I Did 850 Tech Interviews For Amazon And I Learned This
Summary
TLDRThe speaker recounts their journey from a support engineer at Amazon to a principal software engineer, highlighting the pivotal role of embracing change. They share three key lessons: viewing interviews as a numbers game, understanding that interviews assess potential rather than daily job skills, and the importance of both technical and behavioral performance in securing job offers. The script emphasizes strategic interview preparation and the need to balance technical proficiency with interpersonal skills.
Takeaways
- 😀 The speaker started at Amazon as a support engineer and felt like a 'digital janitor', leading to a turning point in their career.
- 🔧 The speaker's experience of being the only one on-call motivated them to change careers from support engineer to software developer.
- 💡 The importance of taking action was highlighted, quoting Tony Robbins on the necessity of the pain of staying the same being greater than the pain of change.
- 🎯 The speaker emphasizes the importance of preparation for technical interviews and shares their journey from a heavy on-call load to becoming a principal software engineer.
- 📈 The concept of interviewing as a numbers game is introduced, suggesting that success is not guaranteed even with perfect preparation.
- 🃏 A poker analogy is used to illustrate the unpredictability of interviews and the importance of making good decisions over time.
- 📚 The speaker advises lining up multiple interviews to increase the chances of receiving offers and to avoid emotional investment in a single opportunity.
- 🚫 The lesson of not taking interviews personally is shared, as companies are optimizing for minimal false positives and external factors can influence outcomes.
- 🎲 The difference between limit and no-limit poker games is used as a metaphor for the different approaches needed in interviews compared to day-to-day job skills.
- 👂 The importance of listening to the interviewer and allowing them to guide the conversation is stressed to avoid misunderstandings during the interview.
- 🤔 The potential trap of focusing solely on the technical portion of the interview is warned against, highlighting the significance of the behavioral portion in landing a job.
- 📘 The speaker shares personal strategies for answering behavioral questions effectively and the impact they had on securing job offers.
Q & A
What was the speaker's initial role at Amazon?
-The speaker started at Amazon in 2006 as a support engineer, responsible for keeping the website up and running.
How did the speaker describe their experience carrying the pager?
-The speaker described the experience as challenging, feeling like a 'digital janitor' and being paged more than 100 times a week, which was emotionally and physically draining.
What motivated the speaker to change their career path?
-The speaker was motivated to change their career path by the difficult period of being the only one carrying the pager, which led them to realize they didn't want to be a support engineer for the rest of their life.
What did the speaker do to prepare for a career change to software development?
-The speaker went all in on preparing for technical interviews to become a software developer, which included studying and practicing for the interview process.
What is the speaker's current position at Amazon?
-The speaker is currently an L7 Principal Software Engineer at Amazon.
How many technical interviews has the speaker conducted?
-The speaker has conducted 850 technical interviews.
What is the first lesson the speaker learned about the interview process?
-The first lesson is that interviewing is a numbers game, and one should not expect to win every time, even with perfect preparation.
Why did the speaker line up multiple interviews instead of just one?
-The speaker lined up multiple interviews to increase the chances of receiving an offer and to be selective, understanding that focusing on a single opportunity could lead to disappointment if it didn't work out.
What is the purpose of technical interviews according to the speaker?
-The purpose of technical interviews is to ensure that companies never hire a bad candidate, even if it means filtering out people who would otherwise perform well in the job.
What is the second lesson the speaker learned about interview preparation?
-The second lesson is that interview preparation should be based on the way things actually are, not the way one thinks they should be, to avoid falling into the trap of preparing for the wrong aspects of the interview.
What is the role of the behavioral portion of an interview according to the speaker?
-The behavioral portion of an interview is critical to landing the job, as it allows interviewers to assess a candidate's prior experience, communication skills, and potential fit within the team.
What advice does the speaker give for candidates who perform well technically but not in the behavioral portion?
-The speaker advises not to neglect the behavioral portion of the interview, as it can make a significant difference in the final decision, especially if the technical performance is not outstanding.
