Kartikey Sapra

Check out our blog post with Fengyu Zhang and Birjodh Singh Tiwana on how we are incorporating dwell based signals to improve feed experience for LinkedIn members. Thanks to Siddharth Dangi, James Sorenson, Allison Liu, Hailing Cheng, and Yafang Yang for their discussions, data analysis and prior work. https://lnkd.in/gmkSzPWn #linkedin #deeplearning #ai #feed

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When I left Apple, I got a 50% pay raise, and unknowingly left millions of upside on the table… After getting laid off from my first full time job in tech, I was very excited and relieved to land at Apple, a company I had long admired. It was my first job in BigTech and I learned a lot about company culture during my time there. My salary there was a bit smaller than my prior role. But, on the perks/benefits side of things, the company was very generous. Google was just emerging from the garage phase of life, so the whole BigTech compensation arms race hadn’t really started yet. My former director from my first job recruited me to the company she had joined, which was a younger public tech company that seemed to be doing pretty well, and had survived the dotcom bust. She was looking for a tech lead for the web team, which was working on the corporate web site, the marketing lead-gen system and the customer support portal - lots of stitching internal systems together in the database layer. After going through technical interviews with the team members, she made me an offer - one I seemingly couldn’t refuse. It was 33% more salary, 50% more bonus and more stock options annually. Topping that off, she wanted to support my growth as a team lead and eventually provide an opportunity to try out management. So, I decided to go. There were many reasons for me to make the leap - fantastic manager, growth opportunity, and compensation. But, the main point of this post is that compensation can be tricky to gauge head-to-head. If I had only gone for the compensation, it would have been the wrong decision. It turns out that the Apple stock options I left behind would have been worth multi-millions by the end of the vesting schedule. After I left, the stock split and then split again after a short time and continued to go up quickly in value. Stock compensation in a public company with a solid track record is almost as sure as cash. No, it is not certain, and you have to make your vesting cliffs. But, it is vastly different from pre-IPO shares. And, if you get RSUs that are vesting quarterly or monthly, that is basically cash compensation. The good news is that I took that 50% pay raise and used it to start building wealth. I did not change my standard of living, but instead increased and diversified my stock market investments, maxed out my retirement accounts (401K and IRA) and started on an accelerated pay-down of my home mortgage. Had I finished 5 years at Apple, I likely would have been financially independent early in my career. Instead, I had a very fun job for a few years, got the career development I was looking for, and learned financial discipline.

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Amazon-to-Google-to-Amazon #a2g2a thought of the day: interesting to see how RTO (Return-to-Office) outcomes are entirely different for the two companies. In my post today, I don't really want to go down the path of debating whether RTO is "good" or "bad". There's very emotional and valid opinions on both sides, and it affects people's personal lives in real ways. Please be respectful. Whether you agree with the policy or not, for it to actually work it does need *critical mass*. Both companies have essentially the same RTO policy (3 days/week expectation), but there's significant differences is in how the message was delivered and enforced - and the outcome. Google’s 3-days-per-week was mostly a “pretty-please, would-you, if-you-don't-mind” with no actual enforcement (but some vague threats). So most people ignored it. They still do. Leadership got frustrated and the message got less polite over time, but nothing really changed. Even as of 3 weeks ago, when I was still a Google employee, the buildings were fairly empty. That made being physically in the office significantly less useful, other than enjoying the perks of free food and massages by myself (and occasionally with 1 or 2 coworkers). Amazon’s 3-days-per-week came with actual enforcement. Amazon used badge reader data to track when people were actually coming to the office, with consequences. It does feel a bit draconian, but you can’t argue with the effectiveness of saying “we have a policy that we believe is business-critical and we’ll enforce it or else.” I appreciate that when I come to the office, I can find my coworkers there and we can have f2f meetings. There’s critical mass for RTO to actually be effective. Amazon has picked a lane. Personally, I have not figured out how to truly be productive and happy working remotely in the last 4 years. I respect and appreciate the fact that some people have, but I haven’t. I do like the option to stay home a day or two, skipping my long commute, working from a lounge chair in my backyard on a sunny day. But there’s nothing like the energy in the room of a good group meeting, or the chemistry of a face-to-face 1:1, or the enthusiasm of two engineers standing in front of a physical whiteboard drawing boxes and arrows with markers brainstorming about the future. Or the bonding of sharing a meal or a walk between buildings with a coworker. I feel energized when I’m physically in the office. It literally charges my batteries. I’ve been coming to the office 4x/week and loving it. 

