Haven’t been back to these forums since leaving Cisco for Amazon three years agon. Holy he11 what has happened! The normal gripes about LR’s replaced with looney conspiracy theories fed by anti vaxxers!!
If you are worth your salt come to AWS. you won’t regret it. It’s different - but better - tons of growth and new business. Life is too short to waste at Cisco.
“Whomever is the least best has to go,” the manager told Business Insider. “It’s like firing someone who got an A- when the rest of the class got A’s.”
I hated when Cisco ranked on a curve. If you were on a team of rock stars, someone got screwed. Good managers would rotate people in & out of the bottom and middle to keep from having to terminate the worst person on their team knowing that an "A-" worker was way better than taking a cr-p shot at a new hire performing better.
Don't get me wrong, getting rid of poor performers is a good thing, but if everyone meets some minimum level of acceptableness, why terminate the worst and have to bring in someone new, wait for them to come up to speed and meanwhile axe the next lowest person and bring in yet another new person and bring them up to speed? Then it just becomes a revolving door with the 2-3 new hires trading places because they'll never outperform the top rock starts on the team who've been there for years.
https://www.hcamag.com/us/news/general/leaked-amazon-memo-shows-how-it-forces-out-employees-to-hit-targets/253161
Leaked Amazon memo shows how it forces out employees to hit targets.
It directs Amazon Web Services managers to place twice as many employees as the company wants to eliminate into a performance-coaching program called Focus. The program is the first step in a process that could lead to an employee’s termination.
Amazon employees are first enrolled in Focus, a coaching program for underperformers. If their performance does not improve, they can be put in Pivot, a program in which employees can choose between starting a performance-improvement plan or leaving the company with severance.
According to the memo, employees who receive the lowest rating in annual performance reviews were automatically placed in Focus. The memo said once employees were enrolled in the Focus program, a vice president had to approve their removal from it.
Amazon managers told Business Insider that they felt pressured to rank some employees in the bottom tier, even if they felt their performance merited a higher level. One manager said they faced “unrelenting pressure” to meet the URA goal.
“Whomever is the least best has to go,” the manager told Business Insider. “It’s like firing someone who got an A- when the rest of the class got A’s.”
Test regurgitation does not alone qualify one to work at AWS. They want to know how you think, react, behave, engage. That’s just as important.
Cisco set the gold standard for over entitled certification droids. It’s not like that at AWS. It’s the mix of tech, business and interpersonal that matters. Tell us about YOU - don’t tell us about the test we already wrote.
I hope you try again.
I'll bite. I interviewed for AWS. I first had a series of phone interviews where two specialists asked questions focused on networking. Fair and reasonably simple. I was then asked to work on a technical problem solving homework which I'd have to submit before the in-person interviews. I spent a couple of days working on it and prepared a detailed report which I was ready to present and defend. The on-site interview followed and .. what a disappointment. I lost interest after 90 minutes. No focus on the technical homework at all. Instead, all of the questions revolved around AWS' leadership principles. The interviewers were doing what they had been told by relentlessly focusing on those leadership principles. I played the game for an hour, up until the same questions kept coming back. The image they projected that day was that of a company I'm not interest in joining. If you first take an associate-level AWS certification, landing a job at AWS is not hard. It's just tedious. But why should it be?
At AWS we don't have a single anti-vaxxer. It's so AWSome that I cry everyday.
My team just lost the 3rd really good SA this year to AWS. Talking with them they say the onboarding process is grueling but really fulfilling. They have no regrets - especially jumping off the sh*tshow that is Cisco SA's these days. I hope to follow them soon. These boards are cathartic. All the anti vax nutcases on here just make the case to get out of cisco.
lol which one of you posted this to the slack channel? stop trolling the cisco folks. be glad you made it out of cisco and into aws. and for those reading this wondering if life is better on the outside, absolutely. don't believe the rumors about aws. the only thing slowing us down is we need more good people. please do apply, come over and make the future with us.
AWS recruiting and interviewing process is working if the sore losers complain about it here. stay at cisco!
AWS tried to recruit me.
The interview process was ridiculous and I bowed out. No thanks.
Only sales reps can move from Cisco to AWS. People in other Cisco roles (SE, developer) are not relevant to AWS.
Agree - cisco SED's etc spread FUD about amazon to the SE/SA's, especially the better talents. It's the new berlin wall of tech to keep 'em contained. Yes AWS is "different" or "peculiar" and yes the LP's are kinda cultish but that's just cosmetics. Much preferred over living under sudden death LR's and a skillset that is more and more irrelevant. come on over if you're good you won't regret it.
Dude the whole “AWS culture is awful” is just FUD being spread by Cisco management. So much good talent has left Cisco and gone to AWS. Agree with the original post - if you are worth it, do it. If you like to work, want to stay relevant, don’t want to atrophy on the sinking ship that is Cisco, come over to AWS. If you’re the typical lazy Cisco droid then please stay away.
