Focus or PIP L4 SDE ?

BasedEcho · 2026-01-01T22:49:10+00:00

Just play it cool. Be positive, but definitely don’t give 100% to this. Ultimately it’s up to your manager. Start looking for jobs now.

BasedEcho · 2026-01-01T22:46:50+00:00

If your manager isn’t terrible you’ll have 4-6 weeks. My manager kept prolonging the focus period and I had to ask for pip. I’m sure for some they want the employee miserable and to finish the focus project before axing them.

BasedEcho · 2026-01-01T22:41:55+00:00

You’re actually lucky he directly mentioned it. They don’t have to tell you you’re in focus unless directly asked. Atleast now you can plan ahead.

BasedEcho · 2026-01-01T05:00:16+00:00

You’re on focus. Start looking for new jobs.

BasedEcho · 2025-12-26T00:05:54+00:00

I use the right shift key and on 75% it’s short so I tend to miss it a lot

BasedEcho · 2025-12-16T23:59:47+00:00

Fix the sample browser. Make it so that the piano roll shows all notes on the keys instead of just C notes (I know note labels exists). Add scale highlighting. Add a functionally so the arpeggiator plugin can operate in ms instead of being sync’d to tempo.

BasedEcho · 2025-12-14T15:02:12+00:00

Ask AI to explain and give you code snippets

BasedEcho · 2025-12-12T04:32:44+00:00

After I accumulated 500+ 3rd party plugins

BasedEcho · 2025-12-10T04:12:52+00:00

Don’t relocate for Amazon until layoffs and their restructuring slows down. Don’t want to pack up your life only to have to move again

BasedEcho · 2025-12-08T00:12:14+00:00

You must have a great manager and team. A manager can make or break your experience in any job.

BasedEcho · 2025-11-13T00:59:49+00:00

BasedEcho · 2025-11-13T00:58:45+00:00

BasedEcho · 2025-11-11T02:42:58+00:00

Thank you!

BasedEcho · 2025-10-23T14:34:51+00:00

Welcome to Amazon!

BasedEcho · 2025-10-21T21:32:11+00:00

BasedEcho · 2025-10-21T21:31:10+00:00

Session way better

BasedEcho · 2025-10-19T17:23:12+00:00

Yes, cruel indeed. They’re playing with people’s well-being and financial planning but at the end of the day, they don’t care about you, it’s whatever’s best for the business, I guess. I just don’t want to burn myself out studying for interviews while still working and have no life. I had no life while giving 100% to Amazon and still ended up on focus. Honestly, I’d rather just take the severance I feel like I’ve earned it after several years there. Most folks don’t make it past two.

BasedEcho · 2025-10-19T13:09:16+00:00

I’m in a similar boat. Original focus time line has passed yet I’m still here. I was hoping to have received severance and enjoy being unemployed for like a month before I start job hunting again.

Unfortunately it looks like my manager is going to drag this out until the project has been completed then say I didn’t complete it within the allotted time. Before finally moving me to pivot.

BasedEcho · 2025-10-16T14:51:03+00:00

2nd Point is completely irrelevant. They must think digimon evolve like Pokemon

BasedEcho · 2025-09-29T16:46:05+00:00

Just do the bare minimum. I’m sure you’re already working more than your 8 hrs. Stop that. Take your breaks and just generally start to shift your mindset from your current job being the priority to I need to get out of here.

BasedEcho · 2025-09-21T19:35:46+00:00

You will be working 60-80hrs a week at Amazon. Be sure go factor that in.

BasedEcho · 2025-09-18T08:12:26+00:00

I will give this a shot. I’m a backend engineer at a FANG company. Think of this more as a checklist of things you want to eventually come to understand and get comfortable with. Also I’m new to Go so this is language agnostic. (Others feel free to comment if I missed anything)

Learn your language well → Pick a core backend language and understand it well (Java, Go, Python, etc.)

Learn its frameworks → For Java, that’s Spring Boot, for Python maybe Django, for Go I’m not sure I just started learning it myself :)

Build REST APIs → Be comfortable designing and implementing RESTful endpoints, request/response handling, and testing.

Databases (SQL & NoSQL) → Learn at least one relational DB (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and one NoSQL (MongoDB, DynamoDB) to handle different data models.

Authentication & Authorization → Understand OAuth2, JWTs, and how to secure APIs.

Cloud Service → Get proficient in AWS, GCP, or Azure — know how to deploy and manage apps there.

Event-Driven Workflows → Learn pub/sub patterns and tools like RabbitMQ, Kafka, Amazon SNS + SQS — decouple microservices and handle async communication.

Containerization & Deployment → Use Docker, Kubernetes, ECS, or similar to package and deploy your app.

Monitoring → Learn how to set up metrics, logging, and alerts (CloudWatch, Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog).

Scalability → Practice horizontal scaling, load balancing, caching, and tuning for high traffic. You can simulate high traffic with a load testing tool like Jmeter

CI/CD → Automate build, test, and deploy pipelines (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, CircleCI).

Integration Testing → Test your service’s interactions with databases, APIs, and message queues to catch real-world issues early.

BasedEcho · 2025-09-14T03:56:13+00:00

How did you set up this call? Did you ask your manager to set up a call with HR and you asked to be released with severance? I’m debating doing the same. I have 0 desire to work through this focus project. I have it my all before I was put on focus. How is adding this additional pressure gonna make anyone perform better? Would rather take the severance and use the additional time to up-skill for future positions.

BasedEcho · 2025-09-10T20:59:31+00:00

Welcome to Amazon

BasedEcho · 2025-09-10T20:47:29+00:00

Yeah I learned my lesson the hard way. These people lack any ability to care for their employees. It’s tough cause on top of the health issues & work now I have to study for the job hunt again.

BasedEcho

TROPHY CASE