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I interviewed with AWS about a year ago. Knocked the programming/system design interviews out of the park, but it was clear the LP interviewer simply didn’t bel

I interviewed with AWS about a year ago. Knocked the programming/system design interviews out of the park, but it was clear the LP interviewer simply didn’t believe I was being truthful about the example I gave (included a period where my team had no direct manager, which is abnormal). He also had a programming question for me but we didn’t have time for him to explain it. No offer, recruiter emphasized that they were halving the “cool off” period for me (so I could interview again soon), and maybe they do this for everyone, but it’s clear there was one interview making the difference here. Interesting that this is apparently a common problem.

bradknowles 5y ago
When I interviewed, the instructions I was given by the recruiter were very explicit. For the Leadership Principles, I did my hardest to come up with at least two items for each LP, and of course they had to be in STAR format -- Situation, Task, Action, Result. To that, I added a URL to back up my story for all of the cases where I could. So, when I used the example of designing and starting to build the replacement e-mail system for ASML for literally zero additional cost [0], I pointed them at the URL for the Invited Talk that I gave based on that work. And when I used the example of when I broke all e-mail across the entire Internet, I pointed them at the URL for the article that was published in The Register. When I talked about what I had learned about Chef and DevOps, I pointed them at the invited talk I gave in Edinburgh entitled "From zero to cloud in 90 days" and the accompanying tutorial I taught called "Just enough Ruby for Chef". And so on. I really feel that having the URLs to backstop my stories helped me sail through that part of the interview. In my case, I wasn't being hired as an SDE, so there wasn't much programming tests they wanted me to take -- one of their senior developers did connect me to a shared coding platform, which we really just used as a shared whiteboard. He asked me some questions on how I would solve some problems, and I used my 30+ years of experience with Bourne shell and bash to show him stupid first order solutions to those problems and then we talked about what some of the second and third order solutions might be. The longer I work at AWS, the more convinced I am that everything depends on the people you're working with. There are good teams and bad teams. There are good managers and bad managers. And if you can find a good team with good managers, then you're golden. In this respect, I don't think AWS is materially different from any other employer I've known. [0] They had already bought all the hardware, including some stuff I scavenged from a closet where they had been sitting new-in-the-box for a couple of years; the OS was covered under their site license; all the application software was open source; and my time was free because I was already there under another contract)
- bogomipz 5y ago
  Can I ask what role were your interviewing for where you weren't asked to solve Leetcode style problems on a whiteboard? I thought that was standard for AWS. You mentioned it wasn't SDE but I'm assuming it's still a DevOps/Technical role you have based on your STAR examples.
bogomipz 5y ago
Who would interview with a company again after this nonsense though? I would hope candidates view of said "cool off" period is that it is a permanent one. The arrogance of these recruiters is astonishing.
- smarmgoblin 5y ago
  It was unpleasant but at the end of the day it was just one guy. What gets me is that every recruiter who reaches out (hundreds by now I estimate) wants me to complete their timed coding test to qualify to interview again. I found Google’s interview process comparatively much more respectful (although more demanding), and have been happy working there instead.
  - bogomipz 5y ago
    Do you mean AWS recruiters are asking you to take timed coding tests? Or in general? This is a thing for people with experience? What value or skills do recruiters actually bring? It's a wonder anyone gets hired at all with these jokers as gate keepers. Good on you for getting a better gig. Congrats.
    - smarmgoblin 5y ago
      Yes it’s a standard part of the interview cycle at Amazon. Usually two questions in an hour or something, and you code solutions which the test platform grades. They’re on par with leetcode easy IME, but I just find it to be a pain so I won’t do it again. I’m sure it’s helpful to weed out applicants who actually cannot code, but what’s the point in doing it twice? Thank you!

bradknowles 5y ago

When I interviewed, the instructions I was given by the recruiter were very explicit. For the Leadership Principles, I did my hardest to come up with at least two items for each LP, and of course they had to be in STAR format -- Situation, Task, Action, Result. To that, I added a URL to back up my story for all of the cases where I could. So, when I used the example of designing and starting to build the replacement e-mail system for ASML for literally zero additional cost [0], I pointed them at the URL for the Invited Talk that I gave based on that work. And when I used the example of when I broke all e-mail across the entire Internet, I pointed them at the URL for the article that was published in The Register. When I talked about what I had learned about Chef and DevOps, I pointed them at the invited talk I gave in Edinburgh entitled "From zero to cloud in 90 days" and the accompanying tutorial I taught called "Just enough Ruby for Chef". And so on. I really feel that having the URLs to backstop my stories helped me sail through that part of the interview. In my case, I wasn't being hired as an SDE, so there wasn't much programming tests they wanted me to take -- one of their senior developers did connect me to a shared coding platform, which we really just used as a shared whiteboard. He asked me some questions on how I would solve some problems, and I used my 30+ years of experience with Bourne shell and bash to show him stupid first order solutions to those problems and then we talked about what some of the second and third order solutions might be. The longer I work at AWS, the more convinced I am that everything depends on the people you're working with. There are good teams and bad teams. There are good managers and bad managers. And if you can find a good team with good managers, then you're golden. In this respect, I don't think AWS is materially different from any other employer I've known. [0] They had already bought all the hardware, including some stuff I scavenged from a closet where they had been sitting new-in-the-box for a couple of years; the OS was covered under their site license; all the application software was open source; and my time was free because I was already there under another contract)

bogomipz 5y ago
Can I ask what role were your interviewing for where you weren't asked to solve Leetcode style problems on a whiteboard? I thought that was standard for AWS. You mentioned it wasn't SDE but I'm assuming it's still a DevOps/Technical role you have based on your STAR examples.

bogomipz 5y ago

Who would interview with a company again after this nonsense though? I would hope candidates view of said "cool off" period is that it is a permanent one. The arrogance of these recruiters is astonishing.

smarmgoblin 5y ago
It was unpleasant but at the end of the day it was just one guy. What gets me is that every recruiter who reaches out (hundreds by now I estimate) wants me to complete their timed coding test to qualify to interview again. I found Google’s interview process comparatively much more respectful (although more demanding), and have been happy working there instead.
- bogomipz 5y ago
  Do you mean AWS recruiters are asking you to take timed coding tests? Or in general? This is a thing for people with experience? What value or skills do recruiters actually bring? It's a wonder anyone gets hired at all with these jokers as gate keepers. Good on you for getting a better gig. Congrats.
  - smarmgoblin 5y ago
    Yes it’s a standard part of the interview cycle at Amazon. Usually two questions in an hour or something, and you code solutions which the test platform grades. They’re on par with leetcode easy IME, but I just find it to be a pain so I won’t do it again. I’m sure it’s helpful to weed out applicants who actually cannot code, but what’s the point in doing it twice? Thank you!