Amazon Hiring/Interview process MEGATHREAD (Seattle, Bellevue: for sale, day care, neighborhoods)

[eskercurve]

Another thing that differentiates Boeing from other tech or manufacturing companies is overtime. Engineers and techs get time + $6. The machinists get something different. Sounds like Amazonians don't get squat. Raw deal if you ask me and you're working 50% overtime.

[texastrigirl]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

The saying as it goes amongst IT professionals up here is that "Amazon is a great company to be from".

They try their damnedest to load their techies with cash, incentives, concerts, fancy events, etc.....but the reality is they absolutely work you till there's nothing left of you. It's a great launching point for someone just graduating uni or someone with no family, but there's definitely a point where Amazon ceases to be the right fit for someone. At the end of the day, companies in Seattle like F5, Microsoft, Nuance, Google and the like will basically offer you the same ballpark of pay & perks and light years more work/life balance without the signing of one's soul away. Especially for the senior level talent.

I've never worked there, but I also don't know anyone that's made it 3 years, either.

My husband "made it" 4 1/2 years and wouldn't have left save for a really great offer that he couldn't refuse. His situation did not remotely parallel the horror stories we've heard. He was not an engineer but he worked with/supervised them. I would say the hours vary by group and by team within the group and really depend on your boss. He actually had a really balanced life for the most part but part of that was that he is further along in his career and already worked the crazy hours in management consulting and didn't want to work them again so he set boundaries. He did have a stint in a "pager" group which was a little more intense and he wasn't even the one with the pager. The closer you are to Jeff B, the harder your job will be.

I think the tougher part of Amazon for some people is the culture they intentionally breed. They want people to discend and be critical. It's how they feret out the best ideas and remain cutting edge. They've got a low margin to keep.

As far as the salary goes, my husband would occasionally talk to MS and they had a hard time meeting his AMZN salary because the stock had done so well since 2007. It's a good bit of your comp so if you are joining now and stock is already $200+, that's something to consider. You do have to stay 2 years to get your signing bonus to vest fully and another 2 to get all of your stock from your initial grant though you can get more every year.

We have a myriad of friends at MS and I have a client that does professional coaching and counseling of both folks at MS and AMZN. I don't think that either culture is a dream culture. You get a bunch of Type A overachievers in any small space and it's bound to be stressful. But getting either on your resume for a 5 year period goes a long way towards building to future fantastic roles in healthier corporate cultures. My husband does not regret his time at AMZN and would go back someday for the right role in the right group.

[seattlenextyear]

My husband did his time at MS too, a while ago. He likes Amazon better: there's less...entitlement issues to deal with. MS really builds their employees up...to a fault. Amazon pits their employees against each other and pretends to do the whole frugality thing so no one gets a big head.

[usernametaken]

I am going to get a call from an Amazon employee/recruiter (they asked me to pick from one of 4-5 days/times for the interview and I am probably going to say any day/time is okay).

I have a math/econ/writing/research background, but no IT skills to speak off other than basic html that is probably not even worth mentioning.

I am just interested in any position that involves math/stats/data analysis, economics or writing (preferably a combination). My career has mostly involved market research and economic forecasting. Just want to get my foot in the door so I am open to working in various roles.

Anyone have any advice on how to tackle this interview? Should I pick 2 or 3 positions that specifically state that those are what I want to apply for?

What kinds of questions do they ask in the initial phone interview? Also, they asked me to send in my resume via e-mail, but seem to have guaranteed a phone interview irrespective of what my resume looks like, which seems strange.

Anyone know what they look for in a non-tech resume? Should I have an objective such as "to work for Amazon in a position such as xxx or yyy? Even though they only asked for a resume, should I send in a cover letter even if I am open to work in so many different departments?

The department that will call me is Amazon Web Services.

Thanks!

[The Siobhan]

I guess I don't understand. What position did you apply for?

[usernametaken]

I met some people at an Amazon recruiting event and they asked me what I was interested in. I said ideally, a math position, but also said that I would prefer something involving more than just math/stats/data analysis (I said I was even open to product management). I was surprised that they decided to call me since I was so uncertain, but I did get a sense that they enjoyed talking to me.

So the answer is that I did not pick a position, and they did not ask me to. I wonder if on the phone they will ask me to be more specific and I might then say "math/data analysis" or "product manager".

[The Siobhan]

I would strongly advise you to visit the Amazon careers page, and then type in the skills that you just listed in the search form. That will give you a rundown for some of the current positions. I would imagine that you be interested in a business intelligence role. I would identify a few open positions then head over to LinkedIn to search for profiles with the matching job title and organization. Read their profiles and see what skills they have listed. Your best way to handle an Amazon interview is be familiar with the group and product that you will be working with.

[RVD90277]

Hmm...yeah that is odd. In my limited experience I have never seen it work this way.

But my guess is that maybe the initial call is more to help determine "fit" so I would go through the Amazon core values and make sure that you are a good fit with the company.

In addition, the recruiter will likely ask what type of position you are interested in and you need to be more specific. So I would search through openings and choose 3 positions that you think you are well qualified for. Don't overreach since your goal is to get in the door.

Good luck.

[texastrigirl]

Though once you are in the door you have to stay in that position for 18 months so you want to make sure it's a reasonably good fit for you. They will make sure it's a fit for them.

[Andres Valle]

Originally Posted by RVD90277

I know I'm a little late to this but I did recently go through the interview process.

They were pretty slow during the phone interview process but got faster as time went on. For me it was something like:

time to schedule 1st phone interview: 1 week
2nd interview: 3 weeks later (recruiter said that the 1st interviewer took a long time to give his feedback)
in-person: 1 week later
phone call from recruiter: 2 days later (saying that he didn't have an answer for me yet but didn't forget about me)
another phone call from recruiter: 3 business days after that (1 week after the in-person)

in my case, it ended with a ding. however, i was also asking for a lot so i don't know if that had anything to do with it. like some of you, the feedback was that i was a great fit for the team but not a good fit for the open position (i didn't really have that much direct experience in the same product).

at the in-person, recruiter asked me what i wanted in terms of benefits, pay, etc. and i really asked for a lot because i would have to move the family away from relatives, etc. although i don't know the regular compensation packages there, i believe i was asking for more than their standard package so it would have required a lot of additional approvals, etc.

interestingly enough, they did contact me again so we'll see how this round goes. only problem now is that i already accepted another job when this one fell through and i'm supposed to start in 3 weeks. i don't really want to start a new job and quit immediately so we'll see how this works out.

I am curious if you can share How did this go? (I may be getting on the same boat!)