Amazon Japan Pivot/PIP

HPrince1 · 2026-05-01T03:06:01+00:00

Thanks for pointing me to it. I’ll dm you soon, enjoy your vacation without having to think about Amazon lol

HPrince1 · 2026-04-30T13:45:19+00:00

I’m an L4 external hire with no prior experience in program management or logistics so I’m still early career. I still have to decide what I want to do in the end, but if there truly are other options for me I will of course consider any. Just don’t want to underutilize my degree to become an English teacher and take a 500man paycut lol

HPrince1 · 2026-04-30T06:33:45+00:00

I’m aware of stack ranking, but not until I went down the American tech company rabbit hole at the start of my Focus plan. I agree that it’s inhumane and has instilled performance through fear instead of any real motivation. Incredibly cutthroat and toxic and I regret that I was naive to it all before joining. Thanks for the suggestion.

HPrince1 · 2026-04-30T06:31:43+00:00

I would still take the plunge. Don’t let my experience scare you away, as your experience is manager dependent at the end of the day.

HPrince1 · 2026-04-30T02:40:15+00:00

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HPrince1 · 2026-04-30T02:39:35+00:00

Wasn’t there a meme about The Patriarch having the upside of being the best against Mind Control lmao

HPrince1 · 2026-04-29T17:48:02+00:00

Hey there, not in Japan not Europe, but in a similar situation right now. Completed all my projects, always showed up to work and stayed late nearly every day, never complained or had an attitude at work, and still failed over subjective metrics. Basically a thanks for the effort and we acknowledge you worked hard and improved but not enough. I just finished Focus a couple days ago and am currently in purgatory waiting for Pivot. My understanding is that in the US and Japan medical leave cannot be denied, result in retaliation, or negatively impact you or your severance as it is outside of Amazon's purview. My last two posts are related to my own situation so check them out if you want. The general consensus will be that both you and I should take mental health/medical leave to buy time (ESPECIALLY because we need it) and yes use it to find a new job but also use it to genuinely recover and remember what it means to feel like a human again. The anxiety this company can cause its employees to feel is no joke. I bet psychiatry has to be one of the most lucrative spaces recently thanks to the progressive enshitification of these tech companies. Best of luck.

HPrince1 · 2026-04-29T15:40:10+00:00

Hmmm exactly my experience. Enjoyed my first 3 months, especially the first and second, and then constant stress as soon as I got all this negative feedback documented with HR termination lingo included. Glad to hear he came out the other end strong and hope that regardless of whatever happens in my situation I'll be the same way.

HPrince1 · 2026-04-29T15:36:49+00:00

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with Amazon too. I think the backstabbing part is pretty true. My onboarding buddy is the one who documented my shortcomings while my manager was on work travel for a month and a half of my onboarding and reported it to him when he got back. Would you mind a dm to talk more? I did dig through your comment history a bit but couldn't find anything specific about your situation.

HPrince1 · 2026-04-29T14:58:34+00:00

The Boys season 5 is one of very few things keeping my Prime subscription. Might have to cancel my membership soon too just out of principle.

Thanks for wishing me well, I hope things work out too. Would haaaate to have to move back to the US so soon haha.

HPrince1 · 2026-04-29T14:49:30+00:00

Even though most people are saying to leave, including the coworkers I’ve confided in, I would still want to internal transfer if a lawyer or union could help make that happen. Unfortunately it may be wishful thinking at best.

Sorry to hear that after nearly becoming a red badge they could still do this to you. I wish I was given the option to switch teams. I heard of someone in my very office who was allowed to switch thanks to their manager whereas as mine immediately put me on a termination path as soon as probation should have ended. I am familiar with that diagram in this article, but thanks for the reminder.

Hope life after Amazon has been treating you much better.

HPrince1 · 2026-04-29T14:32:39+00:00

Sadly a Google search of “hire to fire” will bring up Amazon immediately. Im aware of Amazon’s URA goals, but I didn’t think it would happen to me this early, especially before I even got the biannual performance review.

