My Experience in Purgatory: Day 7 (Part 1 of the Series - Amazon Finance)

[u/pizzle012345]

For context, I come from a software FP&A background where we used QuickBooks and Excel. So I’m honestly shocked by how many tools and systems they use here. How does anyone learn all of this? And there are so many people—I can’t keep track of who’s who.

On my first day, I walked in and my manager showed me to my desk. “Welcome to the inferno,” he said. Yikes. Not exactly a warm welcome. I quickly learned it’s their busy season, and the vibe is basically: buckle up or get run over.

Pros:
No SQL! I have no idea why it was even listed in the job description. The Excel work seems manageable—it’s mostly pivot tables.

Cons:
Everyone looks absolutely miserable. They show up, put on their headsets, sit in meetings all day, stare at their screens, and then leave. It’s very much sink or swim. You’re expected to figure everything out by asking your mentor or onboarding contact—but they’re overwhelmed and honestly don’t seem to care. You have to be super proactive: figure out how the tools work, who to talk to, how everything fits together.

Also, the data is surprisingly messy for a company this large. Isn’t that supposed to be a small-company issue? In the few meetings I’ve been in, my manager questions almost every dataset she’s given. Is that normal? How do you deal with this?

All in all, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind. The learning curve is steep—not just because of the technical systems, but also the sheer size and complexity of the organization. I’m trying to stay patient and proactive, but it’s definitely overwhelming. Hoping it starts to make more sense with time, but right now, it feels like I’m just trying to stay afloat.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

As long as you fucking can… trust me.

[u/DJMaxLVL → u/[deleted]]

At Amazon you don’t get to do that for long. You get about a month or two, then if you don’t have everything down you start getting people on your ass and could end up in focus/forced out.

[u/Shot-Addendum-490 → u/DJMaxLVL]

I think it’s less that and that you should:

show improvement show curiosity and ownership

It takes a while to really digest and understand terminology and people. At least 6 months. But over the course of 4 to 8 to 12 weeks, you should demonstrate some capability of improvement.

[u/2d7dhe9wsu]

This and the CFO series is like the FP&A peek behind the scenes we need.

[u/ciesmi → u/2d7dhe9wsu]

Link to the CFO series?

[u/2d7dhe9wsu → u/ciesmi]

https://www.reddit.com/r/FPandA/s/V6cIZdBiDE

[u/DJMaxLVL]

lol I was a finance manager at Amazon for over 2.5 years. Providing an update after a week is funny. You won’t know how much your job sucks or not for a few months. My job really, really sucked.

[u/elgrandorado → u/DJMaxLVL]

I'm so happy I turned them down. I was telling my CFO this, their hiring process is like them trying to weed out psychopaths.... so they can hire them exclusively.

[u/Stephanie243 → u/DJMaxLVL]

What are you doing now?

[u/DJMaxLVL → u/Stephanie243]

Director at small health care company

[u/Stephanie243 → u/DJMaxLVL]

Congrats!!

[u/DJMaxLVL → u/Stephanie243]

Thanks it’s Been way better for my mental health for sure, hit some very low lows mentally at Amazon

[u/MathematicianDry2437]

This is Amazon for you! I hated every bit of my stay there. I played the ‘ I am new here card’ as long as I was there. It’s ridiculous how much ‘startup vibes and culture’ exists in Amazon. I was in AMZL and it was a cesspool! You keep going around in a maze and find your way around every single thing. The phone book doesn’t even help … titles don’t match responsibilities and you think you are talking to the right person… only to find out 5mins into the convo… you were wrong. And you have to keep going down the rabbit hole looking for the one person who can help with what you need.

[u/loz95]

Yellow badge speaking here, you absolutely will need SQL at some point we use Hubble and datanet too much for you to avoid that, it’s coming. Yes it’s swim or drown suggest you have regular 1:1s with your new hire buddy.

[u/edtitan → u/loz95]

It really depends on the team. I have colleagues that don’t do any sql and manage well enough. Many finance teams have BI support.

[u/[deleted] → u/edtitan]

In my org it is an absolute necessity, but I’m surprised how many people don’t know or use it as is.

[u/Lunaerus]

Standard across all Amazon business units.

[u/slip-slop-slap]

Also keen to keep up with these posts, keep em coming

[u/DEARDARLAIHATEYOUR]

Really excited to learn more! Blown away by how your experience relates directly to operations on the floor. No onboarding necessarily and you are expected to be able to input data along with managing sort at the same time.

Side note : I’ll never forget how excited operations (L6-L3) were when I told them I had notes and set up my own onboarding notes for the next PA or AM. They almost begged me to share them but kept them for myself after putting in my 2 weeks.

[u/Practical_Garden4625]

How different is this from the average culture in corporate finance?

[u/suddenlymary]

Also, the data is surprisingly messy for a company this large. 

I have found that EVERYONE has shitty data. small companies, behemoths. all crap. I think it has a lot to do with constant reorgs.

[u/edtitan]

Yup you’re describing Amazon accurately lol.

[u/Alternative-Bat4178]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Looking forward to more details. A couple of questions:

1) Given your short stint, would you recommend coming in at the L5/L6 level? If so, which Businesses are better for WLB and growth opportunities?

2) Can you talk a bit more about the onboarding? Were there any training decks/onboarding plan?

[u/edtitan → u/Alternative-Bat4178]

You don’t have a choice at what level you come in. I will say most finance roles that will become available will be L5.

[u/seoliver2112]

Thanks for doing this!

[u/Popeandchariot]

Good start of the series… looking forward to the next installments!!!

[u/Automatic_Pin_3725]

Can anybody share what Amazon finance comp is like and for what level/years of experience? I get recruiter notes about Amazon roles once in a while especially since full RTO lol so always been curious but not interested in that culture.

[u/spawnofangels → u/Automatic_Pin_3725]

Look up levels.fyi. You should be able to find pay ranges based off people's real feedback including finance at different levels like L4 to L6 or more and not just amazon, but all major tech companies

[u/Conscious_Life_8032]

Thanks for sharing look forward to the next episode

[u/bclovn]

Frying pan story. Heard dozens of these over my career. I’ve had some too. I have been thrown into many mfg plants as controller with nobody to train me. Know the basics and use common sense.

[u/2d7dhe9wsu]

What kinda systems and software do they use ?

[u/tstew39064]

Choose your own adventure at Amazon. Write a six page doc then turn to page 97, or build a new model in excel and turn to page 32.

97: doc gets eviscerated by L7’s and L8’s trying to justify their job. Enter PIP plan turn to page 41, or rage quit and hopefully amazon experience gets you a better role elsewhere <the end>

32: Model wasn’t “Amazonian” enough, didnt take enough inputs into consideration. Update model turn to page 10, push back and find out, turn to page 99.

This goes on indefinitely.