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Succeeding as a Humble Leader

Software Development Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at Amazon for 20 years
January 1, 2022
Seattle, Washington
5.0
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEO
Pros
  1. Dynamic working culture for you to succeed: It's my first month here at Amazon, and this is what I can foresee if I execute as a humble leader.

  2. Worry-free first month of onboarding experience: Other than the famous, well-known Leadership Principles in mind, onboarding activities include many courses and execution experiments. At least in the team or org that I stayed, I don't need to worry about making a contribution at all during this period of time. It allows me to observe what the team does and how the team does things. Also, many courses are very useful to help any SDE become an excellent engineer. It's a great process to help any new member get ready and start their journey well.

  3. Very strong, competitive salary pay, this is why I switched from Microsoft to Amazon.

  4. Teammates are all very humble and love to help. Everyone here can be considered a leader, and they are eager to share their knowledge and experience to make you successful as well. I don't find any PIP or competing interests at all.

  5. The culture and working environment expect you to be a leader of your own and make a contribution to the team, the org, or even broader impact. I would recommend someone who knows what he/she wants or is self-motivated enough to join. Otherwise, you might get lost since no one would push you to do anything, which might end up in a loop of failure.

To be continued: It's just my first month, and I would expect more findings as I expand my network and contributions. Would love to share more when possible.

Cons
  1. Leader of yourself:

It's easy to say but hard to execute. This requires some foundation and experience so you won't get lost. Everyone is very busy, and managers are not mentors, so self-motivation is very, very important. Often without a good mentor, you will waste a lot of time finding out what you do and how you do it.

  1. Coding convention:

I don't find this as a requirement in our team's development yet, so if you don't have a good coding habit, you would miss the learning opportunities to code collaboratively. This is an important habit in most other software companies.

  1. Documentation wiki or resources:

There are very many internal resources and shared folder-style documents, but not as easy as Microsoft, which might be because I am new. But I would expect a much better user interface, so far at least.

Advice to Management

To be continued...

Additional Ratings

Work/Life Balance
4.0
Culture and Values
5.0
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
5.0
Career Opportunities
4.0
Compensation and Benefits
5.0
Senior Management
5.0

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