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It’s been 1.5+ yrs since I started working at Google and several individuals from my LinkedIn network asked me some common questions - “How are you adjusting to the cultural shock between Amazon vs Google ”? I waited for 1.5 yrs since I needed some data to calibrate my journey and share answer in a professionally responsible manner. Also, the tech industry has endured tremendous turbulence in the last 2 years and I had to adjust my surfing gears more than ever. Let me start with - yes, I had cold feet when I stepped outside my 9 yrs old “Amazon” home. But, I can also assure you this decision was not impromptu and took ~5 months of mental exercise. Here are some things that I practiced to weather the change and get acclimatized.   (1) Set right expectations: This is probably the most important one to avoid mental stress and fatigue. Like any trade, there are risks when stakes are high. I spent nearly 2 months finding the trade offs and compromises of my choices which led me to build the plan to address my own concerns.    (2) Build career strategy: With expectations set, I put a methodical structure to accelerate my journey. First 4 months, I was 100% hands-on with SDE-1 and 2s to understand the builder tools (yes, they know the best!), server frameworks, development and deployment best practices. Then I scheduled 50% of time on project delivery, 30% on identifying top engineering problems and 20% time working on the 3 years vision. (3) Stay original and authentic: My strategy was to fight all of my inner urge to practice Amazonian traits at Google (all though some part of me was screaming inside). That said, I did not throw any Amazon leadership principles and instead moderated the tone in the new world, while embracing the Googlyness. (4) Respect what came before: I put a self note on my desk to fight all urges to be judgmental and opinionated about all prior organizational and engineering decisions. Instead, I scheduled meetings and spent several months absorbing what came before and internalizing the vision. (5)Developed my professional network: “Earn trust” is table stakes if you want to grow in your career. Building trust and network is a huge time investment and takes careful planning. Frequent 1:1 with mentors and leaders in my organization definitely paid off to seed the right network structure at the early stage. (6) Learn and be curious: For a builder, it is not fun to throw away familiar tools. pick up new ones and accelerate.  But, here is one thing that helped. I stopped burdening myself with the idea that I am missing my old tools, instead motivated myself to learn technologies those power planet scaled software. Success metric to share: Today I Am driving ~100+ SDE organization as the tech lead. Achieved code review bar raiser in two programming languages Became chaos testing ambassador in Google Ads.  Led a performance improvement objective in Google (won Bronze tier) Launched 2 critical features.

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Interviewing at Google is an experience in itself. I shared my own interview experience from 2005 here - https://lnkd.in/gSVxtF45. "Challenge the status quo" is one of Google values which I experienced from the day I interviewed to this very day. I shared how this showed up in the article I mentioned above. Specifically what it means to be Googley or what is Googleyness (which in itself is an interview focus area). I also shared some interview tips in the article. How does your organization evaluate candidates? Do you evaluate for culture fit to create a homogeneous environment? Do you see if candidates would "challenge the status quo"? Share your thoughts and perspective.

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A Decade at Amazon - Reflections After a 10-year journey at Amazon, I recently transitioned from a yellow badge to the red corporate employee badge. While there is room for improvement at Amazon, I'm struck by how much I've learned and grown, thanks to Amazon's culture and leaders. In my last 10 years, I've had the opportunity to work across different organizations in stores, AWS, and Alexa as an individual contributor and as a manager in technical program management and engineering disciplines. Some of the most profound lessons that will stick with me include: 1. Following leadership principles unifies a company's culture and boosts productivity. 2. The importance of deep understanding, practice, and insisting on the highest standards. 3. Driving outcomes over empires and being strategically patient yet tactically impatient in pursuing customer obsession. 4. Having an insatiable curiosity and beginner's mindset. 5. Every customer issue represents an upstream process deficiency that needs to be identified and resolved urgently. 6. Prioritizing and tackling the hottest, highest impact items first. 7. Being "green-lighted" doesn't mean risk-free, and transparently calling out risks with projected issue dates. 8. Prioritizing input goals you can control before output goals, and optimizing inputs relentlessly. 9. Goals are directional, not dogmatic, and undershooting or overshooting can be acceptable if customers are delighted. 10. While off-the-shelf solutions can cover 80%, investing in tailored solutions for the remaining 20% is critical. 11. Simplicity, incremental progress, and smart automation are core philosophies. 12. Transparency in prioritization rationale and openness to adjusting the roadmap based on new inputs. 13. Sticking to your strongest points persuades better than attempting to discuss everything. 14. Removing blockers is your responsibility, not someone else's, and committing 100% once a group decision is made. 15. Embracing failures as learning opportunities in complex operations. This enriching decade has been about customer obsession, frugality, ownership, never stopping learning, highest standards, and delivering robust solutions. I'm grateful for the growth I've experienced here.

