AWS Cloud Support Associate - Cloud Support Engineer FAQ's
Got an Offer from Amazon from Cloud Support Associate
As an ex AWS CSE II (CSA --> CSEI --> CSEII --> CSEIII --> Principal Enginer) I'm conflicted here:
- You'll work with really smart people, and learn a ton if you apply yourself.- The work can be seriously repetitive - one day you're deep diving and finding a kernel bug (awesome), then next you're helping Atul in India replace his SSH key for the 1000th time - while being abused on chat (do the needful or they'll punish you with a bad rating, despite the fact that it's their infrastructure and their responsibility to manage it).
It's all about metrics - how many tickets you can solve (don't meet metric and you're out), which for me wasn't a pleasant experience.
It leads to a dog eat dog culture and colleagues screwing one another over, just to pass metric (e.g. you've worked on a case for 3 days, but while off shift the customer replies saying you fixed the issue --> a colleague picks it up --> replies thanks --> they get the resolve and the metric (not you, despite all the work you put in).
I also found that it came down to how much of a suck up you were with regards to management (hint the guys that brown nose seem to excel...).
All in all I wouldn't recommend working at AWS as a support engineer - it can be mind numbing and I found the culture to be toxic as a result.
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I get asked about AWS hiring process/experience frequently in DM's, so I figured I would create a post here with application > interview > offer timeline, Salary, Stock RSU, etc.
Application process:
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Applied March 16
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Passed Cloud Support Assessment March 28
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First interview April 7
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Received this on April 10:
Congratulations! You’ve successfully passed your Cloud Support Associate first-round interview, and we would like to invite you to do a final-round interview.
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2nd and 3rd interviews, back to back on April 21
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Job offer on April 26
Salary
Cloud Support Associate
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Base salary $76,680
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First year sign on bonus $14,000 lump sum
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Second year Sign on bonus $12,200 paid out monthly during second year
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RSU (Stock) $45,000 paid out : • 5% on the 15th day of the month in which you reach your first anniversary of employment • 15% on the 15th day of the month in which you reach your second anniversary of employment • 20% every six months thereafter, until fully vested.
Total comp for year 1 was around $92k plus or minus some depending on stock price when vested
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~$1,300 COL pay increase in April bringing base pay up to $78,000
If staying at CSA with no promotion, year 2 total comp is estimated to be around $98K (base, bonus, and RSU)
Promoted to Cloud Support Engineer I about 15 months in
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Base salary ~$98K (never got an official notice about pay increase, just base this on hourly rate for 52 weeks) In April, will likely get an official doc when review happens and any COL pay increase or RSU increase
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Still getting second year sign on bonus of about $1k per month, but that ends in July.
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July at second year anniversary will get 15% payout of RSU's
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December will get 20% payout of RSU
At current AMZN stock price my total comp for this year will be ~$128K if I sell the RSU's and the stock remains the same level until December. Note that when we get the RSU's they auto sell shares to cover the taxes which was 45%. So I only ended up with 55% of the RSU and that is still sitting as stocks In reality my total comp is really the $98k plus $6k in second year bonus = $104K as I am unlikely to divest the stock.
I will update in April after the review happens to see if they adjust in anyway. I am betting they will not since AMZN stock is pretty close to the all time high.
For interview questions, go to glassdoor https://www.glassdoor.com/Interview/Amazon-Cloud-Support-Associate-Interview-Questions-EI_IE6036.0,6_KO7,30.htm?filter.jobTitleFTS=Cloud+Support+Associate
They had the best amalgamation of basically all interview questions asked for CSA Cloud Support Associate. I doubt CSE I would vary much.
Feel free to ask any other questions.