# 1 -> Risky for outside hires
You see Amazon recruiting all the time. Reason is high attrition not need for employees.
Out of every 100 external hires, 30 quit before 1 year; 80 quit before 2nd year end and only 7% remain till the end of 4th year when the RSUs vest
So if you are an outside hire chances are 0.3 that you will have to quit before 1 year denting your CV. Too high a risk
# 2 -> Be ready to be micromanaged
Jeff Bezos is a infamous micromanager. 90% of managers in Amazon micromanage. You will be told what to do - including fonts in word documents, type of excel to create, what type of comments to provide
# 3 -> Nobody will care for you
HR is non-existent in this company. Leadership principles are a big hoax. Only on paper, none followed. Managers interested only in furthering their own careers. No meaningful career discussions possible
# 4 - > Career levels -> You will be below the ones that joined out of campus or stayed many years in Amazon by a drastic margin
Career Levels in Amazon are:
Level 4: SDE - 1
Level 5: SDE - 2, TPM, Manager - II, Product Manager
Level 6: SDE - 3, Sr Engineer, TPM-III, Manager-III, Sr Product Manager
Level 7: Principal Engineer, Principal TPM, Senior Manager - Software Dev, Senior Manager - Product Management (They will camouflage this in the external market as "General Manager" to hoodwink ppl)
Level 8: Director
Level 10: VP (There is no level 9)
Level 11: SVP
Level 12; Bezos (CEO)
For internal campus hires
Level 4 - usually a SDE stays 2-3 years before making to Level - 5
Level 5- Level 5 to 6 is tough and can take upto 3-5 years.
level 6 to 7 is also 3-5 years
For external hires (outsiders)
Level 4: Folks with less than 4 years work ex OR with salary lower than max band of Level 4 will come here
Level 5: Folks with salary less than max of Level 5 OR with upto 9-10 years are hired here
Level 6: Folks with less than 15-16 years are hired here
Level 7: need 15+
So net-net if you are at level 6 outsider - you could be director at Travelocity while a campus hire can be there within 5 years
VERY bad for outsiders
A director at Yahoo may join at Level 7 and report to a joker with no ppl manager skills 10 years younger to him.
(Associates team in Bangalore is one such team - worst to work for)
# 5: Pay
They design pay with base pay + sign on
Sign-on is for first year and second year - it is a trick to ensure you run on treadmill for 2 years and your salary at beginning of 3rd year can be less than the first year if you are not promoted
# 6: Recruiters lie
Due to high hiring bar and bar raiser interviews, they reject most that interview. This means recruiters are under tremendous pressure to get candidates in. Some positions are open for 6-12 months and finaly moved back to Seattle.
So recruiters lie left, right and center to get candidates in.
Don't trust the recruiter
#7: Lack of social etiquette
It is Amazon's official line that since ppl are overworked they don't socialize and develop social etiquette. Typical Amazon manager (those who grow from within) are abrasive
Net-net bad place to join for anyone experienced. Risks outweigh benefits.
Infact unless they offer 3X pay (which they won't), not worth joining Amazon. Recommend this company to your worst enemy
