Thinking about joing Amazon? Culture is highly political. Still want to? Read ahead.
Amazon values their LPs. Some call it drinking the "kool-aid" but in reality its just highly political culture.
People fail to realize amazon is highly political (the whole cliche and sometimes cringey customer obsession LP is true). What kind of skills help survive politics? Yes, thats right, soft skills, the type of skills most technical people/engineers dont possess and refuse to learn. Thats just shooting yourself in the foot. I wont go into what specific soft skills but it encompasses what you're probably already thinking, but likely dont like doing or even have skills with (yet). Yes, everyone has growth areas. It takes soft skills to navigate the political landscape so you can improve and grow these areas. The culture isnt built to purposefully set you up for failure, on the contrary. You just need to know how to navigate said landscape for optimum results. Whatever you're trying to grow or improve on, chances are someone else was in your shoes and figured it out already. This is when having good relationships with your manager and skip are important.
Some people know how to "fake it till you make it", so they get past the interviews but get PIP'd down the road (again usually politically driven which is more common than someone actually deserving it), and some thrive in this culture because they do truly have the soft skills they're looking for (could be still faking it).
Also, its no place for "whiners" and people who want their hand held through everything. Its highly data driven. Be selfish and look out for yourself first and foremost. Data points. All of them. Even if it was a small but positive impact, note it down. You know those yearly goals IE: harvesting artifacts? Yeah its annoying but not hard at all. Likely what you're working on can almost always be harvested for an artifact even if you dont intend it to be one. See? Data point, checked off. However, that does not mean not being a team player.
There may or may not back end processes or mechanisms to make life easier, but the point your team wants to see is effort being put in yourself before reaching out. And hey if theres not a mechanism or process, create one with positive impact and add value! Thats a huge data point and your promo doc is practically writing itself at that point.
Due diligence: whether thats internal wikis, blog posts, google, whatever. Exhaust all your options before reaching out to the team; it shows due diligence has been done and most teammates will have no issue helping you after that. Everyone is busy, dont bombard them with questions or processes that are spelled out and documented somewhere already. But that doesnt mean spend 4 hours trying to find something either. All balancing act. This is example of frugality (commonly misunderstood LP): use your resources and time wisely. It is not necessarily about being "cheap".
TL;DR: Amazon is not for everyone. If you dont wanna play the game, dont even try for amazon. You'll end up regretting and resenting your decision and amazon as a whole and be yet another statistic or anecdotal negative blind poster. It doesnt matter how strong you are in technical aspects, thats only half the job here.
That said, shitpost and troll away. Happy Friday!
comments
i used to think the same. instead of spending hours to find the right direction just ask some SME to point in the right direction. Apparently this has been used against me, and called out that i lack dive deep.
1. Give very bad Connections feedbacks
2. Signal that you're the one giving bad feedbacks
3. Mention in your 1-on-1 that you're looking to switch team
3. Get dev-listed
4. Ask manager to expedite PIP
5. Walk out with severance π°
Personally I'm very bad at dealing with those toxic culture but after working so long time watching other shits get rewarded because of handling those toxic culture well I think it is time for all of us to learn. If someone want to share how he handles this please share.
1. If you're getting coffee or snack, ask your teammates if they want to come with you or if they want anything
2. Openly congratulate your teammates on public forums like team chat, email/DL, whatever when they achieve something like a cert, good project outcome etc
3. Schedule 1:1 with your manager, dont wait until they have feedback. You need to initiate. Even if you dont have specific career or role related points, its good to discuss other matters with them, personal or otherwise. This builds your relationship with them. Try this with your skip too.
4. Help your teammates by offering to help, see how they're doing in project or tasks. They will likely reciprocate.
5. Participate openly in scrum meetings or meetings in general
6. Know your audience. Know how to speak in a language that your audience understands
7. Get with your manager or senior leads to see what you can help them with. Even if they dont have anything, offering to help is a big brownie point
Etc etc. This just an example of social soft skills. Its not exhaustive list. This may seem disengenuine or BS but thats why people can "fake it till they make it" and why people hate politics. These small gestures go a long way. Essentially being good at politics is just gathering as much brownie points you can while adding value when things can become actionable items, then you go and do or act upon these actionable items and deliver what you said you would.