Here’s the deal, I am working cross functional and other team refuses to help me. I know codebase and process of my team, how can they expect me to understand their codebase and make a change there? Each time I still do it & they have an issue like this is hacky way but doesn’t share the way they want it. There is simply no documentation of how it can be done, not even example CR. This is delaying my project by more than a month. I am stuck with it for months and I am feeling stressed now about PIP. I escalated to my L6 & L7 in team but I am still stuck! Amazon is pretty bad in helping anyone. I am only 9 months in and the expectations are insane. I am unable to deal with so much stress, can’t sleep but can’t switch jobs because of visa issues. Help me Amazonians. I am only L4 that’s 9 months in! TC: 190K Seattle
Same here.
Also at Amazon?
Similar expectations at Apple too :) go n contribute to others codebase
Ask your senior manager to force each team to schedule weekly office hours.
Most of the retail platform teams are like this. Very rude and unsupportive. Retail is a shit show right now with endless software migrations plus unrealistic Q4 goals. I am surprised some teams have not adjusted their goals to account for Covid slowdown. Also, as for your current team, I don't think it will be a problem if your manager is supportive. Things dependent on external teams sometimes take 6 months to a year to complete, especially if more than 2 teams are involved. Talk to your manager about how this is affecting your delivery/performance before trying to switch teams. Sometimes projects like these need L5/L6 engineer to disagree and commit with engineers on the other team. Because, switching teams for an L4 9 months in is tricky- you basically lose all your progress to promotion and start from scratch.
Thank Lfnr39 foe such a detailed advise. I appreciate such a thoughtful response. I agree with everything that you said. But keep in mind OP's main goal is to prevent pip and reduce stress. I don't think promotion is in OP's mind at all
This is the best advice. Definitely speak with your manager about how it’s affecting your performance. you can specifically ask if you’re in risk of, and worried about getting a PIP because of this. Often times the difference of performance is just the self awareness that things aren’t going well. As a bonus, getting this completed can heavily influence getting a promo. All that being said, if you don’t learn to handle stress due to having to wait on other teams, amazon may not be the place for you. Waiting a couple of months really isn’t that bad. One of my projects took about 4 years to deliver primarily due to another org continually failing to deliver. Even with SVP and DE pressure on the org they wouldn’t deliver. We ended up having to give an entire team to that other org to progress. Through all that time I was never worried about having negative performance due to it. Just keep everyone in the loop on what’s going on, write up docs regarding the current and future progress, and try and find any other solutions that may chip away at progress being made.
Find a job outside Amazon ASAP! As_hole managers rule Amazon!
LeetCode. There r tons of opportunities outside
Honestly what you are describing isn't unique to Amazon. There are stubborn engineers that are even more elitist at Google and FB and feel you should adapt to their stack cuz they think they are hot shots - at Amazon it's cuz they want promo and they have really tight deadlines for each quarter so they don't have time for you. I myself reached out to a team recently and they basically said fuck you we don't provide tech resources and we don't help with consult. I found out they have monthly (not quarter) deadlines so I understand. Make sure your manager is understanding - that is the first step. Discuss with your manager that this is out of your control. Say he pips you - if he does and you push back against hr - he'll still get a strike against him if you can prove that you did everything in your power.
Thanks. This is kind of advice I was looking for
Problem is I want to solve such problems and if every time I switch teams when such issues happen, then I will go nowhere in career. As you mentioned G F maybe same, problem is PIP fear. If I take time in G, I might not worry as I will not be PIPed. More than solving issue, I am scared in Amazon that it might lead to PIP!
Why am I not surprised?? Amazon are you listening???? I think they just don't give a fuck
same here
It is so ironic that managers are considered leaders at Amazon but they are rarely PIP'ed for doing poorly on 14 LP. Instead, the engineers are aggressively thrown under the bus to meet PIP targets with cases built on pretext reasons. Amazon has a lot of shady managers. Since those managers are the management, HRBP protects them and this attracts more shady managers at Amazon.
Switch teams asap if you can
You think this will end up me being PIPed?
You should talk to a few managers with spots open and get multiple offers, THEN apply for formally so there is no time for your current manager to PIP you. Your current manager will talk with the new manager and might shit on you, that's why it's wise to have a couple options open.