<story><title>I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months</title><url>https://benadam.me/thoughts/my-experience-at-amazon/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>autokad</author><text>&amp;gt; &amp;quot;My biggest gripe is that Leetcode is systematically favoring candidates who have months of free time to memorize arbitrary logic puzzles. It makes me sad for the less privileged candidates who might be working a job while also trying to break into the IT field.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I told google that this style of interviewing is discriminatory, especially towards people with families, or other commitments. Never got another call for an interview since ^_^</text></item><item><author>robby_w_g</author><text>&amp;gt; I bag on Amazon a lot on here (which if I were to review with my therapist is likely because I had an absolutely HORRENDOUS experience in an interview loop with them my first step out of college that still makes me nervous in interviews, even 15 years later).&lt;p&gt;Hey, I had a similar experience with Google! It was my first technical interview for my first job out of college. The interviewer laughed at my code, and then after going through the logic said &amp;quot;Wow I can&amp;#x27;t believe this actually works.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Personal grievances aside, I&amp;#x27;ve come to think that the Leetcode interview style has morphed from a &amp;quot;let&amp;#x27;s see how you handle problems at scale&amp;quot; test into an ego-driven hazing ritual. My biggest gripe is that Leetcode is systematically favoring candidates who have months of free time to memorize arbitrary logic puzzles. It makes me sad for the less privileged candidates who might be working a job while also trying to break into the IT field.</text></item><item><author>sharkweek</author><text>Hey congrats on making it 10 months!&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;Urgent to not block progress, but also ironic that they are asking a person who has no clue what they are doing to deliver critical work&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Friend of mine started a role there (this was 4-5 years ago) and was fired (sorry... more or less asked to leave, being told he could keep his signing bonus if he just left) within about six weeks because he wasn&amp;#x27;t immediately delivering on some insane amounts of work. Truly, he recapped it for me, the expectations were absolutely incredible and I&amp;#x27;d consider him a hard worker who has found a ton of success in his current role.&lt;p&gt;I bag on Amazon a lot on here (which if I were to review with my therapist is likely because I had an absolutely HORRENDOUS experience in an interview loop with them my first step out of college that still makes me nervous in interviews, even 15 years later). But living in Seattle, a notable chunk of my social circle works there. I&amp;#x27;d say a few enjoy the scale of things they get to work on or perhaps the brand name, but overall none of them ever talk about liking the work environment&amp;#x2F;balance&amp;#x2F;culture.&lt;p&gt;One friend, at a director level, just quit on a whim because he came back from parental leave and his direct reports had all been put on a PIP while he was out. He told his VP to fuck off, left, and is now on sabbatical. I&amp;#x27;ve never seen him so happy.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>coliveira</author><text>&amp;gt; I told google that this style of interviewing is discriminatory, especially towards people with families&lt;p&gt;But this is exactly the point, to be discriminatory while using a valid excuse for doing so.</text></comment>
<story><title>I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months</title><url>https://benadam.me/thoughts/my-experience-at-amazon/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>autokad</author><text>&amp;gt; &amp;quot;My biggest gripe is that Leetcode is systematically favoring candidates who have months of free time to memorize arbitrary logic puzzles. It makes me sad for the less privileged candidates who might be working a job while also trying to break into the IT field.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I told google that this style of interviewing is discriminatory, especially towards people with families, or other commitments. Never got another call for an interview since ^_^</text></item><item><author>robby_w_g</author><text>&amp;gt; I bag on Amazon a lot on here (which if I were to review with my therapist is likely because I had an absolutely HORRENDOUS experience in an interview loop with them my first step out of college that still makes me nervous in interviews, even 15 years later).&lt;p&gt;Hey, I had a similar experience with Google! It was my first technical interview for my first job out of college. The interviewer laughed at my code, and then after going through the logic said &amp;quot;Wow I can&amp;#x27;t believe this actually works.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Personal grievances aside, I&amp;#x27;ve come to think that the Leetcode interview style has morphed from a &amp;quot;let&amp;#x27;s see how you handle problems at scale&amp;quot; test into an ego-driven hazing ritual. My biggest gripe is that Leetcode is systematically favoring candidates who have months of free time to memorize arbitrary logic puzzles. It makes me sad for the less privileged candidates who might be working a job while also trying to break into the IT field.</text></item><item><author>sharkweek</author><text>Hey congrats on making it 10 months!&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;Urgent to not block progress, but also ironic that they are asking a person who has no clue what they are doing to deliver critical work&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Friend of mine started a role there (this was 4-5 years ago) and was fired (sorry... more or less asked to leave, being told he could keep his signing bonus if he just left) within about six weeks because he wasn&amp;#x27;t immediately delivering on some insane amounts of work. Truly, he recapped it for me, the expectations were absolutely incredible and I&amp;#x27;d consider him a hard worker who has found a ton of success in his current role.&lt;p&gt;I bag on Amazon a lot on here (which if I were to review with my therapist is likely because I had an absolutely HORRENDOUS experience in an interview loop with them my first step out of college that still makes me nervous in interviews, even 15 years later). But living in Seattle, a notable chunk of my social circle works there. I&amp;#x27;d say a few enjoy the scale of things they get to work on or perhaps the brand name, but overall none of them ever talk about liking the work environment&amp;#x2F;balance&amp;#x2F;culture.&lt;p&gt;One friend, at a director level, just quit on a whim because he came back from parental leave and his direct reports had all been put on a PIP while he was out. He told his VP to fuck off, left, and is now on sabbatical. I&amp;#x27;ve never seen him so happy.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sorry_outta_gas</author><text>the best part is that when you&amp;#x27;re done with the on-site you get a survey with a question like &amp;quot;do you think google&amp;#x27;s making the world a better place?&amp;quot; hah&lt;p&gt;personally I think they do make some pretty cool things here and there but they do have very pretentious vibe all throughout&lt;p&gt;the phase of technology that they own&amp;#x2F;owned is nearing end soon anyway</text></comment>