Burnt out L6 Amazon SDM

Amazon / Eng
eyeofstorm

Go to company page Amazon Eng

eyeofstorm
Feb 15 73 Comments

The title says it all. I am a lowly L6 SDM who is struggling to keep up with the sheer amount of stupid busy work that Amazon makes us SDMs do in the frikkin name of ownership, bias for fucktion and dive deep.

I've been up since 7 am and will be working at least past midnight. And don't anyone tell me about delegating shit, this is sdm shit that I can't ask my reports to do. It's just bad planning and lack of empathy in my food chain and making it dump on us at the last minute.

I have kids and it hurts when they come and tell me that I am always on calls and working. My wife has started to really believe that I am a workaholic SOB who is cold hearted as fk and only cares about his sorry ass job.

Fwiw, I manage multiple teams of apparently pretty significant importance and have the L7 carrot being dangled in front of me. So this should put any perf concerns laid to rest, though I question at times the integrity of this whole situation and if the carrot is only to make me stay until the last ounce of work is extracted out of me.

I await my comp results and thanks to blind I'll know just how deep my turd is in this stinkhole.

I am seriously considering moving to another team just to have a saner life. To hell with promo. Life, kids and wife first. Immigration woes restrict me to Amazon, else meta would have been home many moons ago (you peeps are good, or at least seemed so in the loops).

And yes, I do need to now pip someone because my org needs to meet the quota and I wasn't ballsy enough to say no. ( No, I was told he's your LE, go deliver the message). Pip is indeed real.

Rant over.

Years at Amazon: 2 just too many
TC: not fucking worth it
Yoe: as old as yo mamma's boytoy

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TOP 73 Comments
  • You pip someone and life pips you
    Karma is a bitcch and so is amazon
    Feb 15 3
  • Amazon
    qztfg

    Go to company page Amazon

    qztfg
    Wife’s gonna pip you
    Feb 15 4
  • Google
    TonaldDump

    Go to company page Google

    TonaldDump
    You talk about prioritizing wlb and then about moving to Meta?
    Feb 15 6
    • Amazon
      FoodLover9

      Go to company page Amazon

      FoodLover9
      @eyeofstorm but why do they feel like they need to say it? Any corporate values are the values the corporation wish it had, not the ones it got.
      Feb 16
    • Amazon / Eng
      flywithme

      Go to company page Amazon Eng

      flywithme
      Hey googler, am meeting a recruiter likely this week. Any words of wisdom for what orgs I should look for, or what questions to ask the recruiter? I am in AWS so GCP may be what they'll likely try to get me for. I am firm believer of do it right, do it once even in Aws, so I hope to stand my ground in gcp too if it comes to it.

      Fwiw, it will likely be for an EM position. I am going to try for senior EM, given that I manage multiple teams and have a org of 34ish devs. Are my expectations realistic ? Been a manager for 6+ years but only have <1 yr as M2.
      Mar 21
  • Meta
    somebook

    Go to company page Meta

    somebook
    Why are you posting this stuff on blind - aren’t you supposed to have a spine - disagree and commit and all that leadership bs ? Why not push back on your manager ? What about amazons new lp of being best employer or some bs - how will that be achieved if you are a yes man and can’t shovel shit back up.
    Feb 16 3
    • Amazon People interviewing candidates and plainly rejecting them if they don’t hear the ego-stroking crap that gives them massive boners is who cares about those dumb LPs. And if Amazonians themselves don’t care about them, who are they meant for? And for what purpose exactly? No wonder people are PIPing Amazon recruiters nowadays and the desperation from this company is blatantly obvious because of their own crap.
      Feb 16
    • Amazon / Eng
      eyeofstorm

      Go to company page Amazon Eng

      eyeofstorm
      OP
      Somebook - fair point about pushing back. I have pushed back, let things drop and was asked to pick up again later in evening today.

      The new LP is great but it will take a while for the company to embrace it. Till then it's the other LPs and toxicity being shoved.

      And about posting on Blind...aren't we all here for some venting and finding company in our misery, with an occasional nugget of wisdom imparted?
      Feb 16
  • Amazon / Eng
    eyeofstorm

    Go to company page Amazon Eng

    eyeofstorm
    OP
    I did say no yesterday for it was valentine's. Just heard an 'emailful' today.

    Tech job is 9-5 in good old windows division, no where else.
    Feb 15 3
    • Amazon / Eng
      eyeofstorm

      Go to company page Amazon Eng

      eyeofstorm
      OP
      The sad part is my TC is likely not that much different from yours, if normalized for levels (I don't know what level you are at).

      sometimes, life makes you prioritize something else not out of choice 😞😢
      Feb 15
    • Good luck. I hope you will have enough time to see your kids grow. I was pretty burned out in my previous team and realized its just a corporate job.
      Feb 15