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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?

#211

Post by joshuamorton »

tsycho wrote: post #209
joshuamorton wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No they haven't. There's always been an initial 1 year cliff. This changed in the past year. Source: I joined google less than 6 years ago and had a 1 year cliff.

Hmm, maybe different people have different contracts. In our case, the 1 yr cliff was about the signing bonus, not the vesting.

That's a very unusual deal. Most Google offers were (up until I think August/September 2017) structured as base + target % annual bonus + cash signing bonus with first/second paycheck (which you would need to pay back prorated if you left before a year, but this isn't a cliff) + equity with a 1 year cliff before vesting on a schedule that depended on the exact amount, but varied from annually to monthly.

This was true for new grad offers as well as for most experienced hires. I believe I've heard of different structures for cases where Google was doing essentially an equity buyout, but those were absolutely the exception, not the rule.

Are you sure you are remembering correctly?

Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#212

Post by dang »

fromcscq wrote: post #50
sadamznintern wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is incorrect because i cant pass a Google or FB loop and im convinced its eventually going to lead to my suicide.

Mate get a grip. I see you posting everywhere — Blind, Reddit, here. And different aliases everywhere. Seriously, stop defining your self worth by where you work. It's sad. If you're so dissatisfied with Amazon's "prestige" just quit.

Telling someone who expresses suicidal feelings to "get a grip", and using the J-word ("just") to tell them a supposedly easy way out of it, is cruelty. I'm sure that you don't mean to be cruel, so please don't do this.

If there were an easy way out, the commenter would have found it. What he or she needs is respect, empathy, and support for finding a not-so-easy way out of it. If you can't do that, please don't reply, regardless of how annoying you find the comments.

Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#213

Post by dang »

tinderliker wrote: post #85
leohutson wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The person you replied to is considering suicide, and your only response is to ignore that and agree with the rationale that led them there?

I think he is trolling people with the suicide talk.

From the information I've seen, you and the other commenters expressing this are making a serious mistake. Now just pause and consider what that means—what you're contributing to by being wrong in a situation like this. Is that who you want to be? I'm sure it is not.

Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#214

Post by dang »

leohutson wrote: post #93
dang wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have some fair points but your comment crosses into personal attack, and that does more harm than the fair points do good. Could you please (re-)read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and not post like that here?

What's the protocal for a commenter with suicidal ideation? I feel like many of the replies here are unhelpful, and you should do something about it.

It seems to me that the only human response is to express respect and offer what support we can.

I agree with you about the unhelpful replies and am attempting to respond to them all. If you notice one I missed, it would be helpful to send a link to hn@ycombinator.com.

People don't do this kind of this kind of thing intentionally, but because their interpretation of others' comments are distorted by cognitive biases that unfortunately nearly everyone is aware of. It leads to inappropriate responses, and occasionally cruel and even dangerous ones.

Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#215

Post by CalRobert »

amenod wrote: post #205
CalRobert wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To each their own. I struggle with compulsive eating and free food at a workplace correlates with weight gain for me. Of course, that's just me. I'm not saying you should be deprived. I like getting a free beer or two on Thirsty Thursdays but if I were a recovering alcoholic I would hate it.

I believe GP was being sarcastic... That said, while I don't mind free food and drinks, I also don't mind taking care of it on my own. The only difference is if there is a weekly event for all company with food + drink, sort of a gathering. That does wonders for morale.

Yeah, where I am now has after-work drinks on Thursdays and I really like it. We chat, play some video games (we make them so it makes sense), have a beer or two - it's good.

But I would not be shocked if at least some of the people who I know never come do so because there's a not small percentage of the population for whom being around alcohol is incredibly challenging. I'm like that with food - and truth be told, on those Thursdays I tend to eat too much. But eating too much doesn't have the same impact professionally as getting drunk (it's still not great, though).

Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#216

Post by shakkhar »

GFischer wrote: post #128
sjapkee wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>no free food/drinks It's sooooo important.

Well, it's kind of a signal, see Steve Blank's essay: https://steveblank.com/2009/12/21/the-elves-leave-middle-ear... Sometimes financial decisions that are seemingly rational on their face can precipitate mass exodus of your best engineers.

Exactly. Free food is worth ~$300/mo. for me - easily compensated for by ~$5K extra in base pay. But this is a signal to me that the company does not care about employee happiness / convenience.

Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#218

Post by thelastidiot »

Ex-Amazonian here (for real). Put up with almost 4 years of what I would now consider some serious sweatshop practices from my managers (had a few in that time lapse), for not much at the end but it felt good to leave the place. After that, I took two months off to recover from stress and work exhaustion. Work only, no life. Crunch mode was a daily pill. The mission sounded cool and staying that long because it felt that we were helping each other in a prison camp with my team. Frugality is a joke, because top execs will get rewarded. I would never consider this company again and never will recommend anyone to work there.

Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#219

Post by sjg007 »

sadamznintern wrote: post #37

I interned at Amazon last year in the Alexa org (non-frontline team in ML). My team was rarely in the office before 10:30 or after 6, even during crunch time (we launched our feature during my internship) but i did see code review responses at odd hours sometimes. I enjoyed the project a bunch, and while my coworkers werent the most social bunch they were pretty smart and effective. I did pretty well and exceeded man…

It's not a big deal, certainly not worth suicide. You might try to reframe your thinking: Amazon is not 2nd tier. In standalone voice assistants they are basically number 1 at this point. So you have a great opportunity here. Google is playing catch up and Apple has lost its momentum. That being said, if you want to work at Google or FB, identify what you need to improve on and then do it. Interviews are two way streets, it can be as much about them than it is about you. Also the money will come. Focus on learning, networking and doing good work.

The money will come eventually.

Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#220

Post by sjg007 »

sadamznintern wrote: post #194
kajecounterhack wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The idea of being relegated to a 2nd or third tier company has been eating at me, and comments on places like CSCQ, Blind and this AskHN nearly drove me to suicide before. This isn't a very healthy outlook. By that I mean using prestige and income level as your optimization function isn't a great way to achieve [fulfillment / joy / making life worth living]. I'm not trying to preach a specific optimization function…

Im of the opinion thats the only optimization function worth using. I dont know of any others in the state Im in - I just graduated from a mediocre state school and cant pass interview loops, but everyone that has attempted to convince me otherwise hasnt, from what i can tell, experienced my long string of getting barely anything for my 10+ years of dilligence and work. Unlike my friends im not a crypto millionaire,…

Just focus on interview prep. Take 6 months and work on it every day for an hour or two. It's a learnable skill.
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