Got put in focus. My fault really, started the year of slow as fuck even after getting an NI rating. Was putting more effort in the last 4 months but my CR count was low. To be fair, the tasks I was picking up for the most part were the more complicated ones and took time. Also I was coasting. Can’t focus with wfh so got focused. The weird part is that We were discussing projects so I can make a case for promo 🤣 On the flip side, I got reached out to by a couple of recruiters already. My only issue is i haven’t touched LC in 2 years. I scheduled tenatative phone screens in November before I got put into focus. Right now I’m trying clear focus as well as get interview ready. I’m terrible at this LC shit and am unable to out in as much time as I’d have liked due to trying not fail focus. When you select your options, do understand that I’m stuck in wintery Canada for the next couple of years. PS: mangers actually pretty good. Never was pushy or anything. He was actually helping me improve which I was but I think the mid year OLR made me perfect ura fodder. On an unrelated note, what does IC stand for? I see this word being thrown around and I have no idea what it means. For those who care: Focus: is a performance plan at Amazon that signals that you aren’t performing well and you get formal goals to meet for the month or however many days they decide. If yiu don’t succeed, you’re put in pivot(pip). After pivot you’re asked to fuck away. TC: 🥜 L4. YOE: 3.5 (1.5 at Amazon) Canada #amazon #swe #sde Update for those who care: - I was able to clear the sprint goals for the first sprint of focus half way through the first sprint. People can do amazing things when their ass is on fire. I think I might have a shot of making out of this in one piece. My manager did express concern whether this level of output is sustainable and that if Amazon is good fit with my working style. This kind of worries me even though he stated that I’m the clear as the first sprint is concerned. Second Update for the folks who care: Got adjusted goals for the second sprint due to an oncall shift in between. The span got extended by a couple of days because of it which is kind of weird. Haven’t had a conversation about whether the goals are adjusted. I cleared the original span but not sure with the span extension whether my goals increase or not. Hopefully will be able to clear. On LC: Haven’t been able to do much because this is just too stressful Last Update: Manager informed me that I met the goals specified for the focus plan and he’ll be recommending I get removed from it. Apparently, there’s a doc to be submitted to hr and director who then approve it before the focus entry is removed. Thanks for the advice everyone Still LCing
Individual contributor
Tell us ur level, Yoe, location?
L4 , Canada
For those of us who don't speak Amz, what is being put on focus even mean
If u pick complicated tasks then your cr count will be low. Not sure how are u telling u are at fault. Can u explain more? Did u not deliver in last quarter or what?
Fault is joining Amazon
Not sure man. We hear one side of story. I know there are bad managers. But on blind, we dont get to hear two party augments. I know people who had good experience at Amazon and people who got screwed by managers also
Get your head straight and work thru the focus plan. It’s meant to be an early warning wake up call. If done right your mgr has been coaching you for 4-6 wks before and not seeing any results. Get your attitude towards work adjusted and your sail thru the focus plan. I’ve promoted several engineers that were previously on focus so it is far from a death sentence. If you don’t make the attitude change your next employer will likewise put you on some performance plan
Yeah that’s what I’m trying to do right now
Sound to me mate that in your situation the Amazon management process kinda worked. Identify low performing staff, managers discuss the performance issue with them - if things improve awesome, if they don’t cut ties. It’s good to see someone taking some self responsibility than just blaming their manager for all problems and being a victim. Kudos to you for that. As for some advice. - obviously start working more than part time ;) Discuss projects with your manager, make sure you both agree scope and complexity setting expectations. Have 1 flagship project and other ancillary projects. Make sure you make measure able outcome. People get pipped often because they don’t do the career management by - establishing agreed goals, making sure all parties agree the outcome of success, making sure both parties see the value - all part of severing good projects no different that starting your own company and choosing what the market wants. Can’t have success unless the beneficiary feels and sees the benefit
I see what you mean and I’ve been doing for the past few months. Stopped slacking off and everything. I had flagship projects last year and drove them to success. I’ve been actively looking for one this year and haven’t gotten any yet. My only qualm with the process is that even when I was slacking off, I wasn’t being “carried” by the team. The last two months, I’ve been doing more than my fair share and my output is towards the higher end for the team. I feel like I was kicked into this due to mid year OLR and URA quota. On the quality of work part, I’ve never tried to inflate my CR stats by putting integration tests etc in another CR which I’ve seen a lot of people do. Essentially, I’ve been put into focus when I was actually a proper contributor and not a slacker. The goals set for me are ambitious too, which are to consume 1/4th of sprint capacity in a team of 8
Completely feel your pain, and this is also not defending the process or agreeing to it, but helping you understand it. Mid year OLR is to stack rank employees not at a point in time but performance over a period of time. Generally it is to force managers to be managers - as clearly a lot of managers at Amazon are not very good at this. Those that are identified as bottom performing over that period clearly should have been managed to increase performance - often people don’t want to have hard conversation which inevitably leads to this outcome. If the bottom performing employees over the period have not already in a focus plan, they are forced to put them in. However, if they were in a focus plan and have come out and are now performing nothing happens. Sounds like your manager didn’t act at the appropriate time to place you in it. Don’t believe the bullshit on blind, focus is very possible to get out of - but must be managed by you and your manager - force your manager to manage it. Demand the goals not to be ambiguous, be definitive and be measurable. There is an element of expected ambiguity but things still have to be measurable. These facts make failing focus difficult if you have the data - demonstrate the company policy and be data driven and it’s makes it very difficult to throw you under the bus :) hope it help. DM me if you want more help
Get a mentor. You seriously need one!
Could you elaborate. Btw I don’t think I have problem in dealing with technical complexity. I’ve a strong case for L5 if I get my output up
Final Update: Passed focus and did enough LC to clear Meta and G. Joined G after taking like 5 months off. - after resigning from A I lost access to my old account and couldn’t verify it. G is much nicer
Jeezus. You need to clear you mind mate.
Minds clear. The problem is lack of focus
You seem to be in focus to me 😛