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All conversations start with how my profile/ EB1 application looked. Here's a brief review of what I think worked. https://lnkd.in/g3pTgc4P More blog posts are on the way as I break down the conversations I have been having. And, as always, find a time to chat here: https://lnkd.in/gJ2eyCGP #EB1 #EB1A #immigration #profile

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What does it feel like to be an engineering manager at Amazon: Since the RTO announcement it became popular to write shit about Amazon, but it's still one of the best companies around the world. A few weeks ago, Gilad Naor shared with the 'Leading Developers' readers 3 lessons from his time as an engineering manager at Amazon. Here is the first one, read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/dHBxv2Ha 𝟭. 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗺𝘀 My first meeting at Amazon was baffling. I entered a room with about a dozen Software Development Managers (SDMs) and Product Managers (PMs). Everyone sat in silence and looked at their laptops or the printed papers they had before them. It was my second day at Amazon, and I picked up one of the extra sheets and started reading. After those first ten awkward minutes, everyone finished reading and the meeting began. Why do Amazon meetings always start this way? This is a specific example of how Amazon approaches problem-solving. It is the "Good Intentions Don't Matter" approach. In a famous internal video, Jeff Bezos talks about why good intentions are irrelevant. When things don't work, it does not matter what people wanted. All that matters is fixing the problems with mechanisms. For example, many busy managers come to meetings without first reading the prep material. They all intended to read the 6-Pager before the meeting. They just got sidetracked by the latest emergency. Scolding the managers won't solve the problem. A mechanism will. This is why all Amazon meetings start with a study period. The remaining meeting time is then spent on high-quality decision-making. Meta solves the same problem by creating cultural norms. I can't count the number of times that I heard a senior leader cut off the presenter: "Stop, assume that everyone here already read the slides. Let's get to the point." This is a culture-first approach. I have seen this work well in some teams, and not work at all in other teams. At Amazon, the solution is part of the company's "operating system". ------------------------- Anton here - by now everyone is familiar with the 6-pager concept, but that "operating system" thinking can be used almost anywhere. Think about something annoying that your developers do, and how can you solve it. For example, I remember being annoyed that people don’t update the Jira tickets. Finally, after requesting multiple times, now we just take 20 seconds from the standup to update them.

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Disclaimer - This post is not meant to justify or criticize Amazon's 5 day return to office policy. I am just sharing how this policy affected my decision making. As I come to terms with giving up a house deal I had nearly finalized, I’m experiencing a mix of emotions. The decision was not easy, but it has ultimately led me to reflect on my priorities and the future I envision for myself. The house was a perfect fit in many ways—great location, ample space, and the promise of a cozy home. However, with Amazon’s 5 day return to office policy looming, I realized that my current lifestyle and work dynamics would need to adapt. The thought of commuting 2+ hours daily and adjusting to a more rigid work schedule made me reconsider my choice. While it’s disappointing to let go of a deal I was excited about, I’m trying to view this as an opportunity rather than a setback. It gives me the chance to reassess what I truly want in a home, particularly in light of my work situation. Perhaps there’s a better option out there that aligns more closely with my new routine and professional commitments. This change also encourages me to explore different areas that might offer a more convenient work-life balance. I’m excited about the prospect of finding a place that not only meets my needs but also enhances my overall lifestyle. Ultimately, while I’m sad to step away from this deal, I’m hopeful about what lies ahead. This is a moment to realign my goals and find a home that will support my journey as I navigate this new chapter in my career.

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I'll fully accept that sometimes CEOs need to make very difficult decisions, but this explanation from Intuit's CEO below is truly atrocious. It is frankly impossible that they've suddenly noticed 1500 of their staff are not meeting expectations and, if it was possible, that would very much be a failure of the CEO for allowing the situation to get that bad. No matter how you look at it, the magnitude of the layoffs forces one to conclude only thing thing - it's a larger problem, the buck therefore stops with the CEO and, as such, one would expect a level of compassion and contrition as the CEO dishes out consequences to much-less-powerful people who aren't them. Gergely summarises the rest far better than what I can, but I really think those who have influence in a company should pay attention to what he writes with regards to what the CEO gains from making such a statement. When you're writing an explanation for lay-offs, ask yourself why you're writing it. Then read the statement from the perspective of your laid-off staff, from your surviving staff, and from the average member of the public. If you come across worse than you would do if you said nothing, then why release those words as they are? In doing so you destroy all possible benefits from writing a statement in the first place and it results, as we say in Germany, in a Verschlimmbesserung (google it, it's a great word). And for heaven's sake, don't introduce a fantastical projection of blame on 1500 people by suggesting you're giving them "the respect and compassion they deserve". That just makes it ripe for a @bestoflinkedin Instagram post.

