‘I Have a Platform to Voice My Ideas and Feedback’ — Why I Love Working at This Company

“I am super excited to be working on a customer-facing team; it’s nice to point to an experience on Alexa and say, ‘I worked on that!” says Stephanie Diaz, software development engineer at Audible, a platform for listening experiences. “It is also super energizing to see how much Audible customers love the product. I love that the company has a ‘Be Customer Obsessed’ People Principle. My team always keeps our listeners in mind when making decisions and tradeoffs.”

Diaz has been working at Audible for just over a year and a half. She tells Fairygodboss that she works in a team that is very receptive to feedback and that is always working to improve both customer-facing features and their own internal processes and operations.

“I have a platform to voice my ideas and feedback and work with my team to bring them into action,” she tells us. “That is the biggest reason why I have stayed at Audible.”

We caught up with Diaz to learn about all of the other reasons she loves working at Audible — as well as why other women might enjoy working there, too. Here’s what she had to say.

Tell me about your current role. What about this role most excites you?

I am a developer on the Audible on Alexa team. I work in the engagement sub-team, which deals with a lot of new technologies. I love the challenge of learning new things; it keeps me engaged and helps me grow. I have grown a ton since I joined.

What’s something you’re especially proud of from your time at Audible?

I lead the work for migrating our Out of Box Experience to a new and improved service. The experience is an upsell screen that the customer gets when signing up on Alexa multimodal devices, such as the Echo Show. The customer can click on “sign up” or “no thanks” buttons.  We now have the ability to expand on its features as well as to better understand our customers through metrics. This sets us up well for testing better strategies to engage potential customers.

Can you share a time that you felt you were doing work that made an impact?

I lead the work required to make sure our services are ready to handle the load for Prime Day this year. In particular, I focused more of my team’s attention on our service that handles promotions. We ended up having a very popular worldwide Harry Potter promotion, and our service handled it without an issue. It was very cool to see the spike in traffic for that promotion! 

How has Audible enabled you to develop/advance your career?

I have access to various trainings on up-and-coming technology. I also have Senior Engineers on my team who are always willing to jump on calls to answer questions. I have even been paired with a Senior Engineer for professional mentorship. Most importantly, working on a customer-facing team has taught me a ton about operational excellence, prioritization and project planning. It is empowering to be able to take a project from start to finish and ship it to production.

Are there other benefits that have made your employee experience great?

I used the Employee Assistance Program during quarantine, and the 10 extra personal days we were given in 2020 were fantastic. I was honestly feeling exhausted from being home all the time and staring at a computer screen, so getting a break was nice. I was happy Audible showed that they cared about our well-being not only through words but also through action.

What do you love most about Audible’s culture? 

I love that when an issue arises that we focus on solving the issue and minimizing customer impact. It’s very easy to make the mistake of pointing fingers and consequently creating a stressful environment. I have never experienced that at Audible.

What was the best quality of the best boss you’ve ever had?

The best quality of the best boss I have ever had has been their ability to listen to feedback and come up with measurable goals to address the feedback. This has not only helped my team’s processes and pain points, but has also helped me in coming up with measurable professional development goals. 

What’s the most memorable piece of career advice you’ve received?

The most important quality you can have is a growth mindset. This is the ability to welcome learning and change. It’s important not to be frustrated when a problem is difficult. Instead of thinking, “I can’t do this, I give up,” one should think, “I can’t do this yet, and here is what I can do to learn and improve myself so that I can do this one day.”

How have you been able to leverage Audible’s People Principles while working from home?

I have definitely witnessed a ton of “Activate Caring” in action since the pandemic started. In particular, I’ve had peers quickly volunteer to cover my on-call shift when I’ve had to deal with personal matters. I also never have an issue getting the help I need from my teammates. They are responsive and don’t mind jumping on calls. This was especially helpful at the beginning of the pandemic. I joined Audible in February 2020 and was sent home a month later. I was a new hire and unsure how the work-from-home experience would go. I ended up being pleasantly surprised by everyone’s willingness to help!

How has Audible supported you and your team during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Audible gave us a work-from-home equipment allowance. This was great because my work setup has a big impact on my productivity. My manager is also constantly encouraging us to take the time we need to care for ourselves and our family, which I appreciate. Audible also gave us extra sick days to use when getting vaccinated for COVID-19.

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