Live data from Hacker News

Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

chargedretail.co.uk

211–220 of 516 posts

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#211

Former Schwarz employee here: The company made SO much money in the past 4 decades with big box / discount retailing, you won't believe it. Salaries are off the charts (it would make senior software engineers in SV look pale). Hubris is as well. The only thing that drives reasoning are statements like 'we're not just some random company, we're Schwarz Group'. It's the poster child Corp described by Andy Gorves statem…

>> The Cloud idea very likely was acquired together with a former SAP cloud sales VP. Here is the difference: Core Schwarz DNA is selling packed soup to end customers at a crazy scale, without even intervening in the whole process. Core DNA SAP is a large scale enterprise sales. Go read the Stratechery posting about why Google failed with GCP to understand why Schwarz should not do this.

This is exactly what I have guessed. Many people think that replicating AWS is just the question of money. It is not. Most of the great datacenter people are hired by AWS, MS and Google. These are the guys who can think of cost efficient reliable solutions, quite often inventing new things in the process that the outside world has no idea. I was watching countless videos while working for Amazon about the data center tech. Mind blown, every single time. I seriously doubt that the Schwarz group will be able to attract the talent to replicate this. Many of the AWS guys are life timers, do not care about money. What is a more likely scenario that they will burn through a few billion EUR before realizing that they know nothing about cloud computing and cut their losses.

It is going to be interesting to watch though.

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Salaries are off the charts Just to add another data point, Lidl is also the retailer that pays the best market salaries in the Eastern-European country where I live in (they actually included that in several of their hiring ads), and I'm talking about shop people like cashiers and the people that put things on the shelves. > They are getting into the car sales and recycle business as well. In here they've also ope…

I guess you mean the 2nd person form (du or ihr fir singular or plural) instead of the 3rd person plural (Sie), which is the courtesy form fir singular and plural. Yes, in German it’s a big deal, roughly the same as saying “Hey dude” instead of “Good morning Mr Smith”.

> Yes, in German it’s a big deal, roughly the same as saying “Hey dude” instead of “Good morning Mr Smith”.

It's been changing for decades across a lot of languages. I grew up in Norway where these forms were dying out as I was a child (70's/80's) and mostly used to older people, to the point where they're now mostly used sarcastically to imply someone is a pompous ass or to very old people or in very formal situations. But go back another decade or two and it was common.

When I moved to the UK in 2000, even that was a weird shift up for me in formality (being called "sir" in shops, and having people actually use "mister" in front of my last name) compared to Norway.

But by the 90's my French and German teacher had both insisted we learn to use the formal forms but also both told stories about how that would already then sometimes make you seem old and stuffy, and to listen for what others said and if in doubt ask and to roughly assume we could get away with the informal form with our own age group and younger but default to the formal forms for older people just in case.

My own experience has been that most people I've met in Germany on business trips mostly have thought I've been more formal than necessary at first and told me I can use "du", because I've erred on the side of caution, but it's also varied a lot by location and age group and situation. Since I use my German relatively I'd rather start out too formal than misjudge the situation the other direction.

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#213
post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They will probably not attempt to compete against AWS on everything but focus on the core cloud technologies using off the shelf software and hardware. An alternative of EC2, S3, and ELB is already interesting and many companies provide that with fewer employees. No need to waste resources on products such as AWS Greengrass, or AWS Lumberyard, or even AWS EKS.

I am betting they will provide only: - Block + Object storage (can be done with off-the-shelf hardware). - Compute instances - VPC networking. - Kubernetes (o k8s-managed services). - An open-source database. Probably postgress.

Perhaps a message queue as well.

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#214
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very poor salary for your job, if you don't mind me saying. Are you in Italy? What's the cost of living like? Salaries in Europe are generally quite low for devs compared to the US. I think it's best in the UK. Starting salary will average ~£25k, rising to ~£35k as you get more senior, then maybe £~45-55k one you're 5-10 years in. This is excluding London and contract-based work, of course.

