Is anybody here planning a long career at Amazon? I’m not an SDE, and AWS pays the highest for my position of anybody in tech. Honestly the best path for my career is to be promoted here. Is anybody else planning something similar? Blind makes it sound like everyone only stays for two years, but so many people in interact with have been here 5-10 years. TC: $260K
Blind is mostly SDEs and they do not like Amazon culture. As SDM I can understand its not healthy to run with that pressure for a long time
Yeah I get that. But in my customer facing org there are plenty of people in their 40s and 50s and many who plan to spend 20 years here.
All depends on your organization and the manager you have… but relatively easy to move teams too… just make sure you make the decision before a toxic manager puts you in focus to trap you. Most managers are good though (not insane).
Yeah I’m actually trying to establish relationships with various managers in my org in case I start to sense some issues. I’m sure surviving anywhere long term is gonna take some luck and skill
I was there for almost 10 years. I’ll probably go back in a few years. Amazon’s culture works very well if you’re a particular type of person - execution and result oriented.
I will say I feel like the expectations for everything are very clear at Amazon. I know what it takes to get promoted, what it takes to get fired, etc. I have been at so many places with literally zero guidance surrounding any of those things. Why did you leave after a decade?
Just to gain more perspective from the customer
Definitely, I feel staying in Amazon long is pure luck. Don't know when you start not to fit a perception and make you look a pip fodder. I am about to complete 5 yr but since I joined everyday looked like a PIP is going come soon. Once I got lucky to escape it. It was more due to bad manager.
That just doesn’t seem right. In my org nobody goes around worrying about PIP. And I feel if your always on the path to promotion it’s easier to pick up on things heading south. Then again, in CX facing orgs, we’re all about communication, so maybe it makes that part a little easier.
> Blind makes it sound like everyone only stays for two years “Average tenure 2y” is not the same thing as “people stay 2y”. Amazon hires at a fast clip, so you get a lot of small numbers factored into the total tenure data.
Yeah that’s a good point
I have been here for about 4 years and I love it. I have had bad managers and great managers. It’s about you to navigate those tough waters. But overall if you are up for the challenge it’s exponential growth.
Long career at Amazon makes sense Only at L7+ Rest don't make sense as compensation is not commensurate to effort. People complain and then become the part. If you can't fight them join them People like me are just too lazy to (interview elsewhere/ personal situation/ unable to make a change as there are other thing in life that are in a deeper mess to rock the boat with a job change/quiet quit/ found a way to bs through LPs, carved a niche and cruise) and whine on blind
I do plan to get promoted to L7 (probably looking at 3 years, currently L6). I have no problem resting and vesting as much as I can once I get there.
Hope long have you been a L6?
Depends. The manager I have now is awesome. Definitely staying here for as long as he's in charge. People leave managers, not companies
Sure, but that’s gotta be factored into the equation, since it’s unlikely to have one manager for 10+ years. You or him would get promoted in that time anyway