I started at Amazon (<6months) as an L7 Sr SDM. It's the most toxic culture I've ever joined. I have not slept properly since I was told to have to let people go eventhough they are performing above average. There is no ethics and everyone is so cultish it makes me feel sick. Please help me find another role! Referrals to any company that doesn't require a coding assessment for tech leadership roles would be appreciated! #hiring #jobopening #recruiting TC: 650k Location: Seattle
When did you join ?
Not important lol
Why not important ? You need to give 3 to 6 months before making the decision. It could be knee jerk reaction. What else you don’t like ?
How is Amazon's toxic culture still a surprise to people?
Op what was your role before you landed the L7?
CTO/Director of Engineering at a $5B series D startup
Op, if you are fine not being part of FAANG community, there are plenty of startups series >= D funded which are looking for candidates like you. My advise would be, look for great startups which is stable and great valuation and just apply, so I’m sure they would be more than happy to take you in on a great decision driving role.
Referrals to any such companies would be appreciated! I've scoured LinkedIn ☠️
Better, Robinhood, databricks, confluent. You need ask specifically people which company you need referral for
OP you don’t sound like an L7 SDM, not to sound accusatory but I have my doubts and feel you might be an new grad SDE1 or 2 on a pip or dev plan. 650k sounds low for L7. You’re talking about letting go of high performers but don’t offer any possible reasons such as * project has no more funding * their roles are obsolete (ie data analysts for a service that is now completely automated) * they might be performing well in your eyes but not quite well enough org-wide to warrant a promotion to say sde3 and may have been stuck in sde2 for 3+ years * these people are jerks or don’t collaborate well in a team environment Letting go of people shouldn’t keep a senior manager awake at night, this *is* part of your job. Have you spoken to these people about why to let them go? It sounds like you are fishing for companies to apply to before your dev plan completes. This post also seems like a possible hit piece against amazon, I don’t think there are any companies out there whom willingly let go of high performers.
The cultish nature of work here is the issue. Seems like a good ole boys club and unless you go through the correct hazing mechanisms you don't have a chance to fit in. In fact, you will be uninvited from meetings and other things if you don't buy in. Can't prove anything to you here but facts are facts imo. You can't innovate if everyone innovating for you is looking over their shoulder. This leads to high attrition and inability to consistently produce results.
Does sound a lil sus NGL
You are L7 SDM at Amazon and don’t know how to code? Coding is part of the interview at Amazon.. are you sure you are L7 SDM? Not a troll ?
That was my initial suspicion but I've since pinged friends/former colleagues at Amazon and they tell me OP's situation is entirely plausible.
The fact that you're a top contributer, work at amazon and have no idea about this is concerning. Try a Google search
Isn’t SDM interviews are fully based on LP ? I heard they do not ask coding questions for engineering leadership roles
OP you won’t pass FB or G EM interview if you can’t code
DM for Atlassian though we definitely can't match that pay. Not sure what pay senior manager goes up to here, maybe 500k or so. But tbf the stress level is probably a fraction as much.
Location and TC
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