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An application to offer conversion rate of < 0.3% sounds terribly daunting. That's exactly what Dhruv Loya had to power through to get his full-time offer as a Technical Support Specialist at Tesla after 300+ applications. Each rejection feels like failure and the discouragement never gets easier to swallow. I get it, but I've also learned to accept that one door closing doesn't mean all of them have been shut. You're doing just fine -- keep hitting submit. ⭐️ You also don't have to do it alone. I write a blog where I send internship and scholarship opportunities to your inbox every single day. You can view the exhaustive list here: https://lnkd.in/e6FWb6Uh I have also found Jobright.ai, Handshake, and Hunter.io for cold emailing to be extremely helpful. :)

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continuing with my video call ranting. Dear Apple : we use video calls for professional meetings. It doesn't really convey the message "what's happening is really important" when balloons are suddenly floating on my screen because I unintentionally flashed the wrong hand symbol. This is a feature that really should have been turned off by default for all applications. p.s. I don't know what version this came up in, but I encountered it when I got a new laptop. If you are wondering how to disable -- when you are actively in a video call (and ONLY when you are on a call), there will be a green camera icon in the menu bar. You can disable reactions in that menu. It will remember you choice, but you'll have to do disable it separately for every application (zoom, teams, chrome, safari, etc,) that you use for video calls.

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𝑭𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒂𝒍 Couple of days back I submitted a proposal for 𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐓 𝐄𝐔 conference. Despite giving 20+ public presentation this year every single time I have to submit a proposal I have an existential crisis. Surprisingly, process each time looks the same: 1. 𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐥 (2 months before deadline): „𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘯𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺” 2. 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 (2 weeks before submission): „𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝘪𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨? 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘨𝘰?!” 3. 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 (week before deadline): „𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘭, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘓𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦!” 4. 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 (3 days before deadline): „𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘐’𝘮 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥” 5. 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 (day of deadline): „𝘖𝘬𝘢𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘥!” This time Lejla Secerbegovic pulled me out from depths of depression with a friendly check-in and comment „I actually think this is great, not many people speak about this!” which made me submit in the end. 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧? 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐞. 3 days left until submission for BILT EU closes, which is more than enough time to submit a great proposal :) https://lnkd.in/ddz4-u_y

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I see a lot of career podcasts People always discuss well-being in a common pattern - People worked very hard and prioritized growth and money over well-being in their early years - They got burnt out and then started prioritizing well-being - Now, they put well-being first, leading to better health and a happier life But, If they hadn't focused on growth and money in their early years, would it be possible for them to prioritize well-being later? #wellbeing #career

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Why Amazon changed their RTO Policy * Increase speed and ownership -> IC:Manager ratio change * Increase invention, collaboration, and culture -> In-Office 5 days a week Is this really why tho? Why Amazon is Enforcing a 5-Day Return-to-Office - according to a former AWS Engineer - https://lnkd.in/eRGmpNij #rto

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I first joined Amazon in December of 2005. Even though I left for two years, my "Amaversary" still coincides with the end of the year and a natural moment for reflection. As I reached my 17 year mark this December, I also had the privilege of working with Amazon Careers to share some of my journey and thoughts about individual contributor technical leader and people manager career paths. In my ruminating, I put together far more content than could be used for a single article. So, I've decided to post here as a series of Q&As - in case others might find my observations, experiences, and perspectives interesting or useful. Below is the first of 6. 1. 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙛𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙧 𝙟𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙮; 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙨, 𝙄𝘾 𝙫𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙧? I started my career as a software engineer 25 years ago. I've worked for startups, enterprise companies, and 7 different organizations over 17 years and two tours at Amazon. I've written firmware for robotic camera mounts; built highly scalable distributed systems; designed restaurant marketing, ordering, logistics, and operations software; created automated test harnesses for mobile games; tested HD DVD encoding; helped launch grocery delivery to customers around the globe - just to name a few of the many cool things I've had the privilege to work on. I've been an entry-level software engineer, a technical lead of teams, a software manager on a couple of occasions, chief software architect reporting to a CTO, and (for the last few years) Amazon Principal Engineer directly supporting a VP with about 200 engineers within my remit. I first became a manager because I mistakenly thought it was the only way to continue growing as a leader, and in many ways I failed. I learned some very humbling lessons about leadership through that experience, which I used to be a better individual contributor technical leader on my path to Senior Engineer. My second time as manager was because my organization had a need that I could fill. I had grown enough as a leader that this time I was much more successful. I said yes to an opportunity that started with managing a small team through delivery of a complex and critical project. Once I grew a high performing team that delivered that initial project, I took on more scope and expanded into multiple teams. After a couple of years of success growing and investing in my teams so that we could deliver greater value to our customers and business, I decided to prioritize being close to my family. For me, at that time, it meant giving up my people management role and returning to the role of an individual contributor technical leader that supports a globally distributed organization. Even though I really enjoyed my time as a people manager, there is no better job for me than that of a Principal Engineer. #amazon #careerdevelopment #technicalleadership #peoplemanagement