What is the third lesson the speaker learned about interview preparation?
-The third lesson is to avoid target fixation and to ensure a balance between technical and behavioral preparation, as focusing solely on technical aspects can lead to overlooking the importance of the behavioral portion.
Outlines
🔧 From Support Engineer to Software Developer: A Journey of Change
The speaker reflects on their early career at Amazon as a support engineer, a role that involved constant troubleshooting and carrying a pager, leading to a high-stress work environment. They describe how being the sole person on-call for several months was a turning point, motivating them to transition to a software developer role. The speaker emphasizes the importance of viewing job interviews as a numbers game, akin to poker, where even the best preparation doesn't guarantee success but increases the chances over time. They share their strategy of lining up multiple interviews to increase the likelihood of receiving offers and discuss the emotional toll of focusing on a single opportunity.
🎯 Interviewing as a Numbers Game: Overcoming Mental Blocks
In this paragraph, the speaker delves into the mental aspect of interviewing, highlighting the common misconception that interview preparation should mirror day-to-day job skills. They argue that interviews are designed to filter out poor candidates, even if they might perform well in the actual job. The speaker uses the analogy of poker to illustrate the concept of a numbers game, where the goal is to make good decisions repeatedly over time. They advise candidates to listen to interviewers and follow their lead, warning against the trap of expecting interviews to be a direct reflection of job performance. The speaker also introduces a sponsor, Brilliant.org, advocating for interactive learning in various fields, including math, science, and computer science.
🃏 The High Stakes of Technical vs. Behavioral Interviewing
The speaker discusses the importance of not solely focusing on the technical aspects of an interview, warning of the potential pitfalls of target fixation. They compare the interview process to poker, where considering only one's hand is insufficient; one must also account for position, bet sizing, and opponent behavior. The speaker emphasizes that while technical skills are necessary, they are not the only factors for securing a job offer. They stress the significance of the behavioral portion of an interview, where candidates must demonstrate qualities such as being a fast learner, thorough, a good co-worker, and ambitious. The speaker shares personal anecdotes from their interview experiences, where strong behavioral responses compensated for average technical performances, ultimately leading to multiple job offers.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Support Engineer
💡Technical Interview
💡Principal Software Engineer
💡Bar Raiser
💡Numbers Game
💡Tier List
💡False Positives
💡System Design Interview
💡Behavioral Interview
💡Target Fixation
💡Brilliant.org
Highlights
The speaker started at Amazon in 2006 as a support engineer, responsible for website maintenance, often feeling like a 'digital janitor'.
The speaker's experience of being the sole pager holder led to a turning point in their career, motivating a shift to software development.
Tony Robbins' quote about change is cited as a driving force for the speaker's career transition.
The speaker emphasizes the importance of preparation for technical interviews to become a software developer.
The speaker's progression from heavy on-call load to a Principal Software Engineer and a bar raiser at Amazon.
The speaker has conducted 850 technical interviews and trained over a thousand people in interview techniques.
Three big lessons learned from overcoming a challenging period are promised to be shared in the video.
The first lesson is about the mental block in interviewing and the importance of viewing it as a numbers game.
The analogy of professional poker as a numbers game is used to illustrate the unpredictability of interview outcomes.
The speaker advises lining up multiple interviews to increase the chances of receiving an offer.
The second lesson addresses the common mistake of preparing for interviews based on personal expectations rather than reality.
The purpose of interviews is explained as a means to avoid hiring bad candidates, not necessarily to find the best fit for the job.
The speaker shares a personal anecdote about a system design interview where misunderstanding the question led to a failed outcome.
The importance of listening to the interviewer and following their lead during the questioning is stressed.
The third lesson warns against target fixation and the danger of focusing solely on the technical portion of an interview.
The analogy of poker strategy is used again to emphasize the importance of considering the full picture in an interview.
The behavioral portion of the interview is highlighted as critical to landing a job, not just the technical skills.