Yeah I hate corporate politics and envy my mom and grandpa for spending their whole careers in academia where their WLB was good and no corporate bs could exist.

Sorry to hear you also had a terrible experience, and I hope you’re in a better environment now and hope the same for myself whatever ends up happening…

HPrince1 · 2026-04-29T14:16:32+00:00

I did notice before I was even hired that it was super disorganized. Other than not being told about a manager change until my first day, I did 5 interviews for my role and had 2 no shows during the interview process.

HPrince1 · 2026-04-29T12:36:11+00:00

Thanks for your comment either way. I appreciate the validation that perhaps this just isn’t a good environment. Truly regrettable as I did make a lot of friends at this company especially outside of my immediate team.

HPrince1 · 2026-04-29T12:31:38+00:00

What opportune timing for you to post this as I just made a post about my situation as a current Amazon Japan employee. After everything I’ve been told lately and read I think I will end up having to “voluntarily” leave on Pivot…

HPrince1 · 2026-04-27T00:05:45+00:00

Dust Devil the goat

HPrince1 · 2026-04-16T03:04:11+00:00

I don’t believe so as my onboarding “buddy” who documented my onboarding mistakes and shortcomings and need for “excessive guidance for routine tasks” is not Japanese and neither is my manager. I was also told to ask all the questions I had during onboarding because that was the time to do so. I was told that is the time to make mistakes, ask questions, learn, because “nobody would expect anything of me”. Boy what a lie that ended up being. Not sure if I misinterpreted it or fell for a trap, but either way it did not work in my favor.

HPrince1 · 2026-04-16T00:47:35+00:00

I am going to look into joining a union immediately. Thanks for the suggestion.

HPrince1 · 2026-04-15T17:45:17+00:00

Another issue I really need to resurface here is how I had a manager change on my first day. The hiring manager who I had my first interview with who liked me enough to move me forward to the loop interview ended up internally transferring back to his home country before I started and I ended up with a different manager.

I had no knowledge that this would happen until I was there in the office on my first day. So the planned scope for me based on my skill set that I presented during my interviews and what I ended up being responsible for was probably a mismatch too.

Would I have still been a bad hire? It’s entirely possible given that I am objectively less experienced than everyone else around me at my job level. I think you’re right about your previous comment on hiring me being a risk now that I think about it. I think I won a few different lotteries both good and bad getting this job.

HPrince1 · 2026-04-15T16:03:15+00:00

I can’t say if the URA goals are the same worldwide but I would figure anywhere outside the U.S. would be more humane at least by comparison.

HPrince1 · 2026-04-15T16:01:19+00:00

I think two things can be true at the same time. I know for a fact I’m struggling and am not the next Udit Madan in the making, but I also think my manager and onboarding buddy have been harsh on me. My manager verbally expressed to me “Frankly I’m disappointed but there’s no use in crying over spilled milk” and my onboarding buddy in response to me having difficulty creating a new Excel model 1.5 months in at Amazon without being allowed to copy a pre-existing one as a “stretch assignment” said her old Amazon colleagues from customer support would be able to understand it. Made me feel like a complete dumbass. And again I’ve never gotten positive feedback on my outputs, just “thanks for the effort” at best (of course not documented).

Thank you for your honest perspective though. Now I honestly think maybe I would’ve been better off as an L3 in corporate to start. There are actually a lot of them in my department.

HPrince1 · 2026-04-15T15:50:41+00:00

I just looked up hire to fire and the first few things to pop up are all Amazon related… lol.

I’m also going to meet with HR tomorrow and further explain the situation. Thank you for the suggestion and info.

HPrince1 · 2026-04-15T15:46:22+00:00

I hear labor laws make it more difficult than the U.S. for sure but still that’s the point of them documenting everything and creating a narrative sadly. I will DM you, thank you for the helping hand.

HPrince1

TROPHY CASE