L5 interview at Amazom
I interviewed at Amazon a few months ago and got an offer for an L4 position. I had other offers at the time and wasn’t that excited about the team at Amazon, so I took another offer. Now 4 months later, I’m realizing working at a startup isn’t everything its cracked up to be (long hours, high pressure, low pay, etc), so I’m ready to go to Amazon. A recruiter from AWS reached out to me, I responded that I’m interested. However after some back and forth, they said they don’t have any L4 positions available. They asked if I’m interested in re-interviewing for an L5 position, but didnt give any details. Should I do it? If so, what do I need to study? Honestly, I’d rather go in as L4, even though it means lower comp. Hoping L4 would be lower stress/expectations. Can I ask the recruiter to look for L4 positions outside of AWS? I’m concerned if I interview for L5 and don’t get it, I’ll be SOL.
Op you don't seem to cope well with pressure which is fine. Hopefully not a nagging wife in the background. Now it has been just 4 months that you started with the startup. So nothing. Go for L5, Search blind in regards to the interview and do your best. If it doesn't work continue working with the startup and apply elsewhere at the same time.
A bit of pressure and deadlines is good. However unrealistic expectations and deadlines aren’t productive and just put you under undue stress. 70-80 hour weeks just lead to burn out.. personally I don’t know anyone that does well working 12 hour days. Fortunately no nagging wife 😂
Good luck with that mate! No nagging wife, happy life 😂 But yeah take your time finding a new job and get this L5.
Hey. Your interview results should be valid for a year. So you should be able to get into amazon without doing a full interview loop. Your recruiter might be taking you for a ride. Best strategy is to reach out to hiring managers and other recruiters on LinkedIn. Tell them you already cleared the loop.
Recruiter followed up saying I can’t interview for L5 for 9 months, so I’ll be going in as L4. 😭 but at least I can pick my team. Any teams you recommend? Looking for WLB
My experience interviewing candidates at AWS Boston is that recruiters and HM are free to do whatever they like in terms of whether they consider or totally ignore your previous interview feedback. So just go with whatever the recruiter says. They can throw away the feedback if it was from a different org e.g., an AWS HM/recruiter may not want to use Alexa/Audible interview result. They could also ignore the result if they don't like the questions you were asked.
Reinterview... Loop for l4, and L5 is the same ... You just have to prepare better on leetcode + system design + LP (have tons of behavioral answers written beforehand)
Are you jumping from WeWork to AWS?
Nope. Series A startup