The speaker provides advice on how to answer behavioral questions effectively and avoid getting down-leveled.
A call to action for viewers to subscribe to the channel and email newsletter for career advancement advice.
Transcripts
I started at Amazon in 2006 as a support
engineer a person responsible for
keeping the website up and running it's
an important job but sometimes when
everything was broken it felt like I was
a digital janitor constantly cleaning up
other people's messes I had to carry a
pager it was not uncommon to be paged
more than 100 times in a week whenever I
was paged I had to stop whatever I was
doing and log on to see what the issue
was there was no end to it it happened
day and night usually carrying the pager
is spread across all of the members of
your team however when I arrived at
Amazon several people were leaving as a
result for many months I was the only
one carrying the pager this difficult
period in my life turned out to be a
turning point as it motivated me to take
action as Tony Robbins said change
happens when the pain of staying the
same is greater than the pain of change
I knew that I didn't want to be a
support engineer for the rest of my life
even if my on-call shifts got better I
wanted to be a software developer write
code and build systems so I went all in
on preparing for the technical interview
to become a software developer while
Ally had a heavy on-call load now I'm in
L7 principal software engineer I've also
conducted 850 technical interviews I'm a
bar raiser and I've trained over a
thousand people at Amazon how to conduct
interviews and I finally know why I was
successful back then in this video I'll
share with you three big lessons I
learned while I was digging myself out
of that hole so you don't have to go
through the heartache I did this is my
free gift from Uncle Steve to you all I
ask is that if you find my content
useful you subscribe to my channel and
email newsletter where I help Tech
professionals level up in their careers
there's a link in the description the
first lesson is a mental block that
people have when they're interviewing
and it holds them back and makes them
feel bad about themselves unnecessarily
preparing for interviews is emotionally
and physically draining so you want to
minimize the time it takes to get an
acceptable offer if you don't learn this
lesson you'll drag things out longer
than you have to I see it all the time
in people that I talk with and I don't
understand how it got into their heads
it can ruin their chances of getting a
different job and it also kills their
self-esteem and that lesson is that
interviewing is a number numbers game
when I was younger I wanted to become a
professional poker player and if ever
there was a numbers game it's
professional poker and the sick part
about it is that you can have the best
hand two Aces and still lose that hand
and you can have the worst hand a 2-7
offsuit and still win you make money in
poker over time by making good decisions
hand after hand and so with interviewing
you should not expect to win every time
even if you have prepared everything
perfectly when I was finally ready to do
software developer interviews I didn't
do just one interview I lined up four
interviews looking back at it I probably
should have lined up 10. I ended up
receiving three offers from those four
which allowed me to be selective if I
had spent all that time targeting just
one team could have been the team that
passed on me I would have felt terrible
and it might have discouraged me at the
very least it would have prolonged the
time it took to actually receive an
offer if you know anything about
recruiting it's that they operate on
their own schedule at some companies
they're fast and efficient at some
companies they aren't so fast and
efficient you want to start the process
with many companies in parallel not
serially when you're interviewing don't
become emotionally invested in a single
opportunity there are too many external
factors that you can't control you could
encounter an inexperienced interviewer
who had a bad day or stepped in dog poop
right before your interview they might
ask you the one question you wanted to
prepare for but couldn't get to perhaps
they already interviewed a superstar
earlier that week and the position is
already filled when interviewing segment
accompanies you're interested in into a
tier list with proper preparation you
should expect at least one offer from
your top tier use the companies in the
lower tier as practice to reduce
nervousness in subsequent interviews
plus who knows maybe a lower tier
company will surprise you by practicing
with these companies good things are
more likely to happen the second lesson
I learned is a common complaint that
I've heard from many people and it holds
them back because they think the world
shouldn't be this way they prepare the
way they think they things should be
instead of the way that things actually
are it's a common trap that I've also
fallen into during a question I went off
on a tangent and it led me to not
receiving an offer that lesson is that
inner interviews are not intended to
test your day-to-day job skills instead
the purpose is to ensure that companies
never hire a bad candidate even if that