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** Unfortunate Experience with Amazon: Seeking Guidance ** On March 30, 2024, I placed an order with Amazon for a Boat neckband and Boat earbuds. While the neckband arrived in good condition, the earbuds turned out to be defective upon receipt. Naturally, I initiated a return order, and the defective earbuds were collected on April 19, 2024. However, over a month later, I'm still awaiting my refund. Each time I reach out to customer support, I'm told an investigation is ongoing, and worse, I've been accused of potentially returning a different item. Despite their agent verifying and collecting the item, I continue to face delays and blame for an issue that's beyond my control. I filed a complaint on the consumer portal, only to receive a response stating that the product wasn't returned, despite confirmation from their own agent. Here's an excerpt from their communication: "Dear Sir, On review of your complaint and on the information received from the third-party seller we find that you have not returned the product delivered to you vide Order Id 403-8363294-1083540. Accordingly, neither refund nor replacement order can be initiated. Please note that the seller initiates refund only after receipt of the original product as per return policy. Further, it is submitted that our role is limited to that of an intermediary and we are not the seller/manufacturer of the products listed on our e-commerce marketplace. The products listed on our e-commerce marketplace are sold by independent third-party sellers. In view of the above, the issue stands closed. Thank You." I find myself at an impasse and seek your guidance. What steps would you recommend I take next in this scenario? Your insights and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. #CustomerService #AdviceNeeded #AmazonExperience #boat

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The year 2022 was a time of transition as the world was still trying to settle down in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was during this period that I made the biggest career move of my life - I joined Amazon. Today marks my 2-year #Amaversary, and I couldn't be more grateful for the amazing journey that has unfolded since then. Back then, I had no idea what surprises were in store for me, but so far, it has been an incredible experience. Amazon is all about "Work Hard, Have Fun, and Make History," and I have fully embraced this spirit. The Amazon culture is truly unique, and it's essential to learn the art of unlearning and relearning when starting your Amazon journey to navigate it successfully. Over the past two years, I've been amazed by the many peculiarities that define the Amazon way of working. Those who don't know; below are a few: Metrics: “It changed by X%, from Y to Z”. At Amazon, everything is measured by metrics—from project launches and prioritization to operational excellence and peak planning. Success and failure are both evaluated based on data-driven metrics; yes, failure too. Writing: Writing the Amazon way is hard but efficient. Whether it’s a technical or non-technical document, you need time, effort, and iterations to meet high standards. It's a skill that takes time to develop. Working backwards: How often would it have happened that you took some goal without a target date, started working on it, but slowly and eventually you lost track of or interest in something that was important at one point? In Amazon, we set a target date and then plan backwords to meet that target. It is just shifting the order in which we typically work. Trust me, it's very powerful and changes everything. DFD (Dates-for-Date): Since I talked about working backwords, date is important. “When is this going to be done?” If the answer is not a precise date, you give a DFD, which means you will come back with a precise date by DFD. We always answer a question about dates with a date or a date-for-a-date. Beyond these peculiarities, Amazon’s culture is something that makes it stand out among other companies. Amazon’s culture is very thoughtfully defined, and that’s the reason Amazon has survived for 30 years. Our unique Amazon culture is described by our leadership principles: Customer Obsession, Ownership, Think Big, Invent and Simplify, Insist on High Standards , Learn and Be Curious, Bias for Action, and many others. Our Leadership Principles describe how Amazon does business, how leaders lead, how engineers create products used by millions, and how we keep the customer at the center of our decisions. I am so grateful for the wealth of learning and looking forward to many more with the bunch of extremely talented people who surround me. Cheers to my 2-year #Amaversary! 🥂 #amazon #workhard #havefun #makehistory #itsalwaysday1

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