I recently accepted an Amazon offer because the TC was good and the project seemed reasonably interesting (Alexa Shopping). I've heard that it's kinda easy to get into Amazon but harder to stay there. I was wondering if any of you current Amazonians could give me some advice on how to not get PIPed or put on devlist? I've never worked on-call before. Thanks! Current TC- 165k, 2.5 YOE
Don’t suck
What's your TC at Amazon?
$241k projected at the end of year 1.
It depends of your manager
Calibrate with your manager on their expectations of you. Understand that you're expected to deal with ambiguity so don't expect discrete goals and prescriptive plan from your manager, but instead high-level goals. In your 1 on 1s update them on what you're doing to progress against those goals and give them the opportunity to validate. Ensure it's documented in a mutually visible medium which has recovery and tracking mechanisms and don't act like a lawyer whenever there are misalignments. Most importantly build strong support from others for your work making it easy for your manager to support you. If you are PIPed how you react will pretty much determine the outcome. Secondary factor is how often your performance has been corrected.
Thanks for the detailed reply! This is really helpful.
Don’t stop LCing
Not only the poor performer, average guys will get PIP if you are perceived to be an easy target. So look around you, are you average among your peers, if so jump to a team where it's still growing and there's lots of meaningful work to do.
Do a good job and hope you have a good manager. Assume positive intent but don't be naive. If your manager shows signs of extreme pressure or using Dev list to punish people, run like the wind (without telling them you're planning to move)
Thanks! How easy is it to transfer between teams, if I'm not happy working with my manager?
Very easy. Connect with other managers via chime get a few informal loops done and you have an offer.