Work-project-life balance
I recently started interning at amazon as an sde, and since then been balancing out full-time work, working on my own (future) business, and relaxing.
It is the first time I am working full time as an engineer, and the beginning was definitely stressful and it takes time to get used to all the new tools and practices.
So far, I have discovered that setting up a daily schedule is very simple and effective. For me:
8 am - wake up
9 - 5 pm - work
5 - 7 pm - workout / eat / relax
7 - 9 pm - work on my own future business
9 - 12 am - take a walk / watch something / go to sleep
During the weekends I spend more time with going out and working on my own things.
I sometimes worry that I might not be doing enough for Amazon, my manager mentioned last time doing something over the weekend--I haven't said I would but I didn't like the fact that he mentioned that, then if I do not work on the weekend I am not putting in enough effort.
Maybe since I am an intern / young / lower sde level I am expected to work more and put more effort, but even in that case I wouldn't do it because I find building something of my own more important in the big picture, than advancing at a company. In the same breath, having a full time work is also important, at least until I am self-sustained.
What is your take on this? Do you balance these things in the same way or differently?
If you know you want to do something on your own someday, it absolutely makes sense to spend time on that regularly instead of going overboard at Amazon imo.
Depends on how's your business status, I see your FT work as important as your business.
Why?
Exercise and a good sleep time play an important part and I believe are the foundation for the rest
Maybe consider adding an extra half hours work a day to Amazon. So your atleast doing more than the minimum hours.
That’s still plenty of time to work on your own stuff (I do the same and manage to cold outbound, write small articles and develop/design the product)
There’s some strange social dynamics when it comes to work hours, it’s not as simple as measuring your work output (and your a junior so you’ve still got a tonne to learn, although working on side projects in my experience is very powerful for upskilling).
You could even try and make a couple of big statements like working two Saturday’s and doing more work than asked, just to get in your bosses good graces.
I don't think my time inputted is taken into account because no one records or notes it. Output however does, and I think I'll know where I stand after receiving feedback from manager and then make conclusions
Hi,
there is an unconvenient truth that in large parts of the world, expectations for an engineer white collar job are not 9 to 5. And in my experience, a large number of white collars actually work more, some of it being genuine, some of it being communication towards management (I am not really busy but I stay around to show I am motivated and important).
In one work environment I know very well in France, the unwritten expectation is that you work 9-11 hours a day, but not week-ends, and it is OK to take a few times a month a few hours off during the day if you have stuff to manage (doctor...) while still counting the day as a working day. If you work less, you will have less variable pay / salary raise, but you would not be fired.
In my experience, in America, expectations are very variable, with a lot of companies where white collars actually put 9 to 5, and some companies asking for a lot more.
If you really care about Amazon, I recommend you check how people around you work. If you are putting far less effort than the average, and if your company has a policy of firing non-performers, you could get in trouble pretty soon.
I am pretty sure non-performers are fired and even easier--not to higher under-performing interns for full time
I'm also interning at Amazon right now and have almost the same schedule, although I'm not sure I would want to take a walk after 9pm in Seattle. Thankfully I don't have a demanding manager like you did, but that was definitely one of the things I was worried about. It's already hard enough to launch my own business let alone balance that with work. Did you end up with a business when your internship ended?
I worked for Amazon as a full time dev and quit due to severe burnout. Unfortunately your manager sounds like they might be one of the ones that values overwork (this type thrives at Amazon), but IMO you shouldn't feel obligated to harm yourself mentally and physically for the sake of impressing someone at a fancy company. If you're worried about securing a full-time gig you should know having Amazon on your resume already puts you ahead of most candidates and I'm sure you'd have no problem finding a fulltime role at a company with better WLB. Happy to answer any questions if you have em.
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