How I got hired by Amazon.com

http://www.brunozzi.com/en/2008/05/22/how-i-got-hired-by-amazoncom/

by acangiano • 18 years ago

39 24 18 years ago

ojbyrne• 18 years ago

I'm guessing that's not going to be the best job ever. Maybe it's Second Life stigma, but I don't think so.

jeffbarr• 18 years ago

Actually, it will be the best job ever. Technical Evangelism is impactful, fun, and all-consuming and I would be happy to tell you more off-line.

As Simone's new manager I am happy that we were able to find such a talented person using Second Life as our first point of contact.I am also happy to know that he has experience and interest in leading-edge technologies.

Hiring great people is difficult, time consuming, and expensive. You have to find them, screen the resumes, conduct phone screens, and ultimately meet them in person. If there's a way to use an advanced technology to optimize and reduce the time and expense involved, then what's the problem?

edw5192• 18 years ago

"I would be happy to tell you more off-line"

I would be happy to hear more off-line. My email address in is my profile.

brooksbp2• 18 years ago

To be completely honest... that lost a ton of integrity as soon as I read "I showed up at the Amazon.com’s booth, with my well-dressed and custom-skinned avatar which, as a bonus, has my same name, Simone Brunozzi (don’t ask me how I got it because it’s a secret)."

Cmon now... what is this virtual ^&*#$@! coming to? Really Amazon.com? Really??

Edit: Not only that... but look at the view from his office... I'm practically speachless at how BS not only that job position and article, but Amazon.com's participation and movement in that direction is...

tdavis• 18 years ago

I do a lot of, for lack of a better term, "geeky" things, but I would never write about anything involving Second Life. Perhaps it's unfair discrimination and perhaps I am just ignorant to SL's real worth/usefulness, but... I can live with that.

I disagree with you on your edit, however; "evangelists" can be very important to an organization.

acangiano• 18 years ago

Does it really matter if they find the right candidate through Monster.com, on SL or while they're shopping at Costco?

brooksbp2• 18 years ago

Nope, not at all. The reason why I am slightly offended is that people are treating "virtual interviews" with the same seriousness as traditional, face-to-face interviews. There will be no substitute for real human, spoken, face-to-face interviews; more to take out of a person like body language and emotion. Human collaboration within a close environment is crucial to most aspects of business and production. It is nothing more than silly for an individual to feel accomplishment from a job interview via SecondLife; feeling successful, bypassing face-to-face interaction. Though, I feel this position might seem too harsh.

icey• 18 years ago

What does a virtual job fair have to do with integrity? It let an HR person from Seattle interview someone in Italy for a job in Luxembourg...

To me it seems like Amazon being smart.

Regarding your edit, I don't think you understand how important technical evangelists are at places like Amazon, Microsoft, Sun, etc... They are essentially technical sales-people; they're the ones who say "Hey, this is what we're working on, and this is why it's important".

To be completely honest with you, your post seems like sour grapes.

humanlever• 18 years ago

Interest is a two way street. It's on the job candidate to be qualified for the job they apply for and to not waste the companies time if they're not interested.

On the flip side, companies need to be respectful of a candidate's time and make a move if interested or let them know early on if they're not so the prospect can move on.

I work for Sun. I had one interview, WITH my manager. She made the call, I got the job. I think AWS is a great service offering but it sounds like they may need to fine tune their hiring pipeline a bit.

simonebrunozzi• 18 years ago

Hi guys, this is Simone Brunozzi, the "new hire" at Amazon.com. Second Life is not the new holy grail, I just said that it was a key factor for me. Second Life is still in its infancy, and it's useful only in specific situations. I consider evangelists very important for an organization such as Amazon. They don't have an explicit position on Second Life, though. Best,

davidw• 18 years ago

Hi, one thing that I might take issue with is this:

> poorly developed nation from a technological point of view.

There are tons of bright hackers in Italy, in my experience, and in various fields, there is good tech that comes out of Italy. The problems are political and economical in nature, in my opinion - the technology is there, it's just not utilized well because of all the crap that happens politically. As one small example, it between "capital requirements", and all the fees, it probably costs something like 10000 Euro to create an SrL (limited liability company), whereas in my home state of Oregon, I managed to create one for a little over 100 dollars. I'm sure you know all this, but many people don't realize how many smart, entrepreneurial people there are in Italy, and only see the results of years of bad policy decisions.

Complimenti, in ogni caso:-) Leaving Perugia wouldn't be an easy decision for anyone - I think that area is one of the most beautiful that I've ever seen, anywhere.

randy2• 18 years ago

Is it just me, or does anyone else find 14 interviews (11 on site, 3 phone; one more if you count the fair) a bit ridiculous? I mean I know people are the most important thing and you have to make smart choices but damn!

timr3• 18 years ago

Yes.

One the one hand, companies like Amazon whine (to whichever politician is listening) that there's a desperate shortage of skilled technical people. On the other hand, they subject new hires to 14 interviews.

Tell me: is this the sort of thing you do when you're in desperate need of employees?

kirubakaran• 18 years ago

Are you proposing that they lower the standards?

Tichy• 18 years ago

Yes, after three or so I would start saying "look, are you interested or not?". Time is money, after all - perhaps one should simply ask for money for further interviews?

edw5192• 18 years ago

Sometimes it takes someone's ESL to get the best bulletin board material:

"if you work hard for something, in the moment you stand in front of your challenges you’ll feel stronger than ever"

Bravo!

I'd wish you luck, Simone, but no need. Looks like you already know how to make your own.

sealedidentity• 18 years ago

Bravo. Well done with the interviews and the tips to new grads and interviewees. Perseverence and studied methods to distinguish oneself from the crowds is the way to land any job. I'm glad he found a job of his liking in a great location.

How I got hired by Amazon.com

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