First day at Amazon
It’s been a year since I joined Amazon. To celebrate that I reached this milestone, I’ve decided to write the article and remind myself about my first day in the company. The process of finding a job, passing an interview, and relocating also deserves a separate article (stay tuned), but now I want to focus on what to expect after all these difficulties are behind and you are about to start working.
I believe that for someone, who is also changing a job right now and joining such a big company it can be helpful.
Prior to the Day 1
Let's move back before I moved to Spain (6 months in Spain) to work for Amazon.
While I got an offer, I was given an estimation for my first date in several months. While approaching the date, it became clear, that not all documents (for visa purposes) will be ready by that time, so I asked my manager to postpone my initial date. Back then I hesitated to do so and was nervous because I felt I could do better during the submission of documents, and somehow speed up government bureaucracy. I felt like it was my fault, at least partly, that the date is delayed. In reality, and now I see it clearly — it always is not a problem at all, at least not for Amazon. Shortly, I was given a new start date, 2 weeks later than the initial plan. A first date is always hard to guess, especially when you move from another non-EU country. Some people are even delayed for months. Amazon is interested to play in the long-term, finding qualified employees from all over the world and it has the luxury of waiting for people months if it strengthens the team as a whole.
A while before my move, I was contacted by my future manager, that gave me an overview of the onboarding process and also contacted me with a ‘buddy’, another Amazonian, who is also from my country of origin, that helped me with the relocation process, by providing advice on finding an apartment, opening a bank account and other nuances that I could encounter in a new country.
In addition, I was reached by Amazon to choose a laptop, a nickname, and for other, less important details. There was a wide range of laptops with different configurations. Without much deliberation, I chose the most powerful MacBook Pro version.
The most difficult task for me was to choose a nickname. First of all, there are certain restrictions on a nickname, but the most important one is that due to the number of people working at Amazon, you have to be very creative and have out-of-the-box thinking to find one, that is unoccupied. I can swear, I spent at least an hour to find more or less, what I like — at least, it is easy to remember and type. It contains alternating consonants and vowels. Later, I understood, that it was a clever move, as you have to type the nicknames of your teammates quite often on different services.
When I moved to Madrid I was kindly given by the company a temporary apartment for several days. It doesn’t buy you time to find a long-rent apartment (and you have to find a short-stay hotel or Airbnb on your own nevertheless), but at least, when relocating, you are sure that you have somewhere to come right after an airport.
Day 1
I remember my first day being an Amazonian like it was yesterday. It was a rainy Monday. I was instructed to be at the office, near reception around 9 am. Still living in a short-term apartment and being nervous, as it is my first job abroad, I decided to go there on foot, even though, it was more than a 40 minutes walk. I don’t like public transportation and the route ran through the very center of Madrid, through the famous Plaza Sol, so why not use the opportunity to get familiar with the city, with which I plan to connect my life.
Approaching the office, I saw a long queue of newcomers just like me, that was waiting for a temporary badge (used in the first week) and a starter pack of equipment. The pack contained only necessary things, nothing superfluous. I became a proud owner of a brand new MacBook Pro with the M1 processor and finally, without a touch bar (shame on you, Apple), that I chose earlier and a headset, which is equipped with a microphone with the best suppression of third-party noise, that I have ever seen.
The whole process of registering and receiving the equipment took only about 10 minutes and I went up to my floor, where I spend most of my awake time.
On my first day, I was assigned to a buddy (another one ☺, but now within my team), who helped me onboard and solve technical difficulties (that were about to come). She warmly welcomed me on the floor and led me to a place where the team should sit (at 9 in the morning there are usually not so many people in the office).
I was really lucky to be assigned to this buddy specifically, as she was very responsive and attentive all the time (If you read this — know, that I am very grateful for all the help given to me).
This person is your lifesaver and a compass in the first weeks of adaptation and it is very important to have a good and friendly one. Don’t hesitate to ask as many questions as you can, even if they seem to be dumbed. A buddy exists exactly for this and perhaps your questions now will help many and many people in the future.
Amazon's onboarding process is not short. Every person is assigned a plan, that should be completed in 3 months (it’s hard to complete all tasks earlier), that contains videos, lectures, lessons, tests, and surveys, that together built a strong background for your follow-up work and gives you a perception of how Amazon works and why, despite its size, consistently evolves.
My first task, as you can guess, was to activate my Amazon account and sign in to a laptop and, I have to take credit, it is always harder than you could think. I ended up talking with a help desk several times and after about 4 hours, I was able to set up the required environment and start exploring the vast variety of internal Amazon services and tools.
Later, I was told that setting up a laptop is considered a huge win for the first day. When you struggle with a laptop (for example, a password given to me was not accepted by the system) or you are worried, that the process is not as fast, as you expect — keep calm, take your time, and consult with your buddy or a manager. Maybe there is a tiny step, that you missed or just an outdated instruction. No one expects, that you will be productive and will provide results on the first day.
Lunchtime. I simply cannot avoid this topic, especially in Spain ☺. In the Madrid office, it’s always from 1 to 2 pm, and more often than not the hour is used fully.
Everyone from the team met at lunchtime. My buddy navigated me to a canteen and kindly paid for my lunch, setting up the tradition. Some people, who often worked remotely, also joined us, just to meet me as an addition to the team. We talked about our backgrounds and experience, and how people joined Amazon and moved to Spain. I caught every word of my colleagues — it was all so new and intriguing for me.
Usually, during breaks we don’t speak about our tasks or projects — we discuss life, culture, Spain. We have a truly multicultural environment and often come to talk about customs, traditions, stereotypes.
The rest of the day I spent watching Amazon courses from my onboarding plan — as I remember now, in the first video, Jeff Bezos himself talked about the tenets of the company and its history. I went back home overwhelmed with emotions and new information (and don’t forget about a new laptop ☺).
Next weeks
Almost immediately after moving, I was invited to a ‘welcome’ dinner with a new team. A long table in a fancy restaurant was reserved for us. We ate Spanish food, drank wine, and told each other stories from life. It calmed me down, as I felt included from the first day. All in all, it was a pleasant experience seeing colleagues in a non-working environment.
Because I have the onboarding plan, I was hardly involved in the team activities at work. The main goal for the first months is to soak up Amazon's peculiar culture, be familiar with internal services and complete interactive lessons. The central role is given to the Leadership principles, that are constantly used and followed by Amazonians. But don’t worry, during the onboarding journey, you hear about them so many times and study in practice, that you will know them by heart.
It depends, of course, on a team, how fast you will be involved in direct activities of the teamwork, but if it happens not as early as you expect don’t be upset. The first weeks are the best opportunity to explore Amazon as a whole, what services it has, how they connect to each other, organization structure, etc. Later, as soon as you will get involved in team activities, everything will start to spin so quickly, that you won’t have time to explore and see what is around.
Afterword
At this time, it’s already more than one year, since I work for Amazon. This time passed quickly. I have already worked on two projects and had 3 managers (it’s common for Amazon to switch between projects and teams for better skills fit, but also because the company changes and increases rapidly).
Amazon is an enormous company, that focuses on the long-term (one of the principles states “Don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results”). Working here is to be very cautious and curious. There are many documents and processes, involving people from other teams and levels, that were established in order to ensure, that the company will grow, without sacrificing quality and customer trust.
If you join Amazon, as I did some time ago, first of all, congratulations. No matter what, it will be an invaluable experience and an exciting journey. Take your time, meet colleagues, ask questions as much as you can, and enjoy the ride.
As it’s said at Amazon: “It’s always day one”, meaning be curious and always work within the vitality of a startup.
