I joined in mid-2016, My team is in a pretty good spot now.
Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?
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Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?
#12Moved to Google and TBH have cried once or twice because I didn't realize an employer could be so humane. Amazon was terrifying, but the academic culture I came from normalized self brutalization to succeed,so I didn't realize how much they were relying on my lack of a sense of boundaries and personal priorities to extract excess labor.
Mind if I ask what team(s) you were on at Amazon? Looking to avoid the worst. I’m starting to get the impression, though, that if I want to be happiest as a Big Tech Co. engineer, I really just need to work at Google.
I heard FB is good as well, though I still don’t get why they need so many people to do what they do. Heck, even MS is probably better than Amazon. I delete all Amazon recruiter emails (of which I receive about 2 per week) as soon as they arrive.
Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?
#13Amazon has taken steps to prevent abusive behavior from occurring, such as creating a process for engineers to challenge managerial pips and allowing engineers to transfer while on development plans. In my opinion, these steps seem more like treating the symptom than the cause. The overall culture remains the same. Engineers are still treated by management as resources to be allocated, and for me, this is the hardest…
What gave it away? The fact that there’s a department called Human Resources? The only way to not feel like a cog in a wheel is to be your own boss.
Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
And, I'm already making 50% more at Google than I was at Amazon, after a bit more than a year.
That self brutalization stuff works on people who needs outside approval to feel good, and it's encouraged behavior in specially American culture to work hard and compete your entire life. Sounds pretty terrible to me. When are you supposed to enjoy life if you are in constant competition?
enjoy life? people have to value life to enjoy it first.
Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?
#15depends on team
It does entirely.
In an org consisting of hundreds of thousands of people, "culture" is a pretty local phenomenon.
The Amazon experience is entirely dictated by the team on which you land.
Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?
#16The talk here about sticking at a job that makes you cry, when you have in demand skills and can work anywhere, is nuts to me.
Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?
#17Amazon has taken steps to prevent abusive behavior from occurring, such as creating a process for engineers to challenge managerial pips and allowing engineers to transfer while on development plans. In my opinion, these steps seem more like treating the symptom than the cause. The overall culture remains the same. Engineers are still treated by management as resources to be allocated, and for me, this is the hardest…
Other commenters: just because employees _are_ resources doesn't mean that managers should make them _feel_ like they are. There are companies that do a good job of making employees feel more of a sense of being valued, and so at least on that dimension Amazon seems to be doing a poor job.
Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?
#181. It depends on the company (Amazon vs AWS) and it varies from org to org, and team to team. Just like in every place there's going to be great and crapy people. In 3 years at Amazon I had the opportunity to work next to great people, but also with people at the complete opposite side.
2. In my case, it did not. I decided my happiness/wellness and health (physical and mental) were more important.
Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?
#19depends on team
It does entirely. In an org consisting of hundreds of thousands of people, "culture" is a pretty local phenomenon. The Amazon experience is entirely dictated by the team on which you land.
I agree. But in my experience, even when VPs expose a vision of their culture, directors/GMs are the ones who end up exercising their vision/culture to their teams.
Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?
#20Moved to Google and TBH have cried once or twice because I didn't realize an employer could be so humane. Amazon was terrifying, but the academic culture I came from normalized self brutalization to succeed,so I didn't realize how much they were relying on my lack of a sense of boundaries and personal priorities to extract excess labor.
Mind if I ask what team(s) you were on at Amazon? Looking to avoid the worst. I’m starting to get the impression, though, that if I want to be happiest as a Big Tech Co. engineer, I really just need to work at Google.
From what I've heard, Facebook has the most chill culture out of the big three.