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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?

#41

Post by sadamznintern »

Insanity wrote: post #33
cm2012 wrote: post #16

The 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.

I'm guessing brand popularity had something to do with it. Along with perceived 'prestige' of working at that company. But yeah it does sound a bit crazy to me as well. Perhaps some of their employees are there on work visa and don't want to risk them and their family having to relocate to another country again. But I don't think that's the case for all the people whom complain.

Its because Amazon is very easy to get into today. It has no prestige.

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

#42

Post by kajecounterhack »

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…

> 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 but I hope you'll talk to people you trust to get some objectivity about what is [healthy / unhealthy] for being a fulfilled, long term contributor to society.

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

#44

Post by montyf »

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…

Sorry, but is this a serious post? Honest question.

> My total comp for the first year is only $145k out of undergrad with a base of $106k. My friends at places like Google, FB and Cruise are making more like $180k-$230k by comparison.

Heaven forbid someone is making more money than they know what to do with than you are.

> Im honestly terrified that the value on the resume will decline over time and i will never be able to get into a more prestigious company.

Is this a real concern? Surely you can be hired on technical merit. Google hires new grads! And people who only worked at "top-tier" companies still have to pass an interview everywhere.

> 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.

That's sick. Not to be insensitive for you, but our priorities in this industry are whack. Surely you can find a meaningful job outside of a megacorp that's bleeding the world dry. Or do you just care about money and status?

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

#46

Post by jurassic »

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…

I wouldn’t worry about being “stuck”. I would focus on the quality and interestingness of work you get in your current role. People who think they are stuck should consider other factors like how they present themselves in interviews. Careers are long and if top companies only hired from other top companies they would soon run out of candidates. I know several people who’ve been hired into these top comp companies from humble backgrounds.

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

#47

Post by saratogacx »

jamdamu wrote: post #7

Amazon 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…

Some of those steps are not really genuine in practice though. Getting a transfer while on a dev list requires you to get something like VP approval from the receiving team. The result in a lot of orgs is that they just won't look at the candidate.

Amazon's also re-instituted bell curve attrition goals with little warning to managers (1-2 weeks before annual reviews in my org, and percentages only in the meeting itself). The last few months have been a special breed of stress that I hadn't seen at amazon in my 7 years prior.

I left earlier this year to a much less stressful position.

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

#48

Post by tinderliker »

sadamznintern wrote: post #43

I couldnt get into any of the companies you mentioned and picked Amazon as a last resort. What should I do now? Ive contemplated suicide but i dont know if thats a wise choice.

Same here. Looks like AMZN these days is way easier to get into compared to Google and Microsoft. I couldn't even clear the first rounds at others, but got an offer from Amazon.

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

#50

Post by fromcscq »

sadamznintern wrote: post #40
cm2012 wrote: post #16

The 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.

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.
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