as there is no red flag and if the candidate is good on LPs... Then they evaluate candidates once they are in.. Who are good, they remain amazonian... Who are weak or bad, they get PIP
How much time is given to someone to prove himself? I have seen folks getting PIPed in less than 1 year. Is that normal?
Yes, 6 months is good enough but Amazon typically gives more than that.
Worked there for 3 years. Saw two people PIPed. One was an engineer that couldn't produce any results. He left voluntarily. Another was a TPM that didn't make progress on feedback he was getting. I think he maybe didn't agree? He didn't feel like it was justified and thought it was a personal thing with his manager. I thought he was pretty inaffective but I don't know the specifics about the feedback he was getting so who knows. I can't remember if he was let go or quit on his own but he definitely left. In both cases the pips seemed really lengthy. Maybe a full quarter?
10% people are always on PIP or development plan. One person gets out other is pushed in.
Does that happen once a year?
Nope, it’s a continuous thing
Ok, I worked for Amazon for 5 years, so maybe I can share my perspective. In theory, 10% of the people will always be on PIP, Dev List or Pivot. The "bottom" 10% aren't necessarily the ppl with the lowest potential or even performance. It's the 10% according to your manager at the sr. Manager/Director level, which could have nothing to do with actual performance. If you have a bs manager, they will "create" evidence to show you're a low performer. Now, is Amazon the worst company to work for? No, Snap is like that but 10 times worse. I am a manager and am in constant battle to defend my team against bs skip manager(s) that want to throw ppl under the bus
why? snap over-hired?
honestly you're probably getting hired as pip fodder so the existing engineers don't get pipped. sorry
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