Beth Massa's answers

I learned how to say yes. And I learned how to say no.

Because of the fast pace and committment to innovation, I feel like I've worked for about 4-5 totally different companies at Amazon. So, in all honestly, I miss how it was in the very beginning. It was such a luxury to work in an environment where the only thing that mattered was risk and ideas. It was also a fantasy world. And the best memories I have at Amazon all occured with in the first three years that I worked there in the late '90s. Everyone I worked with was so smart, so funny, so interesting, so young, and so enthusiastic. I couldn't wait to get to work every single day. I don't know if I will ever enjoy the workplace like that ever again....

I don't think there is such a thing as a "typical" day at Amazon. You never know what is going to happen, who is going to be walking through the hallways (hey...is that Annie Lebowitz?? Oh, there's another camera crew following Jeff around...), what is going to be announced, re-orged, launched. There is a saying at amazon that goes "an hour is like a day, a day is like a week, a week is like a month, a month is like a year, and a year is like a decade." Things happen there very fast and that makes it exciting. But, amazon is always resource constrained so when something breaks or emergencies arise, as they often do, you find yourself with little wiggle room to accommodate it. I've eaten breakfast, lunch, and dinner at my desk more times than I care to admit. But the flip side of that is that what you do and the company you work for impacts the world in a high profile ways. I remember when our CEO was involved in a helicopter crash in Texas and I read about it in the news. A few days later, I saw him having lunch in the cafeteria and he had a scrape on his head. It's just weird working for a place that is so newsworthy. But again, also exciting, if your work is important to you....

I got to be part of two major launches at amazon: The music store, which was its second tab, and the Target.com launch, amazon's first, and as of this writing, biggest platform services partnership. The experiences were quite different from each other, but the launch of the music store back in 1998 seemed like a time of endless possiblity. I know I'll never have an experience like that again in my life....

The interview process is one of the few things at amazon that has a lot of structure and training behind it. I think that most managers and hiring managers at Amazon are well trained to conduct good and meaningful interviews. Your interview time will last at least half a day. There will be one person in your interview loop called a "bar-raiser" who is independent of the team you are interviewing for and is there to ask you the super hard questions and be extra tough on you. See if you can guess who that person is when you are interviewing :-). You will be asked a lot of situational questions and scenario questions if you are a front end or business candidate. I can't speak for technical or software engineering candidates. You will be asked a lot of "What would you do if" or "Tell me about a crisis situation that you resolved..." type questions. Come prepared with some answers ready at hand and be prepared for follow up questions to your answers. The most important thing that an amazon interviewer is getting to is how you think, what your process is. Do you freak out? When do you decide to escalate a situation to your manager? How much initiative do you take on your own? And get to know the site a bit. Nothing is more frustrating that interviewing an candidate who has not taken the time to get to know the site....

I've worked for a variety of different teams at Amazon. Some teams really bonded as friends and some just maintained friendly, but aloof relationships at work only. But don't forget, this is not just Amazon, this is Seattle, and sometimes Seattleites need to be drawn out a bit. The offices are close to the baseball and football stadiums and lots of great bars and eateries in pioneer square and the int'l district. Never be afraid to suggest hanging out after work to see some music or have a cocktail or catch a movie. Your coworkers will always love to join in....

I've seen a few other people advise new employees to ask questions and that is indeed great advice. There is rarely any formal training beyond the first days' orientation. Ask and ask and ask again--if you were told something and forgot, that's ok. I think most new employees feel overwhelmed the first six months or so, so if you feel that way too, just know that it is part of the amazon "sink or swim" way of initiating new employees. Hang in there, everyone went through it and got past it and you will too. And don't be afraid to get a little pushy if you need something. Everyone is very busy all the time, so put yourself out there and ask!...

1. The people. You will always work with great people
2. Fishbowls. I got to meet and/or see Johnny Marr, Al Franken, and an endless rotatation of other celebs in a conference room setting at Amazon. Amazon doesn't offer its employees a lot of perks or benefits compared to companies like Real Networks or Microsoft, but getting little lunch-time breaks like the fishbowls was cool.
3. The career advancement. Amazon is a difficult place to work and you have to know how to play the game a bit. But having left amazon a few months ago, every company I have applied to has called me back for an interview within days. Amazon on your resume makes it golden, as well it should....

You will often see in Amazon job descriptions a requirement for an aptitude for "ruthless prioritization," and the company means it. Amazon will always feel like a start up because you will never have enough money or resources to do what you'd actually like to do--not even close. The only exception is if you are the big shiny new project. If you are the big shiny new project, you will be given *all* the resources until your project launches, then you will get no resources like everyone else (except those on the new, new shiny project.)
I worked at amazon for almost 9 years. When you work at Amazon, you will be challenged, you will be pushed, you will be frustrated. You will work long hours always. You will be expected to adjust to re-orgs several times per year. You will have a seemingly constant rotation of offices and managers. You will have some good days and you will have mostly exasperating days. But when you get fed up with Amazon and leave, you will look back and see that very few other companies could have given you the opportunity to learn and advance in such a short period of time. Amazon will always give you a career. You will always learn a lot. You will work with smart and well-educated people. You will get to sit in on "fishbowls" --lectures and performances in conference rooms with guests of honor often of a rather high level of celebrity. But your work life will rarely be fun, unless you are lucky enough to work with funny people. You will probably drink more. When you leave, you will leave with more knowledge than anybody else in the online retail space....