[namesdev]

Amazon seems like a brutal employer with all their quotas.

[OkieSnuffBox]

^Quotas for what?

I have my first phone interview on Tuesday morning.

[jmack]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

^Quotas for what?

I have my first phone interview on Tuesday morning.

Good luck! I had an AWS recruiter reach out and fast tracked a tech interview for Wednesday. It seems like the interview process how gotten a bit easier, but the panel interview is still 4 hours long...

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by jmack

Good luck! I had an AWS recruiter reach out and fast tracked a tech interview for Wednesday. It seems like the interview process how gotten a bit easier, but the panel interview is still 4 hours long...

For me they said it would be (this is obviously after the first conversation with the recruiter a few weeks ago). Of course, following steps assume you get past the first.

- Screening call with same recruiter (this is what I have tomorrow)
- Interview with hiring manager
- Submit writing samples for senior editor review
- 1 hour long interviews with 5 different people
- Job offer

With the inflation and the stock market, I'll likely keep looking at other tech companies as well. I've seen a few at Meta and others that I'm highly qualified for.

[OkieSnuffBox]

Well I think the interview yesterday went well, she said she will let me know Mon/Tues what the hiring manager wants to do next (if they want to proceed or not). Reminds me I need to update my resume to add that I do have a ton of experience working with teams in other time zones and international teams........I guess I took it for granted people would know that since I already work for a huge eCommerce company.

Applied for other jobs.

Applied for a gig at Citrix through Indeed. Then they send me an email to "review my application." I didn't bother. If you're a big tech company that has my resume, then wants me to go through and put everything that's on my resume separately in your site and then upload my resume AGAIN...........I'm not interested.

What is this 2008?

[bmwv]

i know several people who worked there nobody was happy there. Last month I was on vacation in Seattle and my wife was listening to couple of young people next to us in caffe shop. One of them was saying that all her friends in Amazon are not happy there.

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by bmwv

i know several people who worked there nobody was happy there. Last month I was on vacation in Seattle and my wife was listening to couple of young people next to us in caffe shop. One of them was saying that all her friends in Amazon are not happy there.

I'd be curious what they do in the company, how much workplace experience they have, etc. Even as I mentor new writers, I've noticed many young people seem to think they should make as much as someone with more experience, work less, etc.

The particular team I'm interviewing with has multiple team members that have been there more than 7 years.

But Tech Writing is a very different/niche profession. I know where I work now, the Tech Writers consistently rate at the top of the organization as far as happiness with their job/group.

Who knows. CaptivateIQ just reached out about wanting to interview me and I'm waiting to hear back from Western Digital.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

If you're a big tech company that has my resume, then wants me to go through and put everything that's on my resume separately in your site and then upload my resume AGAIN...........I'm not interested.

What is this 2008?

OMFG, I was snooping about to see what else is out there about 3 years ago and my fucking god, the resume entry thing was absolutely INSANE.

There were jobs where I was a clear, black and white candidate that should be immediately contacted, my skill set and experience lined up perfectly. But FUCK me, trying to get past the resume bots was a) incredibly time consuming and b) incredibly difficult.

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

OMFG, I was snooping about to see what else is out there about 3 years ago and my fucking god, the resume entry thing was absolutely INSANE.

There were jobs where I was a clear, black and white candidate that should be immediately contacted, my skill set and experience lined up perfectly. But FUCK me, trying to get past the resume bots was a) incredibly time consuming and b) incredibly difficult.

For the Amazon gig, they reached out to me same here at Oracle, so I didn't have to worry about that. Plus it's not that hard, you search the listing for buzzwords and add them to your resume. Like for me, if it's a requirement that I know how to use "Oxygen XML" and it doesn't see that on my resume, it doesn't move it on.

For me the irony with Citrix is their mission statement:

"Citrix workspace software delivers the business technology that creates a simple, secure and better way to work from anywhere and on any device."

Yet, we need you to take your resume and make a bunch of separate entries for all your previous work experience, education, skills, etc. Even though all that information IS ON MY DAMN RESUME!

[Alfisti]

Yep, exactly my experience, like I ain't dropping an hr entering all this crap man, i'll try elsewhere.

[jmack]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

Well I think the interview yesterday went well, she said she will let me know Mon/Tues what the hiring manager wants to do next (if they want to proceed or not). Reminds me I need to update my resume to add that I do have a ton of experience working with teams in other time zones and international teams........I guess I took it for granted people would know that since I already work for a huge eCommerce company.

Applied for other jobs.

Applied for a gig at Citrix through Indeed. Then they send me an email to "review my application." I didn't bother. If you're a big tech company that has my resume, then wants me to go through and put everything that's on my resume separately in your site and then upload my resume AGAIN...........I'm not interested.

What is this 2008?

Mine went good too. I nailed the tech portion but only did okay for the behavioral questions. I prepared 6 good stories that fit a few leadership principals, but of course all of the questions I was asked didn't apply to those.

Guess we'll see how it goes. Not looking forward to the loop.

I already have few good offers, but Amazon's TC is WAY higher. It would be nice to have but not gonna lose any sleep if I don't get it.

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by jmack

Mine went good too. I nailed the tech portion but only did okay for the behavioral questions. I prepared 6 good stories that fit a few leadership principals, but of course all of the questions I was asked didn't apply to those.