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The grass is not always greener, but at AWS you'll obtain marketable skills. Take a few years of beatings at Amazon and jump ship. At Cisco, you learn how to maneuver and hide in toxic environments. Good luck selling Cisco initiatives on a job interview in 2021.
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I’ve been trying to find a way how to explain what’s wrong with Cisco for a long time….I always say something about modern skills not learning modern skills not keeping up with industry.
The way you put it really sums it up. My manager is a hider and he wants us all to be too. More focus on cooking ACTS metrics than actually being efficient. Carrot and sticks and lots of mind tricks but that doesn’t work for me only money.
It’s sad because I dreamed about working at Cisco and it’s a giant company so it’s probably not going anywhere. They just don’t want to pay to keep talent.
I used to think it’s just ohhh Cisco will reward the hard workers and cut the fat but nah it’s really just about sucking stick and getting lucky if money ever comes around and hiding between.
The only way to stay sane is to stop giving a sh-t because there’s not enough staff for the work, then thst is a cr---y attitude to take and no way to advance the career. If you work hard it just means picking up someone else’s slack and been told keep it up hopefully you might get rewarded for it one day lol….
Then they divided a bunch of the company over vaccine sh-t and ended the thread about it so no one can discuss it any more.
I’m not sure who or what it is, seems like Fran might be an extremist liberal
Leader? I never get this silly preoccupation with everybody being leaders (by which they mean activist). Even the schools are full of it.
We don’t need leaders, that ends up with a rabble. 95% of you need to learn how to follow, not lead.
I have several ex colleagues who went to Google or ex Google and the experience seems to be overwhelmingly positive. And their interview process seems to be more similar to it’s peers. Amazon has non developer folk go through a online test then several 1:1 before a loop interview. It seems too much for senior roles. The leadership principles may be cultish but at least the recruiting team seems transparent about that. The beef I have is the amount of time to invest vs peer companies.
@2cnb+1dJyt8Og "AND EVERYONE is a LEADER at AWS"
But of course. And they all use CAPS like you? Must be leadership principle #8 "shout to be heard. If it doesn't work, shout louder!"
I left Cisco 3 yrs ago and joined AWS. First 6 months, I wanted to quit. I missed Cisco very much. Work at Cisco is 2/10, at AWS it is a 10/10. I tried brown-nosing and BS'ing, but these tricks did not work here at AWS. Now, all I do is perform my job to the max and that's the only way you can survive at AWS. The pay is good compared to Cisco.
If you just want an easy paycheck, just stay at Cisco and learn new tricks to beat the LR every 3 months.
AND EVERYONE is a LEADER at AWS. If you get an interview, you'll be questioned more about leadership than your technical or sales/marketing/etc skills. AWS is for LEADERS!!!
Hah, in 2 years I’ll be retired to my chalet in the Swiss Alps.
The grass is not always greener, but at AWS you'll obtain marketable skills. Take a few years of beatings at Amazon and jump ship. At Cisco, you learn how to maneuver and hide in toxic environments. Good luck selling Cisco initiatives on a job interview in 2021.
@1jpp+1dJyt8Og totally agree. Last year I went through a first interview with AWS. The recruiter went in and in about leadership values , won’t even let me finish my sentence or ask a question - and TOLD me that that is part of Amazon’s leadership values! I had my doubts , because where I come from, that’s just rude. Anyhow, went for the first call, answered the tech questions , kept getting interrupted as well and then it came to the coveted “leadership” values. I asked what that was all about. The two interviewing people sounded shocked that I can ask such a question . They were gracious enough to put me through for the next interview but I declined. What a load of nonsense. There are other jobs around where I’ll not be treated as if I belong in a nursery.
The grass is not always greener. Cisco has its faults for sure but on balance is not a bad company to work for. My experience is if you want to just be an employee, get paid reasonably well then you should just nod along and keep your head down. If you want to change the world in your own way, go work someplace else since you will not be listened to at Cisco.
AWS and their pompous 14 leadership principles reminds me of a cult. Last place I'd consider joining. Imagine being called "a great Amazonian" every other day. Thanks, but I'll pass.
The OP just tossing around big names but works in CX
I would never leave Cisco for anything Amazon or AWS. Terrible culture compared to Cisco..
AWS HR, trolling on forums.. probably not enough leverage on linkedIn spam anymore?
"As an AM or an SA? Not sure how technical skills from Cisco would transfer over to a programmer focused solution."
And yet Cisco is trying to do this with all it's delivery engineers... Push for devnet is ridiculous and is a horrible idea.
Yahoo? What?!
AWS is an absolute sweatshop as are google and yahoo. I wouldn't bet on greener pastures over there. Only a different pasture.
As an AM or an SA? Not sure how technical skills from Cisco would transfer over to a programmer focused solution.
Well, some of Amazon's warehouse workers are on food stamps, I bet Cisco can't beat that....
Everyone I know who has programmed for Amazon has said it's he-l. It's a sad state of affairs if that's a better alternative to Cisco's hot mess.
Evil pays better, for a 'small' price
More like.... anti mandate
I've heard AWS employees have worse PTSD than veterans from Vietnam.