This is pretty accurate and refreshing to see. Contray to everyone elses salaries, UK (excl. London) seems very low. I am just below the £45k mark with 3 years at my current company and 12ish years overall. So should be bang on your numbers when it comes to 5-10 years at this company.

Where in the UK are you based?

Don't get disheartened when you read these big salaries online. The average reader isn't bothering to post theirs.

The UK is actually pretty good when it comes to IT salaries. Go to France, for example, and they're much lower. The attitude to devs is quite poor in a lot of places, treating us like we're one rung above car mechanics. We also have a good contract market in the UK; in many other EU countries (even Australia) contractors make peanuts in comparison.

Outsourcing and the low barrier-to-entry have all dampened IT salaries. Immigration has also played a part in the UK over the last 15 years; a lot of devs from Eastern Europe have gone where the money is - i.e. here. I know it's a contentious issue here but I say that with no malice. I'd do it too if I was them, and a lot of them are talented devs, but there's no point pretending it hasn't had an impact.

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#215

Former Schwarz employee here: The company made SO much money in the past 4 decades with big box / discount retailing, you won't believe it. Salaries are off the charts (it would make senior software engineers in SV look pale). Hubris is as well. The only thing that drives reasoning are statements like 'we're not just some random company, we're Schwarz Group'. It's the poster child Corp described by Andy Gorves statem…

> Salaries are off the charts Just to add another data point, Lidl is also the retailer that pays the best market salaries in the Eastern-European country where I live in (they actually included that in several of their hiring ads), and I'm talking about shop people like cashiers and the people that put things on the shelves. > They are getting into the car sales and recycle business as well. In here they've also ope…

Tu vs voi?

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess you mean the 2nd person form (du or ihr fir singular or plural) instead of the 3rd person plural (Sie), which is the courtesy form fir singular and plural. Yes, in German it’s a big deal, roughly the same as saying “Hey dude” instead of “Good morning Mr Smith”.

One of the perks of being an Aussie is calling everyone from the frontline workers to the C-suite 'mate'

Luckily the C-suite get their own C-word for proper etiquette.

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#217
post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other big difference is that German companies prefer stability over pure profit, because it creates a better working environment and a happier society overall, where your job doesn't depend from sheer luck, especially the lower income ones. They pulled out more Tesla's than Tesla will ever do, and they still rank on top of the carmaking industry. Tesla, on the other hand, the first thing has done when they bought…

>German companies prefer stability over pure profit Sorry, but Dieselgate would like to respectfully disagree with you.

Keeping entrenched carmakers happy and double standards from the state when dealing with institutions they have a stake on is stability, after all...

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#219
post #196
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very poor salary for your job, if you don't mind me saying. Are you in Italy? What's the cost of living like? Salaries in Europe are generally quite low for devs compared to the US. I think it's best in the UK. Starting salary will average ~£25k, rising to ~£35k as you get more senior, then maybe £~45-55k one you're 5-10 years in. This is excluding London and contract-based work, of course.

In Germany at the senior (10+ years) scale €70k/year is not unusual & if you work for the better paid companies (like google) you can expect significantly more.

What about starting salaries, salaries at 2 years, 5 years etc.?

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#220
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very poor salary for your job, if you don't mind me saying. Are you in Italy? What's the cost of living like? Salaries in Europe are generally quite low for devs compared to the US. I think it's best in the UK. Starting salary will average ~£25k, rising to ~£35k as you get more senior, then maybe £~45-55k one you're 5-10 years in. This is excluding London and contract-based work, of course.

This is pretty accurate and refreshing to see. Contray to everyone elses salaries, UK (excl. London) seems very low. I am just below the £45k mark with 3 years at my current company and 12ish years overall. So should be bang on your numbers when it comes to 5-10 years at this company.

niwork, i can't reply directly so will reply here.

I am based in the East Midlands, I have been offered up to 50k from other companies in the East Midlands but have either rejected (commute) or withdrawn due to slow references.

I feel like salaries are creeping upwards here but only for in fashion stacks. I am part of a larger organisation here and have the influence I'd like in the team so chasing salary isn't a demand for me anymore, however it does get disheartening at times!

Post reply on HN