When somebody asks me to explain Amazon’s tradition, I instantly level them to our Leadership Principles. These 16 ideas acknowledge that each Amazon worker is a frontrunner, and we glance to each worker to make use of the ideas to invent and ship on behalf of consumers. Anybody who is aware of me is aware of that I carry a laminated model of the Management Rules all over the place I’m going, and I look to them after we’re desirous about new, huge concepts for patrons or fixing challenges.
One in all our Management Rules is to Try to be Earth’s Greatest Employer, and it reminds us about our position in supporting and growing our colleagues. It consists of some very particular steerage—“Leaders ask themselves: Are my fellow staff rising? Are they empowered? Are they prepared for what’s subsequent? Leaders have a imaginative and prescient for and dedication to their staff’ private success, whether or not that be at Amazon or elsewhere.” And, whereas the Folks eXperience and Know-how group does plenty of work to assist and develop staff, we’re at our greatest in developing employees on the scale of Amazon if each worker has alternatives to speed up their improvement.
What I really like about that is that it reminds us that each Amazon worker can play a task in growing their co-workers. One of many methods we assist our colleagues is thru mentorship, which has taken many kinds at Amazon through the years, whether or not by way of casual networks established by staff, applications that took root in smaller orgs, or the extra formal Amazon Mentoring Program (AMP), which we established in 2016. AMP is offered to each Amazon worker globally and connects potential mentees to mentors, offers construction to their relationships, creates alternatives for talent constructing, and helps individuals develop their networks inside Amazon.
AMP has grown from 18,800 individuals in 2016 to greater than 159,000 in 2022.
I’ve been lucky to have many mentors who helped information and form my profession, and I nonetheless hunt down mentors at this time. After I first joined Amazon, it took me a while to know easy methods to apply our Management Rules. Whereas all of them made sense individually, it was actually laborious to determine easy methods to do them , like easy methods to Assume Huge but additionally have Bias for Motion. My first mentor at Amazon was Jim Sterner, Amazon’s VP of Folks eXperience and Know-how for our World Media and Leisure enterprise. Whereas Jim really labored for me, he had a few years of expertise at Amazon, and he rapidly turned a trusted associate and secure place for me to ask my “dumb questions.” And regardless that I’ve now been at Amazon for 10 years, I nonetheless search Jim out once I’m wrestling with a extremely laborious drawback.
I wished to share the tales—in their very own phrases—of some Amazon staff who, like me, have benefited from mentoring. My hope is that these tales will encourage extra individuals to hunt out a mentor to assist them attain their objectives, or to mentor somebody themselves.
Tengfei Yin, software program developer engineer, London
“AMP is a tremendous mechanism for connecting staff and fostering their progress. My mentee and I linked on AMP in February 2022, and had round 10 discussions protecting varied matters—together with product design, venture administration, activity prioritization, and data-driven determination making. By brazenly sharing our views on the matters, I noticed this was a really mutually useful course of for all individuals. My mentee noticed many angles that I had missed, and have become an actual inspiration for me. Right now, I heard that, after one yr, my mentee obtained good Forte suggestions from each friends and managers, which was pleasant information and made my day. I can verify my mentee has grown considerably. That previous Amazon worker who was a bit confused and struggling to juggle a number of balls is lengthy gone. As an alternative, a relaxed and assured Amazon worker with clear considering and rising ambitions (Assume Huge) is prepared for upcoming challenges. Thanks, AMP! Your position is significant in making all these splendidly constructive modifications occur.”
Abraham Rodriguez, high quality assurance engineer, Mexico Metropolis
“AMP helps mentees by offering communication with friends who’re prepared to supply their expertise and experience to resolve points, or focus on matters from a special perspective. By being a part of this system as a mentee, I’ve been in a position to focus on struggles I’ve had at Amazon. By having conversations with my mentor, I used to be in a position to establish gaps in my efficiency that had been beforehand unknown to me, and to debate modifications to actions I had on my plate to supply extra worth. The options my mentor gave had been useful, and the way in which I checked out issues shifted, so I might have a contemporary view of tasks and actions at any time when wanted. Now, I can ask myself ‘What would my mentor do or say?’ I’m glad to say communication labored each methods. We shared experiences, and it was really nice to see a few of my factors of view had been legitimate. The plan is to proceed this contact and progress by enabling dialog in upcoming tasks and experiences.”
Anurag Das, system improvement engineer, Bangalore, India
“Ever since I moved from Amazon Promoting Companion assist to Amazon Internet Companies (AWS) accounts and billing assist in 2019, my aim was to develop into a cloud engineer and get into the hard-core tech platform of AWS. And this could not have been potential with out the immense assist and assist from my mentor, Prasad Rao. Frequently scheduled discussions with Prasad helped me hone my technical abilities and likewise get a greater understanding of Amazon’s Management Rules. His steerage and shared experiences have been invaluable in making a journey successful at Amazon. Along with this, I additionally received promoted from L3 to L4 within the hard-core tech a part of AWS, which was icing on the cake.”
Carlos Carreras, mentor & VP of Latinos at Amazon, New York
“The Latinos at Amazon affinity group launched LIFT (Latinos Inspiring, Fulfilling, and Thriving) mentoring circles at the beginning of 2023, in partnership with AMP. Spearheaded by Rebecca Gonzales and Leticia Ambriz, LIFT helps our mission to foster mechanisms that assist members develop long-lasting careers at Amazon, turning our firm into the most effective place to work for Latino expertise at each stage. Up to now, we’ve got launched 13 mentoring circles with 178 individuals throughout Amazon organizations. I’ve the privilege of main certainly one of our LIFT circles, participating with mentees throughout varied orgs, together with AWS and Adverts. Our circle consists of builders with tenures starting from six months to 4 years, and trade expertise starting from early profession to many years of information. The most effective a part of the method is that, by coming collectively, we be taught from one another. The conversations are candid, insightful, and supply multifaceted views on quite a lot of matters, together with our Management Rules. I’m an enormous fan of mentoring and notably mentoring circles; it’s been a implausible expertise to see mentees progress professionally.”
Study extra about what it’s like to work at Amazon.