Guess we'll see how it goes. Not looking forward to the loop.

I already have few good offers, but Amazon's TC is WAY higher. It would be nice to have but not gonna lose any sleep if I don't get it.

Nice! Hope it goes well!

I also have an interview today with a company called CaptivateIQ. They have been around a few years, but in my eyes are still a startup. 36 hours from application to scheduling an interview.

69 of 70 reviews on Glassdoor are 5 star. I'll see what they have to say, I'd really like the Amazon gig, but who knows.

The better half is also interviewing, I think she has interviewed with 3 new companies this week. One that reached out to her and she's already had two with them this week.

[wrickem]

A little late to your thread, but I've worked with Amazon daily as a main point of contact for a major book publisher ever since their start up. They tried to recruit me in '99 but I didn't want to move clear across the country... but I did buy TONS of their early stock

Since those early days, I've worked with hundreds of their corporate employees at all levels, with no less than 30 personal account managers.

I've never worked with nor met an Amazon person on any corporate level who isn't great to work with. They usually all start out very Amazon "drone-like", until I break them down and get them to be more "human" with me

Overall though, they've ALL been great to work with and all are enthusiastic, bright and helpful to find a win/win for both companies, which I'm sure wouldn't be the case if they were miserable in their jobs.

If I needed a job, and Seattle was closer to my family, I'd definitely work there knowing what I've seen for the past 20+ years. (Not in a warehouse though, it's a different ballgame in any warehouse).

Good luck

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

What is this 2008?

Just fax them your resume

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by wrickem

A little late to your thread, but I've worked with Amazon daily as a main point of contact for a major book publisher ever since their start up. They tried to recruit me in '99 but I didn't want to move clear across the country... but I did buy TONS of their early stock

Since those early days, I've worked with hundreds of their corporate employees at all levels, with no less than 30 personal account managers.

I've never worked with nor met an Amazon person on any corporate level who isn't great to work with. They usually all start out very Amazon "drone-like", until I break them down and get them to be more "human" with me

Overall though, they've ALL been great to work with and all are enthusiastic, bright and helpful to find a win/win for both companies, which I'm sure wouldn't be the case if they were miserable in their jobs.

If I needed a job, and Seattle was closer to my family, I'd definitely work there knowing what I've seen for the past 20+ years. (Not in a warehouse though, it's a different ballgame in any warehouse).

Good luck

Thanks for the feedback! Obviously I'm very early in the process, so who knows how it will go.

I figured the negative feedback is from entitled kids who don't want to work. I asked a friend of mine who used to work their and he said "You'll sell your soul to the devil to work there."

He worked in a warehouse. Somehow a pretty smart guy doesn't realize being a drone in a warehouse for ANY COMPANY is going to suck.

[wrickem]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

Thanks for the feedback! Obviously I'm very early in the process, so who knows how it will go.

I figured the negative feedback is from entitled kids who don't want to work. I asked a friend of mine who used to work their and he said "You'll sell your soul to the devil to work there."

He worked in a warehouse. Somehow a pretty smart guy doesn't realize being a drone in a warehouse for ANY COMPANY is going to suck.

Working in any warehouse is an entirely different story.

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by wrickem

Working in any warehouse is an entirely different story.

Yeah, I tried to explain that to him when I asked. But he's so bullheaded he won't listen to anything that he doesn't already agree with.

[OkieSnuffBox]

I had an interview with a different company on Thursday. The interviewer seemed rushed and like he didn't really feel like speaking with me, so I wasn't disappointed when I got the email saying they wouldn't be moving forward with me.

But I still went ahead and sent them an email thanking him for his time and letting me know the outcome of my application, and if he has the time I would appreciate any feedback that would help make me a better candidate in the future.

It's a smaller startup, so when they originally sent me a PDF talking about the company and that they have 100 employees, then when I spoke with him he said they have almost 400. I thought "You guys don't even bother to update the information you send to potential candidates?" So probably not a bad thing they weren't interested.

[OkieSnuffBox]

Got word back from Amazon, the hiring manager thinks I would be a good fit for a slightly different Senior Technical Writer position. So I applied. Recruiter told me to go ahead and apply if I'm interested and then they will go ahead and setup a phone interview with the either the hiring manager or a senior member on her team.

[beachBmmr]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

Got word back from Amazon, the hiring manager thinks I would be a good fit for a slightly different Senior Technical Writer position. So I applied. Recruiter told me to go ahead and apply if I'm interested and then they will go ahead and setup a phone interview with the either the hiring manager or a senior member on her team.

I was 4 years at AWS, left 4 years ago. Ask me anything...I work at the kindler gentler cloud now...

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by beachBmmr

I was 4 years at AWS, left 4 years ago. Ask me anything...I work at the kindler gentler cloud now...

Work/life balance, general environment, etc.

[beachBmmr]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

Work/life balance, general environment, etc.

Amazon rewards those who pour themselves into their work. Fully committed.

Customer obsession means putting your personal life behind work.

You will learn a lot and work hard, but if you expect to cruise you will get managed out.

Its great experience, and if you get an offer negotiate hard, after their first offer, then they have to close you, cause you wont see more money over your first 4 years.