Hey everyone. I'm a new grad SDE at Amazon. Been about 2-3 months in. I am currently traumatized of the mandatory pip culture at Amazon (especially since I am on a visa). I worked really really hard to get this far in life and I am immensely grateful, but I can't function at work due to fear. My team and manager seem great, but I am struggling at work (new technologies/languages, internal tools etc), and the potential fear of pip is literally eating me up (and the "what-if" in case manager-changes / re-orgs). I am a hard worker, and while I am doing stuff to learn and deliver, I just don't think I will be able to perform at Amazon's level/pace in such a state, which is why I am being honest with myself and looking for new/other opportunities. I am grateful for this job, so I want to do my best while I am here, but I am desperate to leave. I don't care about TC (happy to take a pay cut) and I don't care about prestige as well. I just want to work at a company with a slower pace of life and without mandatory pip policy/culture (different from self low-performance). If your company (or others in your connections) is hiring and you can help me out in any way (referral, or through HM/recruiter-contact), I'd really really appreciate it. Open to non-SDE tech positions as well (I'm a good writer, so technical writer etc). Super thankful for/to this community. Hoping to make it through this. (Tips for applications/getting-interviews greatly appreciated). Obligatory: YoE: < 1yr | TC: ~140k #techcareer #softwareengineer #company #hiring #mentalhealth #pip #faang
Hate to say it but it depends on team. My team sends out 3-4 small CRs a day perhaps? but deploys code every week/other-week I'd say. Also, any positions with your company? (Don't know what tdd is btw)
Take a pause and address this fear. I have no doubt you worked really hard to get where you are an must have talent to have been hired; but me saying this probably does nothing for your validation. Believe in yourself and talents, work hard. No amount of anxiety will help the future be better as you have already discovered. If you genuinely “know” that there is a PIP culture then ack that as a non-abstract problem statement and work toward a better culture oriented company. Self love homie, self love. Validate you.
Thankful for your comment! However, isn't realizing that that culture exists and wanting to leave to a different one part of self-love (i.e. giving up TC/prestige for peace of mind and clarity?). I am not sure what to do, so I thought posting it on blind asking for help might help since I am looking out for myself.
Im just saying try to get rid of the fear and anxiety. Look to change that job for sure, sounds like the right move but leave that fear be is all :) Also while you are looking for that job, this self-love will help you deliver your best without being in a bad place. You deserve all the happiness! Get some!!
Keep track of all 1 on 1 meeting in a doc and share with your manager. Always have paper trail of your assignments and obstacle and your actions to escalate if you're stuck. Basically make it hard for manager to put blame on you if anything goes wrong. Also speak up in meetings. And yes always Leetcode.
Thanks! Any advice on companies hiring, what to do for getting interviews?
Interview elsewhere and find a new company. Many really good SDEs I know have left for similar reasons so it happens more often than you think. Where are you currently located?
Oh I see, thanks for letting me know! I’m in US (Seattle). How can I get interviews? I’ve applied online (with and without referrals), messaged recruiters as well. So I am reaching out here for referral/get-interview advice, but other than that is there something else I could do?
Companies are getting hundreds if not thousands of applicants for an open role and candidates themselves are applying to many roles in the same company. Your resume is likely getting buried in the system. Reach out to a hiring manager directly. Go to LinkedIn and do a search for “hiring SDEs” to get a list of HMs who are actively hiring right now. You may filter by location to narrow the search results. Then add a note to your LinkedIn invite to the HM with your resume attached. Caveat: Due to new remote work culture, many companies that want to interview you may hold back because the market rate in Seattle is on the very high end. They can stretch their hiring budget further by hiring SDEs from cities with lower pay grades. Nonetheless, you should not start the interview process by saying that you are willing to take a pay cut because that raises a separate set of red flags.
Can you try to just switch internally to a more fearless mode - I'm going to do my best, I'm going to learn a lot, and the worst case - PIP will still give me enough time to look elsewhere .. ? Why look for a new job right now? You were hired for a reason. Go show them!
I think this is good advice. I will try to do my best, learn a lot, but also look out for myself (i.e. forget about things not under my control, and passively continue to apply to jobs).
Exactly! 👌👏 Nothing lasts forever, you will leave this job one day one way or another. Might as well not rush that and take your time and learn and take what you want out of it first .. but as you say, if the environment is unhealthy for you and you just feel it, totally fine to act on that and leave. Just always try to run toward something, not away from something.
LC and switch to Google. You might not last long at your current role.
LCing yes, switching to google, not that easy haha. But yeah, looking out for options.
Track every single work you do in SIMs or Wikis. No one can PIP you if you have data backing that you are performing according to the expectations.
Not True!!
Many ex-Amazonians (pipped, looking to retire, or intending to boomerang back to Amazon) join Microsoft, you can DM me if you are still looking. Good luck
Take a look at other teams for internal transfer at Amazon, or perhaps look at Design Technologist roles which are less demanding in terms of coding skills. In my experience working with designers is a lot more relaxed and less competitive, with a better pace as well
You're just experiencing imposter syndrome
I think so, but with the culture very prevalent, I don't foresee a better alternative than leaving to a company with different culture. I'm okay with lower pay and prestige.