A new Amazon L4 employee recently took to Reddit to share their experience after completing just one month at the company, raising questions about the highly competitive environment within teams. According to the post, the user is one of three L4 engineers in their team, all new grads, and has noticed constant comparisons among peers, even in the first month.
Pressure to Perform and Early Promotion Talks
“I’m an L4 who just completed a month in Amazon! From what I observed (in my team), everything is super competitive. There are 3 of the L4s (new grads including me) in my team. We are always compared constantly not even a month into team. L6 engineer literally asked my long term plan to get promoted to L5. Yes, it’s only been a month and we are talking about promotion already?” the user wrote.
The post highlights strict deadlines and constant performance comparisons. The employee admitted struggling to keep pace with colleagues who previously interned at Amazon and were more familiar with internal tools. “The issue is other two L4s have already interned at Amazon who have knowledge of internal Amazon tools. This is where I’m lacking and still learning,” they added.
The user also expalined,” Even in lunch break, the discussion is all about performance, bonus, etc.”
Reddit Users Weigh In on Competition and Strategy
The Reddit thread drew multiple responses from users sharing insights into Amazon’s work culture. One user commented: “It’s always competitive at places like this, and those asking about your long term path to L5 are doing you a favor. They’re helping you to understand it’s not just something that happens over time, you have to make an effort and have a strategy for getting promoted.”
Another user said, “I think both approaches are correct. On the one hand, you should be focused on learning as much as you can to start owning your role faster. On the other, it’s never too early to start thinking about your path to L5, and if your manager wants to help, there’s no reason not to at least start asking some questions and making a roadmap. It will be competitive but a manager on your side is an asset.”
A third contributor added: “It’s really political and competitive. Try to be in everyone’s good books. Don’t point this out but make sure to learn the internal tools fast. There are way more tools than you can imagine. Leverage the internal AI tool as much as possible. I joined 3 months ago and I can agree that it’s very very competitive. It’s more of a ship fast game here.”
The post sparked discussion online about whether Amazon’s competitive culture is consistent across all teams or varies depending on the department and management style. Many users suggested that early awareness of promotion paths and mastery of internal tools could be key to thriving in such environments.
Disclaimer: This story is based on a post shared by a Reddit User. The details, opinions, and statements quoted herein belong solely to the original poster and do not reflect the views of Financialexpress.com. We have not independently verified the claims.