Getting a job at Amazon is a tough (at times bordering on grueling) process that’s hard to distill to just five steps. Nonetheless, below are a few considerations to help you along. 1) Take on resolving challenging problems: My first piece of advice covers your corporate (or academic) career...

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Someone recently asked me: "I have 1.5 years experience, and I got an offer at Amazon as SDE 1. How long approximately will it take for me to get promoted to SDE2? Should I wait another year and try again as SDE2?" My advice would be to take the SDE1 role now and not wait for another year to...

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How to respond to "What is your Biggest Professional Failure?" 1. Own your failure: Be vocally self-critical and don't point fingers. 2. Quantify your failure: Be specific about how much revenue you lost or what were other quantifiable costs of your failure. 3. Give a different example where...

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Throughout Amazon's existence, Jeff Bezos has engaged in the practice of writing annual letters to Amazon's shareholders. He includes each letter in Amazon's annual report for the year, and discusses his business beliefs and overall philosophy in running Amazon. These letters provide a...

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Several years ago, at the end of an all-hands meeting, an Amazon employee asked Jeff Bezos: "Jeff, what is the one thing you would change about Amazon?" Bezos responded with: "Speed. I would like us to move even more quickly." Amazon is known for moving fast. I can attest, first-hand, just how...

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The average tenure of a full-time Amazonian is roughly one year, while tenure at other tech places like Facebook, Apple, and Google tends to be roughly about two years. Why is that? Before venturing an explanation, I should clarify a couple of house-keeping items: 1) the one-year-tenure...

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Someone recently asked me, on Quora: "I'm 32 and want to Start Programming. Can I ever Become good Enough to join Google, Microsoft, Amazon?" I thought it would be good to repost my response here, too. Yes. You can. Google, Microsoft, or Amazon can certainly employ you as a Software...

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The Amazon Bar Raiser is an Amazon cultural institution. She serves as the keeper of the Amazon cultural flame. She is an esteemed Amazonian (often an Amazon veteran,) whose goal is to ensure that the company keeps the hiring bar high with every consecutive hire they make. The Bar Raiser works on...

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My first day at Amazon: a gloomy Seattle morning on January 7, 2013. I walked into Amazon's Arizona building on 207 Boren Ave N to attend New Employee Orientation. I had no idea, at the time, that I was already late on a couple of deliverables that my future team had in store for me. The New...

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Why is the sky blue? An Amazonian will answer this question with a granular, data-rich response. At Amazon, data provides the answer to all questions. At Amazon, data wins all wars. Data matters more to win an argument than assumptions, or proxies, or the title of who's making the argument....

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