
Ask HN: Sysadmin rejected for the second time at Amazon - wareotie
I&#x27;ve been lurking Hacker News for a while but never commented neither have
Account. I always see this kind of post and I find them very helpful.
So here I go.<p>A little background about myself: 5 years of experience, under 30, studying a
CS degree while working full-time as DevOps for a Fortune 500 IT company.
(I don&#x27;t think this matters but it&#x27;s quite funny for me because it&#x27;s a crappy
working place, sounds cool but nothing special).<p>Recently I visited Amazon Dublin for the second time, and I&#x27;ve been rejected
again. I was trying to get a position as Data Center Technician. I think
(even Amazon workers said it) that it is a basic role
(More info here https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.jobs&#x2F;en&#x2F;jobs&#x2F;453660) but I find it very
interesting for me for different reasons.
My first job was something like it in a small data center few years ago but I
moved away from this path because in my country there are no good jobs at data
centers, mostly because there are in the big cool data centers around. So it
was a dead path. But now that I&#x27;m OK with traveling to other countries It&#x27;s
something I want to reconsider<p>As the other time, they said that I am fully qualified for the position in
IT terms.
But I&#x27;m not the profile they are looking for and they can not say more.
That&#x27;s freak me out! I want to improve my skills, not for getting a job,
but for feeling good and learning new things. I have some kind of
auto-guilty mode and I&#x27;m always blaming myself for not being a better
professional. And for the second time, five employees from a big tech
company say there is something they do not like about me!<p>I&#x27;m feeling a little lost right now. Why this secrecy?
If I&#x27;m qualified ... why can&#x27;t I get the job? My current position does not
offer me any kind of challenge and responsibilities neither future expectations.
Any advice?<p>P.S: Sorry, I guess it&#x27;s some kind of an open question.<p>EDIT: Fixing indentation
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blueatlas
It does sound like you were not a "culture" fit for Amazon. But why tie your
self-esteem to a company like Amazon? They have had been called out over the
last couple of years for their hiring and work culture. I doubt that they've
resolved all of that at this point in time. It's not you. Quite frankly, you
could probably find a better company to do this type of work for.

Regarding secrecy - companies of Amazon's size are by the book and always
concerned about any potential legal liabilities with regard to HR. The rule is
usually "say as little as possible". This is pretty much the case everywhere
today.

~~~
wareotie
I was thinking about that recently. Why is so important for me the recognition
of a big company? I dunno why.

The "culture" thing as you said is something weird for me. I don't see how
they discover and evaluate if you fit or not. And what is necessary to fit.
But I'm sure I don't want to fit if I don't fit by myself.

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detaro
"Not the profile they are looking for" in this case sounds like
"overqualified", possibly with the expectation that you'll want to much money
or are going to try to get a higher-level job soon. To much experience on the
software side.

"DevOps for a Fortune 500" doesn't sound like you spent much time fixing
hardware, CS degree isn't all that relevant either. Note that "Basic knowledge
of Linux and networking" is quoted as a "preferred qualification", vs
"Intermediate knowledge of computer hardware systems" and "Able to lift/move
up to 20kg equipment on a daily basis" being basic requirements.

~~~
wareotie
Of course my current position is far from hardware problems, but I worked for
3 years in a position like the one at Amazon, so I'm not a hardware newbie

Is bad to have more preferred skills than basics skills? I never thought about
it.

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quickben
It's probably the fact you still haven't finished the degree. Requisitions
tied to Univ level requirements etc. Even if they don't say anything, hr at
companies of Amazon caliber will most likely discriminate you on that.

~~~
wareotie
That's one of the reasons I was thinking. But why pay for my travel expenses
for twice if they see that I'm undergraduate at first glance?

~~~
quickben
Why not. It's not like HR/given department pays for your trips out of their
salaries. They just want to have the headcount for an interview.

Edit: From the people around me, and the companies I've been, big companies
like that will discriminate you on age far less than not having a university
diploma / other academic accomplishment. Finish that degree as fast as you
can.

