How is the TAM org at AWS ?

Oracle / Eng
Youtuber

Go to company page Oracle Eng

Youtuber
Sep 13, 2018 14 Comments

Work culture, team , opportunity to grow

Any insights would be helpful.

Tc 200k

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TOP 14 Comments
  • Amazon
    liml

    Go to company page Amazon

    liml
    Don't listen to those who have no clue, I'd probably put a good quantity of TAMs over the AWS engineers in sheer breadth of experience, the hiring bar has wavered a bit but most people (L6) are 10 years minimum multi domain with depth in a few, some are more specialized and have deep wells of experience in specific locations.

    This is not a sales position, you will not gain advancement by selling nor will you better yourself by forcing the customer something they do not need. The goal of the TAM is to help the customer meet their strategic outcomes by enabling them through operational excellence, cost savings, and sometimes deeper technical and strategic enablement.

    Work culture is fantastic for the most part, plenty of independence and leeway without undue micromanaging for the most part, but that can change in different regions (specifically smaller places like Phoenix, I've heard). Ability to grow is up to you, there are tons of projects internal to support, on the TFCs, external to customers, and helping the Service teams.

    Here is a post from previous that I've added to a bit:
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Silly nuggets know nothing. The role in AWS depends on whether you are regional, enterprise, or strategic supporting.

    Regional/Business - You are likely going to be partly piñata. The rest of your time will be helping multiple small customers on their AWS path. If you are lucky you will be able to drive strategic vision.

    Enterprise/Strategic - The bigger the beast the more dynamic the role. The piñata buck starts to get passed here. If your top 10 customer gets pissed then you will see GM/Director level scrambling. You most likely will be working with or dealing with executives of large corporations and helping with strategic outcomes.

    In some positions TAMs pull double duty on an architectural SA workloads, while other TAMS dick around in the weeds like a CSE. Your success and job description are really led by you in better accounts.

    Most issues are multi-domain and most AWS folks are very single track. SAs can help a lot, but it’s a mixed bag on SA vs TAM depending on Team. SDEs are code focused and on many teams lack even a superficial insight into their own services. How many times I've worked at massive scale with internal services and had to explain to them why they were failing. There are idiots and technical experts in both.

    To add to this, many TAMs are on Technical Field Communities and participate in speaking, designing reference architectures, helping development teams meet deliverables, etc.

    They've also just started out Specialist TAM organization, which allows you to pick an area of depth and concentrate in it, you will not have a direct assigned customer at this point but fly around assisting in operational excellence, strategic delivery, architecture, etc.

    You need little programming knowledge but you do need a multi-domain technical breadth and depth in a couple of them. I have depth in security, app dev, databases, and networking with 15 years of experience. Honestly many TAMs are jack of all trades and masters of 1 or 2.

    Pay for an L6 is anywhere from 180k to 250k total comp as a start, though Bay Area affects salary more than negotiating. Obviously 3rd/4th year TAMs today have a much higher TC due to strike price (current coworker is dropping 60 rsu every 6 months).

    Work environment is manager based. Majority of TAMs are not super stressed unless they are in a high priority region with more customers then they should have due to hiring shit shows.

    Your “off hours” dramatic workload depends on: >>> the raising and lowering of the SDE bar for services" <<<

    That about covers it.
    Sep 15, 2018 1
  • Amazon / Eng
    onMyWay

    Go to company page Amazon Eng

    onMyWay
    What does TAM stand for lol
    Sep 13, 2018 4
  • Research Now / Eng
    Shinzaemon

    Research Now Eng

    Shinzaemon
    ^^^^ TAM ^^^^
    Sep 15, 2018 0
  • Research Now / Eng
    Shinzaemon

    Research Now Eng

    Shinzaemon
    I used to see TAMs in Microsoft and it was the most miserable and pathetic role ever. They were basically punching bags. Whenever a product will have a problem the TAMs will get on the phone and just wait for the technical people to resolve the issue. If the customer gets mad and starts yelling and cursing the TAMs will swallow all abuse and ask the customer to remain calm as the technical folks are working to resolve the issue.

    I don't have first hand information about Amazon, but TAM role is a bad role because its neither technical nor managerial nor sales.

    The sales people always used the TAM as a Trojan horse to sell more products and services to the company in the guise of "helping" with issues.
    Sep 14, 2018 0
  • Amazon / Other
    OGFx60

    Go to company page Amazon Other

    OGFx60
    Terrible and you will regret your decision everyday. It’s the worst organization I’ve ever seen. Run by ex-Microsoft and Dell idiots. The support organization is toxic
    Sep 21, 2018 2