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So I've had 2 hiring managers and several recruiters from Amazon reach out to me about applying for some open positions with the company (android). I completed the coding assessment and now they want me to go through a round of 5 hour interviews next week. Is there a good chance I'll be hired if engineering managers are reaching out to me? I'm really not sure how badly I want to work for them and I don't want to be laid off months after being hired on. Anyone know what Amazon hiring is like?
Hi Amazonians, I'm looking for a switch to a PBC, especially Amazon. Could you guys please refer me for SDE-1 position in India location?
Skills: NodeJS, Angular, Django, MongoDB, MySQL, AWS, Distributed Systems etc.
YOE: 2.5 years
Location: India (preferred cities: Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Hyderabad)
Amazon Amazon India
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I mean this in the most sincere way possible. Learn to say no. Practice it, talk to your boss about it, tell coworkers and peers and anyone willing to listen that you have to start saying no to more things. At the end of the day, you're paid to prepare your team to capitalize on opportunities in the future - not fight fires in the present.
Thanks. I went into more detail in another reply, but I think I can definitely take another shot at refining my “saying no” strategy and not overanchoring to the workload of other PMs. I’m not sure it will work, but it’s worth a try.
I relate so much to this post... I have heard people complain about a slow paced PM job. And honestly it sounds so much more ideal. Maybe it’s because I’m at the extreme opposite - but I think I would feel more satisfied in my job knowing my output is more methodical with a higher quality.
Thanks for the +1. I feel the same way as far as job satisfaction. Right now, I am essentially a “smart-enough” problem solver, decision maker, and communicator tasked with owning things that need to get done, but I often feel like I’m not that talented at the product management discipline.
Maybe slower roles exist at really large orgs, but in my experience the day where you can take a step back and approach your work more slowly and carefully never comes. Is there any way in your current role to say no more often or set clearer expectations around how much you and the team can sustain accomplishing in a day/week/etc without being perpetually in head-above-water mode?
Saying No is key. Also getting your managers to understand your workload. I find that I'm the most busy when I'm being forced to do things inside and outside of my core responsibilities. Hold others accountable as well, if you are supposed to get data from someone but you know you can get it on your own, hold them to it. It will help tremendously.
I'll straddle the line of learning to say no and getting used to it. I find that on a deeper level I am often attracting/allowing a lot of drain that I had no idea I was doing. It's even as small as being the person that people come to when they have something they want think out loud about. it's very easy to not realize that you are wandering the world picking up burdens that you think belong in your bag. However. This job is very demanding, and you've also picked teams that "work at an exhausting pace". So unless you change your environment, you're dealing with a reality there. Maybe see if you can observe yourself and "them" and try to pin down where it's coming from, and get real about what the job just "is" on its own too. Then try something slightly different, even if that doesn't mean a new job. (maybe just not responding right away to someone)
It's sort of like dating where you end up getting treated the way you expect you're supposed to, or the least that you believe you can ask for. You'll always get the worst setup that you're willing to put up with.
One thing to keep in mind is that you aren't really able to do the job properly if you can't get into planning and foresight. I wouldn't say it's an issue with your craft as much the environment is just too exhausting. There will be a happy medium somewhere. It doesn't all have to be misery and "slower" might mean right-paced - so that your current abilities are actually fully in swing. You are not the problem.
Thanks. I think to your point, I’ve never done this job properly and am not only unsatisfied with that reality, but also fear I’ll eventually age out of the “just-in-time problem solving and execution” role that I’ve found myself in at both companies.
I think the answer just might be: “Just do it”.
You need more time to think strategically? Put in the work on your requirements definition.
Need more time for user validation? Put that in to the project plan.
I think it helps to have a culture of “good product management”, but (hopefully, and true more often than not) you don’t need anybody’s permission to do good PM work.
Just do it. Lead by example.
If you don’t ask for permission, nobody can tell you No.
And if things don’t work out, then ask for forgiveness.
I’m in this exact situation too! My org generally made Product a “features” team only, but now we’re in the process of moving more towards ideation/user research/quality. The only issue is that the workload keeps increasing and it’s only getting harder to manage day-to-day stuff vs deep thinking.
Eisenhower matrix.
+
Learn how to ask for more resources (I.e. grow your team by hiring)
And learn how to say No.
I actually think it might be the opposite. I’ve definitely experienced that but it was also because I hadn’t realized how much I had learned over that time frame and I felt stuck because I wasn’t continuously improving. I believe the best teacher is experience so many it’s time for a challange or something that is going to build you skills
I can relate to this post. Thanks OP