Amazon A9 work culture

Nokia / Eng
yappaa

Go to company page Nokia Eng

 yappaa
Apr 2, 2019 16 Comments

How is the work and office life at A9, in the Palo Alto office? What work do interns there generally get?

Does it have a startup culture or is it similar to Amazon? Does it have a similar frugal nature as Amazon? Is the pay scale different from Amazon?

Do you have a cafeteria for (paid) lunches? Gym? Any other benefits?

No tc and 0 yoe. Sorry.

A9 Amazon
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 TOP 16 Comments
  • Amazon
    HouseBezos

    Go to company page Amazon

    HouseBezos
    I've been here for almost 2 years. It's great but there's a lot of issues I personally face.

    1. Some buildings suck. The 2 Lytton buildings near the Caltrain are the best. The other 2 suck.
    2. Too much growth. In 2 years the team+org quadrupled.
    3. Good wlb...but you don't get paid extra for oncall like G or FB. Sometimes work can be a pain.
    4. Compensation model is not good long term.

    We have good things like our own "cafeteria" with snacks but you need to buy your own lunch. There are monthly social events. There's parking that can be expensed and downtown PA is prime area.
    Apr 2, 2019 5
  • New
    wpgme8e

    New

    wpgme8e
    I interned there last summer. Wlb is generally decent, most likely better than amazon.

    I worked on distributed systems but quite frankly I didn't find my project that interesting. Ymmv.

    Cons:
    A9 pretty much lost everything unique to it. When I was there, they got integrated back into amazon. PTO got worse because it became Amazon's. Pay structure is pretty much the same as amazon. They do pay new grads slightly higher than amazon in the bay area.

    Palo alto is expensive and just getting a decent lunch requires at least 13 bucks. No cafeteria so you need to eat at the local restaurants. Snacks and drinks went downhill and is meh, but better than just bananas at amazon.

    If you had to join amazon I would recommend a9 but there are obviously companies that pay better and treat their employees better without all the frugality bs.

    Let me know if you have any questions
    Apr 2, 2019 4
    • New
      wpgme8e

      New

      wpgme8e
      When I was there, the coconut water got changed to the bottled version, which tasted absolutely disgusting. And you could tell because when they restocked it, barely anyone would drink it.

      The old a9 pto was 4 weeks starting and a bit over 5 after a year. Now it's 3 weeks starting and 4 after a year.
      Apr 2, 2019
    • Amazon / Mgmt
      pE4/z1-u

      Go to company page Amazon Mgmt

       pE4/z1-u
      PTO did not change, just swapped a fixed holiday for a 3rd floating one.
      Apr 2, 2019
  • New
    wpgme8e

    New

    wpgme8e
    My project was a prototype and it got put into production. If it's vmware vs a9, I would probably go with a9. Smart people there and you'll learn a lot. Hiring bar might be lower now because they need to do amazons dumb leadership principle. I think new grad tc this year was 165-170k.
    Apr 2, 2019 3
    • New
      wpgme8e

      New

      wpgme8e
      How did you get an offer from a9? When I interviewed last year, they had a separate hiring pipeline than amazon. 2 phone interviews with the second one being with the manager of the team you would be joining.

      If you got into a9 through Amazon's generic 2 oa + 1 virtual, there's a pretty good chance tc at a9 will be similar to Amazon's.
      Apr 2, 2019
    • Nokia / Eng
      yappaa

      Go to company page Nokia Eng

       yappaa
      OP
      It was through the same Amazon internship pipeline.
      Did you get a return offer from them for full time?
      Apr 2, 2019
  • Amazon
    mlopo

    Go to company page Amazon

    mlopo
    A9 bar is higher than headquarters but wlb is also better? Doesn't make sense
    Sep 11, 2019 0