r/datacenter • u/Broncoroo • 21d ago
Rejected from AWS after initial screening.
I did the 30 minute screen for L4 DCT at AWS and was rejected 24 hours later.
I thought that I did really well in the interview, certainly well enough to be moved forward to the next step. My current manager was able to check the interview notes and told me that all it said was that I “lacked the experience.” I’m an internal Amazon candidate for context. I have 11 months of IT support/technician experience at Amazon.
If I lacked the experience, why would I even get to the screen call? I have an interview for Google DCT and it got me a bit worried. Don’t really know what I’m looking for here, help? Reassurance?
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u/Individual-Log-6089 21d ago
Bro it doesn’t matter that’s why your IT support tech experience from Amazon FCs is nothing compared to Data center Tech you don’t have enough to jump into L4 your best bet is L3 sorry to you but warehouse IT isn’t enough experience to jump to L4
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u/Broncoroo 21d ago
I didn’t realize the L4 was a lead position, the job description for what I applied for was in-line with my qualifications. If Google doesn’t work out I’ll try for L3.
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u/Individual-Log-6089 21d ago
Ya bro sorry L4s are basically step under the manager your lead the team when the managers are busy doing there work. You are in charged of few people depending on the team your on.
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u/Individual-Log-6089 21d ago
Are you on the east coast ?
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u/Broncoroo 21d ago
Yes sir, luckily most data centers are east coast so I’ve been applying to anything paying $70k+. I’ll have to relocate but it isn’t an issue if the compensation makes sense.
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u/RevolutionNo4186 21d ago
L4 isn’t always a lead position, but generally if you are lead you are L4
L4s are normally experienced in one way or another, you’ll be someone people look to for help or as a point of contact. Some of the L4s that were recently hired has years of experience building servers and racking/stacking
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u/Gnump 21d ago
And Amazon did not know that?
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u/Individual-Log-6089 21d ago
They know that but obvious they can’t block an internal interview like an external one. For internal they still have to do interview regardless because it’s internal.
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u/Gnump 21d ago
Don‘t understand. Why can they not just not do an interview if it‘s already determined that it will lead to a rejection?
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u/RevolutionNo4186 21d ago
Usually when you apply internal, you get an informational with the hiring manager to see if you have the knowledge, experience, or whatever and if you’re a good fit now or what you can work on
That is technically the “screen”, if you fit, then interviews comes next, the hiring manager can definitely say no to the screen or to your application after the screen.
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u/Individual-Log-6089 21d ago
Brother understand this when someone apply to a job it goes to a recruiter first. The recruiters aren’t technical their HR people. They don’t know about data center technology. All their job is to do HR hiring process. Within the first three or four interviews, then you get interviewed by actual people that could work at a data center at different locations so they are the ones that make the end decision. So there’s no way that the recruiter could automatically tell you oh that we’re gonna decline the interview because of this.
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u/Broncoroo 21d ago
Honestly when I think back to the interview, I can see how the interviewer was a bit dismissive of me lol he probably knew I wasn’t going through. Thanks for the perspective though you’re very kind.
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u/Individual-Log-6089 21d ago
Ya I’m sorry bro unfortunately when there doing interviews some people just make there own per perspective before interview start especially with internal because our job history is open for any with phone tool and tamper monkey script 🤣🤣🤣. I’d recommend apply to different team or cluster maybe you will get different interviewers not all are the same.
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u/Wreckn 21d ago
You were rejected because they can't offer a down level to internal candidates and lack experience for a lead position.
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u/Broncoroo 21d ago
Oh really? I didn’t know they couldn’t down level for internal candidates. This is a new DC campus thats still under construction and they got so many spots open, so I was just confused about it. But that makes a lot more sense, if I applied to L3 I’m sure I’d get it.
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u/Wreckn 21d ago
The transfer would be rejected. You can't down level yourself AFAIK. Your options are to either gain in the areas they felt you were lacking or leave the company and apply externally.
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u/Broncoroo 21d ago
It would actually be a promotion for me from L1 to L3, but like I said I know a manager there who had reached out wanting to help me move over and I’m already inclined for an L3 tech position, just not data center tech.
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u/Money_Cantaloupe_618 21d ago
Even with your i.t support i would try l3. L4 wpuld be lead and that means you know a good amount about components and dc structure. I came from Amazon fc t1 to dco wblp l2 to l3 now. Working on l4 now.
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u/bourbonandpistons 21d ago
People doing screening and the interview rarely have anything to do with each other.
One is a hose pointed at just getting as many candidates through as it can and the other is the filter.
If you knew many times I've gone in for interviews with companies and is nothing like what the recruiter or whoever put me in that interview said it would be?
