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This post goes over Amazon’s Dynamo paper that was the foundation of today’s various key value stores like Cassandra. This is a very good paper to read to get introduced to various distributed system concepts and to me feels like one of those rare papers that are easy to read and understand.
This blog post talks about my learnings as a software engineer while working at a fast paced company like Amazon. These were critical to my continuous growth over the last decade.
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Get the inside scoop on current Amazon interview questions. Prepare for your interview with a few select questions you might face.
Continuous learning and growth are values I hold in high regard. Previously, in my role as Product Manager, I noticed I was spending a lot of time mediating between the technical team and stakeholders due to communication gap and misunderstanding of technical jargon. While I could have continued playing messenger, I believed in finding a more lasting solution.
I chose to educate myself about basic coding and technical terminology relevant to our product to better understand and convey technical information. I enrolled in an online coding boot camp and set aside a few hours each week to learn. It was challenging to balance work, learning, and personal responsibilities, but I saw it as an investment for long-term growth and efficiency.
Over time, I was able to understand the technical aspects of the product better and could communicate more effectively with the development team and stakeholders. This reduced miscommunication and increased productivity in meetings and discussions. Additionally, it gave me a deeper understanding of our product, which resulted in improved decision-making and contributed to successful product iterations. The experience was a testament to the power of continuous learning and its impact on professional growth.
Dealing with an under-performing team member can be challenging. If I were to encounter such a situation, my first step would be to have a private, one-on-one conversation with the individual. It's pivotal that this conversation is conducted in a non-confrontational manner. Rather than jumping to accusations, I would start by asking open-ended questions to understand their perspective, as there may be personal or professional issues affecting their performance.
Once I've gained their viewpoint and if they acknowledge their performance issues, I'd work with them to develop a performance improvement plan outlining clear goals, strategies for improvement, and timelines. Regular check-ins would be scheduled to discuss progress and adjust the plan as necessary.
However, if the individual does not see any problem or is not willing to improve, then it becomes a tougher issue. I believe the best approach would be to provide direct but respectful feedback structured around specific instances where the team member didn't meet their responsibilities. If this does not result in any change, I would refer the matter to the human resources department or to a higher authority within the organization. It's crucial that such situations are handled with care to avoid a negative impact on team morale and productivity.
At one point in my previous role as a Digital Marketing Manager, there was a push towards meeting aggressive new user acquisition targets. The quickest way to achieve this was to increase our spending on paid ads. However, I was of the opinion that while this could help us reach our short-term goal, it may not be beneficial in the long run from an ROI perspective.
I made a case for investing in content and SEO strategy instead. This involved creating high-quality, keyword-optimized content on our website's blog to organically increase traffic and promote conversions. While it was a more time-consuming approach than paid advertisements and didn't deliver immediate results, I believed it would be more beneficial in the long-term by improving our organic search rankings, enhancing brand credibility, and attracting higher quality leads.
After discussing various perspectives and presenting the long-term benefits of my proposed strategy, the management agreed to this approach. We initially fell short of our user acquisition targets, but over time, we saw a steady increase in organic traffic along with improved conversion rates. This experience emphasizes the importance of keeping an eye on the bigger picture and making some tough calls for long-term success.
When I was working as a PR Coordinator for a consumer goods company, we ran into a situation where a faulty batch of our product had made it to customers, and news about it started circulating on social media. This was clearly a crisis scenario, and a swift response was crucial to mitigate potential damage to our brand's reputation.
As soon as I was made aware of the issue, I immediately coordinated with our product team to assess the extent of the problem. After getting an understanding of the issue, we quickly pulled together a cross-departmental team including representatives from customer service, social media, communications, and legal teams.
We crafted a statement acknowledging the issue, apologizing for the inconvenience, and detailing our steps to rectify it. This statement was shared across all our communication channels, as well as a direct email to our customers. Parallelly, our customer service team reached out to affected customers offering product replacements. We also ramped up our monitoring to quickly address any new complaints or queries.
Though the situation was unexpected and demanded immediate action, our quick and transparent response helped control the situation and limit potential negative fall out. This incident emphasized for me the importance of agility in today's fast-paced business environments.
In my previous role as a Project Manager, ownership was a key aspect of my job. One specific instance that comes to mind is when I led a product development project. Instead of only overseeing the aspects directly related to project management, I took ownership of the project as a whole.
This included understanding the technical aspects, getting to know the market for our product, and acting as a liaison between the various teams involved in the project. I made it a point to be accessible and proactively offer help to all team members, even in areas not typically associated with my role. This not only gave me a holistic view of the project but also helped build a trusting and collaborative environment within the team.
When problems arose, irrespective of whether they fell under my designated role, I stepped up to address them, liaised with the right people, and worked towards solutions. I believe that this approach resulted in smoother project execution, quick resolution of issues, and overall better performance for the project. It demonstrated to me the power of owning one's role and going beyond the usual confines of responsibility.
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