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Amazon’s Latest Experiment: Retraining Its Work Force

nytimes.com

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Re: Amazon’s Latest Experiment: Retraining Its Work Force

#41

Post by mulmen »

filmgirlcw wrote: post #38
redleader9345 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

huh. who'd of guessed that coal miners can't code?

Is that remark necessary? Honestly, the classicist/entitled bullshit about what we (technologists) do is completely unearned. What most of us do isn’t special and the gate-keeping many people in this industry do to prevent others from entering this industry (and I’m guilty of it too at times) is unearned. I’m glad Amazon is doing things like this. I’m glad programs are encouraging coal miners to learn a new skill. Pr…

I have a pretty good tech job, my title includes the word “engineer” but I don’t think that is deserved. My coworkers seem to view this as a prestigious position but I’m not convinced.

From my perspective this not much different than building pickups in Detroit in the 60s. I bet that seemed like a pretty awesome job back in the glory days.

In reality most technologists are in manufacturing and we will eventually be replaced by robots.

Re: Amazon’s Latest Experiment: Retraining Its Work Force

#42

Post by killjoywashere »

pardavis wrote: post #40
super-serial wrote: post #2

I wonder what the success rate is for their retraining program to turn factory workers into coders. When watching Andrew Yang's Presidential pitch for UBI he said most government retraining programs only have a success rate of 17%.

My job takes me to many Amazon FCs. The job families that we currently offer through career development classes are usually things like CDL, operations management, dentistry, EMT, process engineering, mechanical tech, etc. It is really a grab bag of what is most highly requested by the diverse working cohort at each FC. Code as HN would think of it is not as common, but associates becoming IT or facilities technician…

> dentistry

can you add some detail here? Are the career development classes intended to prepare people for life outside Amazon? Or does Amazon have company dentists?

Re: Amazon’s Latest Experiment: Retraining Its Work Force

#43

Post by killjoywashere »

joehandzik wrote: post #33
mrbonner wrote: post #31

I am waiting for a day when “machine learning scientists” are the blue collar workers.

Blue collar machine learning jobs center around data labeling: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/is-data-labeling-the-ne... I don't ever see the actual modeling work around AI becoming blue collar. It's complex and worth the price to the companies that can build a business around it. The data labeling, however, can be pretty simple.

I suspect even the high-end labeling (e.g. cancer) can become blue collar with appropriate training, given adequate outcomes data to compare labelers against.

Re: Amazon’s Latest Experiment: Retraining Its Work Force

#44

Post by mulmen »

ardy42 wrote: post #22
super-serial wrote: post #2

I wonder what the success rate is for their retraining program to turn factory workers into coders. When watching Andrew Yang's Presidential pitch for UBI he said most government retraining programs only have a success rate of 17%.

> I wonder what the success rate is for their retraining program to turn factory workers into coders. Probably about 0% for their warehouse workers: they're so exhausted by the end of their shifts that they won't have the energy to learn, and their most at risk of losing their jobs to automation. This is a feel-good announcement that will likely do little good without other management changes that Amazon is probably…

I worked harvest and was a janitor in college and still had energy to study. I had no time to do anything else but it was strangely “easy” at the time because I had no distractions.

Re: Amazon’s Latest Experiment: Retraining Its Work Force

#45

Post by dang »

redleader9345 wrote: post #5
dotnetdemon wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Extremely low: https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2019/5/23/1859813/-Students-C...

huh. who'd of guessed that coal miners can't code?

Please don't post shallow dismissals here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Amazon’s Latest Experiment: Retraining Its Work Force

#46

Post by opportune »

killjoywashere wrote: post #43
joehandzik wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blue collar machine learning jobs center around data labeling: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/is-data-labeling-the-ne... I don't ever see the actual modeling work around AI becoming blue collar. It's complex and worth the price to the companies that can build a business around it. The data labeling, however, can be pretty simple.

I suspect even the high-end labeling (e.g. cancer) can become blue collar with appropriate training, given adequate outcomes data to compare labelers against.

"high-end labeling" for cancer is often done by undergraduates making $0-15/hr after a couple hours of training

Re: Amazon’s Latest Experiment: Retraining Its Work Force

#47

Post by filmgirlcw »

mulmen wrote: post #41
filmgirlcw wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that remark necessary? Honestly, the classicist/entitled bullshit about what we (technologists) do is completely unearned. What most of us do isn’t special and the gate-keeping many people in this industry do to prevent others from entering this industry (and I’m guilty of it too at times) is unearned. I’m glad Amazon is doing things like this. I’m glad programs are encouraging coal miners to learn a new skill. Pr…

I have a pretty good tech job, my title includes the word “engineer” but I don’t think that is deserved. My coworkers seem to view this as a prestigious position but I’m not convinced. From my perspective this not much different than building pickups in Detroit in the 60s. I bet that seemed like a pretty awesome job back in the glory days. In reality most technologists are in manufacturing and we will eventually be r…

Amen.

Re: Amazon’s Latest Experiment: Retraining Its Work Force

#48

Post by killjoywashere »

opportune wrote: post #46
killjoywashere wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect even the high-end labeling (e.g. cancer) can become blue collar with appropriate training, given adequate outcomes data to compare labelers against.

"high-end labeling" for cancer is often done by undergraduates making $0-15/hr after a couple hours of training

That sounds like an academic lab working from grant funding. Did the FDA approve those models for clinical use?

Re: Amazon’s Latest Experiment: Retraining Its Work Force

#49

Post by allthecybers »

mdorazio wrote: post #9

It kind of bothers me that there's always an assumption on HN that we need to retrain people into coders instead of any one of the hundreds of other jobs in high demand. You'd probably have a lot better results retraining warehouse workers into plumbers, electricians, and HVAC installers, for example. Or on the corporate side, QA testers, entry level IT support, etc.

Imagine if everyone learned to code... the coal miners, the fireman and the classy janitor, the cashiers with dignity, the migraine workers... then no one would get paid the big bucks for coding.

Re: Amazon’s Latest Experiment: Retraining Its Work Force

#50

Post by opportune »

killjoywashere wrote: post #48
opportune wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"high-end labeling" for cancer is often done by undergraduates making $0-15/hr after a couple hours of training

That sounds like an academic lab working from grant funding. Did the FDA approve those models for clinical use?

> That sounds like an academic lab working from grant funding.

Yes

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