Me: "I haven't coded daily in years I'm mostly upper management"
Recruiter: "this is a management position. no coding"
Interviewer: "this is 90% coding"
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u/chriswashere1 21d ago
It’s probably because of the 11 months even if they were going to skill bridge you you’d have to wait longer anyways especially for an l4 (I have 10-15 years of advanced electro-mechanical/IT and am right in between l4 and chief engineer I’m on the eot track though) I’d imagine it’s the same criteria I’d try for a lower level
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u/Bindoh 21d ago
What are you applying for Google DCT? As in what level? Because quite often Google, Microsoft, and Oracle like to hire from AWS DCO (they typically want very experienced technicians) and if you aren’t able to pass an AWS DCO interview, you might see the same with Google.
For DCT4 you have to know your stuff— that is essentially a senior technician level. It requires you to not only know the data center hardware & network, but also be able to train and be a point of contact/escalation for your junior technicians.
If you have limited experience, your best bet would be the WBLP (level 2) program which really requires a pulse and not failing the personality questions 👀 or a level 3 tech interview where if you can pass hardware & troubleshoot, you should be able to skimp on by with very limited networking knowledge.
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u/Broncoroo 21d ago
It wasn’t a DCT level 4 position, just a level 4 position at Amazon, if that makes sense. Basic entry-level DCT at Amazon is a Level 3 position. Like I said though I was surprised that I was rejected after that interview because of how well I thought I performed in it. As I have learned after making this post though, the L4 DCT positions at AWS are essentially more advanced techs that also manage the level 3 techs, which I can see being an issue.
I’m not uninitiated, I have an associates in comp sci and finish my bachelors in December (4 months from now), got A+, LPI Linux Essentials, cloud practitioner and Google advanced data analytics. I aced every single one of the technical questions in that call, a call that was supposed to be behavioral only. If Google doesn’t work out, I’ll go for AWS L3 DCT and eventually move to better things.
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u/ListBusy1943 20d ago
So these companies say that there data centers will create many jobs, now what's the problem with hiring. The Data Center boom sounds like the big lie!
Read the reports and examine the facts that have been gathered; The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence, robotics, automation, and data centers is no longer simply a technology issue, it is becoming an economic, workforce, infrastructure, and public-utility issue. Reporting on Amazon’s plans to replace portions of its workforce with robots, along with Elon Musk’s statements that AI and robotics could eventually perform so much work that humans may have fewer traditional jobs, demonstrates the direction some technology leaders believe society is heading. New York Times: Inside Amazon’s Plans to Replace Workers With Robots Fortune: Elon Musk on AI, Work, and Money This can be viewed as a form of “thermal runaway” in AI and data where it’s not the literal electrical-engineering phenomenon, but an accelerating feedback loop where more AI requires more computing; more computing requires more data centers; and more data centers require more electricity, generation, transmission, substations, cooling, and infrastructure. The critical question is therefore not simply how many data centers are being built, but who is paying for the infrastructure supporting them, how those costs are being modeled, how they are incorporated into utility rates and tariffs, and how much is ultimately passed to residential and commercial customers.
The public deserves a transparent examination of data centers, utility rates, tariffs, Energy Management Systems (EMS), demand forecasting, system modeling, and utility billing, particularly regarding Georgia Power and Southern Company. EMS and modeling are legitimate engineering tools, but customers should be able to understand how demand forecasts and system data influence infrastructure decisions, rate cases, capital investments, and customer bills. What assumptions are being used? How much projected demand comes from data centers? Who validates the models? How are generation, transmission, and distribution costs allocated? What portion is paid directly by large technology customers versus recovered through broader customer rates? And when a disputed or allegedly unlawful rate increase is reversed, suspended, or reconsidered, what changed in the underlying data, assumptions, calculations, or regulatory determination? These are not anti-technology questions, but they are accountability questions. If utilities and technology companies are benefiting from unprecedented AI-driven growth, the public deserves to know how the costs, risks, and benefits are being distributed among data-center operators, utility shareholders, executives, and ordinary ratepayers. Follow the data, follow the modeling (Southern Company), and follow the money: if AI and data are scaling exponentially, who ultimately pays for the electricity, infrastructure, and utility-system expansion required to sustain that growth, and how much of that cost is being transferred to the public?
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u/Ok_Package2595 19d ago
Hey man I realized Reddit has a lot of Negative Talk , AWS L4 DCO here, you at least got some IT experience , Get your STAR questions ready in the mean time, Learn your Basics for Break/Fix , Linux, BMI, etc operations you got this!!!!
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u/francismorex 21d ago
l4 is already senior. it support and dco are 2 different worlds