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Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

seattletimes.com

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Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#31

Post by ucaetano »

sah2ed wrote: post #27
Grazester wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon might have been the first to launch a dedicated device that can do voice search but Google was doing it(on Android) before such a device was launched by amazon.

Right, but were their efforts successful? That's the main difference here, bringing a new product to market successfully . Long before voice assistants/search became a thing with smart phones there was Google 411 ... which no one remembers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GOOG-411

https://searchengineland.com/google-reveals-20-percent-queri...

I'd guess that 20% of Google's mobile queries in 2016 are a few orders of magnitude larger than Amazon's total voice search queries, effectively making Amazon's voice queries a drop in the ocean.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#32

Post by myroon5 »

lev99 wrote: post #14

Seattle Times likes to give Amazon bad press. Seattle has enough other tech companies to absorb a few hundred jobs. Companies routinely end up over-hiring or having redundant positions. It appears that they are laying off less than 10% of their Seattle staff, while they are still expanding the amount of office space they occupy in Seattle. This seems like no big deal for Seattle and Amazon.

"less than 10% of their Seattle staff"

even less than 1%

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#33

Post by devmunchies »

leggomylibro wrote: post #26
walrus01 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have very nearly exhausted the pool of strong technical talent that can be recruited locally within the seattle area, who are not already gainfully employed at some other tech company. Also because building new office campus space in Seattle is becoming a bottleneck. Amazon is spread out through a bunch of temporarily leased buildings until the new towers are finished. Also they have sort of exhausted the number…

Also, a lot of the people who were willing to relocate to Seattle are reluctant to stay after years of worsening ostracization and seething resentment.

I moved to Seattle almost 2 years ago now. My main reasons for wanting to leave are the 9 sunless months per year and I feel a little put off by people. I can't put my finger on it, its very nuanced.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#34

Post by everdev »

I've always wondered how companies like Amazon and Apple with piles of cash justify not giving raises or passing laying off people. I understand that you want to be smart with your money but if I'm on the business end of this decision it probably hurts more than getting laid off from a company that's struggling and has no other options.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#35

Post by lev99 »

myroon5 wrote: post #32
lev99 wrote: post #14

Seattle Times likes to give Amazon bad press. Seattle has enough other tech companies to absorb a few hundred jobs. Companies routinely end up over-hiring or having redundant positions. It appears that they are laying off less than 10% of their Seattle staff, while they are still expanding the amount of office space they occupy in Seattle. This seems like no big deal for Seattle and Amazon.

"less than 10% of their Seattle staff" even less than 1%

The problem is "a few hundred" is an undefined number.

400 would be about 1%, which would be fairly reported as a few hundred. My ceiling number is very high, but I would believe more than 1% are let go.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#36

Post by traskjd »

devmunchies wrote: post #33
leggomylibro wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, a lot of the people who were willing to relocate to Seattle are reluctant to stay after years of worsening ostracization and seething resentment.

I moved to Seattle almost 2 years ago now. My main reasons for wanting to leave are the 9 sunless months per year and I feel a little put off by people. I can't put my finger on it, its very nuanced.

Hmm, also in Seattle and seem to recall a record long summer last year with 100+ days of no rain (well, one which just managed to trip it by volume at SEATAC in the middle).

Personally, I think the whole 'Seattle has horrible' weather is pretty overblown. It's grey for a couple of months.

I'm writing this now, in February, to a perfectly blue sky. It is cold, but not grey in the least.

I've personally found it more challenging that folks don't seem to socialize much. They just work non-stop throughout the week, then perhaps do something on the weekend. It contrasts quite a lot to when I was in New Zealand where you frequently see your friends after work.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#37

Post by seibelj »

leggomylibro wrote: post #26
walrus01 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have very nearly exhausted the pool of strong technical talent that can be recruited locally within the seattle area, who are not already gainfully employed at some other tech company. Also because building new office campus space in Seattle is becoming a bottleneck. Amazon is spread out through a bunch of temporarily leased buildings until the new towers are finished. Also they have sort of exhausted the number…

Also, a lot of the people who were willing to relocate to Seattle are reluctant to stay after years of worsening ostracization and seething resentment.

For me personally, I cannot ever relocate to Seattle because of the weather. I live in Boston, which has its own issues, but at least it's often sunny during the winter and I can get out for a walk most days.

I have a lot of family around Seattle and have visited frequently. One year I visited in May and it rained nonstop, oscillating between a soft drizzle to a torrential downpour, for 10 straight days! Too depressing for me.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#38

Post by seanmcdirmid »

traskjd wrote: post #36
devmunchies wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I moved to Seattle almost 2 years ago now. My main reasons for wanting to leave are the 9 sunless months per year and I feel a little put off by people. I can't put my finger on it, its very nuanced.

Hmm, also in Seattle and seem to recall a record long summer last year with 100+ days of no rain (well, one which just managed to trip it by volume at SEATAC in the middle). Personally, I think the whole 'Seattle has horrible' weather is pretty overblown. It's grey for a couple of months. I'm writing this now, in February, to a perfectly blue sky. It is cold, but not grey in the least. I've personally found it more c…

Seattle summers are basically a drought. Winter is where all the rain comes, and even then it is only about average (notable because it is concentrated in time and fairly continuous but light). Still, native Seattlites will up play the rain issue to keep outsiders away, hehe (Portland and Vancouver, BTW, get more rain than Seattle).

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#39

Post by gamblor956 »

sah2ed wrote: post #18
gargarplex wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Voice search is already huge and I imagine it may be even bigger. I see Amazon as a threat to Google in this area.

> Amazon as a threat to Google in this area. LOL. That is like saying Apple (iPhones) are a threat to Google (Android) when it was Apple that first brought touch-based smartphones to market. You probably meant: "Google is a threat to Amazon in this area" because Amazon invented and still dominates the smart speaker category. In other words, Google didn't know a market existed for such devices until Amazon created a m…

That is like saying Apple (iPhones) are a threat to Google (Android) when it was Apple that first brought touch-based smartphones to market.

Palm and Microsoft (through OEMs) both released touch-based smartphones years before the iPhone. They were very popular in the military, government, and legal markets, though a distant #2 and #3 to Blackberry (which did not release a touch-capable device until after the iPhone).

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#40

Post by ksenzee »

traskjd wrote: post #36
devmunchies wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I moved to Seattle almost 2 years ago now. My main reasons for wanting to leave are the 9 sunless months per year and I feel a little put off by people. I can't put my finger on it, its very nuanced.

Hmm, also in Seattle and seem to recall a record long summer last year with 100+ days of no rain (well, one which just managed to trip it by volume at SEATAC in the middle). Personally, I think the whole 'Seattle has horrible' weather is pretty overblown. It's grey for a couple of months. I'm writing this now, in February, to a perfectly blue sky. It is cold, but not grey in the least. I've personally found it more c…

"Grey for a couple of months"? Are you an Amazon recruiter? Seattle had nine sunny days over a five-month period last year. It's objectively one of the grayest places in the US. Without the perfect summers we'd be fools to live here.
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