means filtering out people who would
otherwise perform well in that job the
Gatehouse does not resemble the
clubhouse the skills that make you
successful at work are not the same as
those that make you successful at
interviewing there are two types of
Poker limit and no limit in limit games
the number of chips you can put into the
pot is capped while in No Limit games
the amount you can bet is not capped
even though the rules are otherwise
exactly the same these games could not
be more different during a system design
interview I was once asked to design a
system that I had actually built in real
life I was thrilled to receive that
question and I could hardly contain my
excitement I had filed patents in this
area and I was intimately familiar with
how to actually build these systems in
real life I could talk about it forever
but where I took the question was not
the same place as the interviewer wanted
to go and so I bombed that question that
I should have crushed because I thought
the interviewer wanted to talk about
what it actually took to build one of
these systems and production when
actually he wanted to talk about
something else I've seen it on both
sides of the table when I ask a system
design question I'm not actually asking
you to design a system that takes weeks
or months I'm trying to have an
interesting conversation about some of
the topics I want to talk about to size
you up companies don't give you real
world work during interviews because it
takes longer than the hour they have to
evaluate you instead they ask proxy
questions to minimize false positives it
can be frustrating to be filtered out
because the interviewer wanted to talk
about some arbitrary thing even though
you may be a good fit for the job
however it's best not to take it
personally and recognize that it's a
numbers game companies are optimizing
for minimal false positives so when you
go into an interview you need to make
sure to listen to what the interviewer
is saying and let them guide you through
their questioning if you play a No Limit
game like a limit game you're gonna get
destroyed don't get caught playing the
wrong game because you think the world
should be a different way before we
continue I'd like to drop a quick note
for today's sponsor brilliant.org just
like the best way to prepare for a
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watching their videos isn't to try
everything brilliant has to offer free
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life engineered or click on the link in
the description the first 200 of you
will get 20 off Brilliance annual
premium subscription the third lesson is
the most important of all it's a trap
that one can fall into even if they've
been crushing their interview prep I've
noticed this phenomenon frequently in
the past couple of years with the rise
of Lee code and the tech interview prep
industry it's a form of Target fixation
that can lead to down leveling or Worse
not getting an offer even if you've
answered all of the questions perfectly
and that lesson is only focusing on the
technical portion of the interview in
poker if you only look at your hand and
don't take anything else into
consideration you're only seeing part of
the picture to be successful it's
important to consider your position the
number of trips you have as well as the
number of trips the other players have
and how they're behaving yes you should
get good at Lee code and system design
questions but the technical portion of
the interview is the ante is it
necessary but not sufficient condition
to get the offer the behavioral portion
of a job interview is critical to
actually Landing the job this is where
interviewers ask about your prior
experience you want to make sure you
tell good stories that communicate your
high performance seniority and relevant
experience and avoid raising red flags
such as giving them the impression that
you're difficult to work with it can
also be the difference when you have a
lukewarm performance during the
technical portion of the interview if
you have three technical interviews one
bombed one's really good and one was
just okay the conversation is going to
shift to the behavioral portion of the
interview you have a good showing there
you may be able to salvage an offer when
I was interviewing for sde positions I
didn't crush the technical portions I
did okay I did make sure though that the
answers to the soft questions
demonstrated that I was a fast learner
thorough with my work a good co-worker
and hungry for more and I think that was
the critical difference to getting all
of those offers of course none of this
matters if you don't do decently well in
the technical portion of the interview
but it doesn't take too much effort to
make sure you have good answers to
behavioral questions so don't neglect
them because they aren't technical if
you want to know how to answer these
questions effectively and avoid getting
down leveled I break it down step by
step in this video if you got the job
and want to know what to do next take a
look at this video where I break down
what new software developers should
focus on either way work hard and don't
let your uncle Steve down
foreign
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