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Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

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Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#461

Post by Bayart »

paganel wrote: post #134
benjohnson1707 wrote: post #96

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…

>I have a close friend that works at the regional Lidl HQ and she got reprimanded just after being hired for having used the singular "you" (less formal) instead of the plural "you"

Sounds reasonable. If someone did the same to me in a professional setting my instinct would be to treat it as an intentional lack of respect. Albeit my language is French (but it functions the same as German in that case).

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#462

Post by dang »

40four wrote: post #366

This quality of this article is terrible. It's very short (235 words), there are no concrete sources, or solid evidence that this is real. This is nothing more than speculation. Is this considered journalism is 2020? Even more sad, is when you search and try to find better sources, and realize that it's mostly just a few small, outlier publications, copy and pasting off of each other. Business Insider unabashedly cop…

You're probably right, but the thread turned out to be unexpectedly interesting.

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#463

Post by wikibob »

eternauta3k wrote: post #447
unethical_ban wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

English has many faults, but I am proud of our limited number of cases and (standard) conjugations. It must be taught since it's a part of the language, but I almost wish non-native German students could skip the "du" tense entirely, if it's that much of a faux pas to use it in the wrong scenario.

So far Duolingo has always taught me to use du, and never Sie...

Duolingo is a toy for getting a passing familiarity with a language. If you really want to learn it you need to take classes with a real human tutor

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#464

Post by Bayart »

bencw wrote: post #342
k__ wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"skill level did not take off so much" Big problem in German enterprise. They don't have any IT skills, but much money and are constantly crying for "digital transformation" what usually only leads them to being conned by big consulting agencies.

Why is this? Is there a brain drain going on?

Not really. The difference in salary isn't enough incentive for people to leave Western Europe at scale. You'll still live very well as a STEM graduate in France/Benelux/Germany.

It's just a cultural thing. Germany has tons of family-owned businesses with a fairly conservative ethos that manage to do well in spite of complete technological illiteracy.

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#465

Post by Izkata »

addandsubtract wrote: post #410
wolfgke wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I agree though about the big difference between the German and US management. I have a close friend that works at the regional Lidl HQ and she got reprimanded just after being hired for having used the singular "you" (less formal) instead of the plural "you" (I'm not sure how it translates into German) when addressing herself to her bosses on the company's hallways Using "du" instead of "Sie" for adressing people c…

Using the informal "du" over "Sie" is not anywhere near using the n-word in english. Raising your outstretched hand just above head hight to greet someone would be, though. Overall, using "du" is acceptable in 90% of social interactions. It's only when talking to people in higher positions or as a courtesy to elderly / unfamiliar people.

> Using the informal "du" over "Sie" is not anywhere near using the n-word in english.

I can't comment on the German, but "the n word" is "nigger" or "negro" , not "nigga". "Nigga" is a reclamation used informally between friends (typically two black friends, but on very rare occasion I've heard it used by others as well).

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#466

Post by woodpanel »

bencw wrote: post #342
k__ wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"skill level did not take off so much" Big problem in German enterprise. They don't have any IT skills, but much money and are constantly crying for "digital transformation" what usually only leads them to being conned by big consulting agencies.

Why is this? Is there a brain drain going on?

Having worked in multiple German Blue Chips, my 5 cents:

- Brain-drain, likely (US vs German salaries is a joke) but also likely offset by brain-gain from other places (in my experience only Scandinavia, Netherlands and Switzerland beat German salaries, lately)

- safety-seeking culture draws the wrong people to the big corps. The more of them there are, the worse productivity and innovation gets.

- because of their appeal to masses of safety-seeking underperformers wages at German blue-chips are usually noticeably lower than at consultancies or Mittelstand, pushing away even those few talented they did recruit

- keeping talented and motivated people long-term is even harder because if enough of the wrong there are, you’ll often have strictly defined career-options, so that e.g. after 10 years you cannot possibly get another raise unless you stop engineering and do Inner-corporate bureaucracy work.

- I’ve seen niches in these companies where people shield their team / unit from that mess, pro-actively outsmarting the corporate machine (e.g. hacking the hiring process, securing backing from CEOs, pushing for technological visions...) Those units have a big draw on inner-company talent, but are limited in how much talent they can take into care. Working there is very pleasant. As maybe highlighted by the fact that these guys are more likely aware that their pay is an insult, but they stay regardless.

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#467

Post by oh_sigh »

verylittlemeat wrote: post #434
unethical_ban wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think there is a mapping to this in English. I've studied some Spanish and German - You learn about the various verb and pronoun forms based on informal and formal "you". This is a part of the core language, the spec, so to speak. In English, there is no spec for different levels of formality. There is no universally documented way to being less courteous to bosses and policemen. Saying "sup dude" or "how's i…

Well it just so happens I am black and I've been using the word most of my life. Nigga is just "bro" or "dude" but exclusively used among black/minority communities. I realize the word nigga is A Big Deal for white people but really in our community it is used as casually as the word "like" in any given sentence. Interestingly I have even used it with black bosses before in a joking casual way.

You're ignoring the fact that a non-negligible percentage of black people don't want to be called any version of "nigga" by anybody, including other black people.

The same is not even remotely true of bro or dude

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#468

Post by schwank »

wikibob wrote: post #463
eternauta3k wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So far Duolingo has always taught me to use du, and never Sie...

Duolingo is a toy for getting a passing familiarity with a language. If you really want to learn it you need to take classes with a real human tutor

Which is exactly what I did coming out of undergrad University here in the US. I started work and then for fun I went and formally studied German at a local college, taught by a native speaker born in Köln. I was educated to use Sie out of respect and only use du with close friends, children, and only when instructed by co-workers and other associates. In my travels I have had many discussions in German and have not once been repremanded, only on occasion told I am fine to use the informal form.

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#469

Post by dirtnugget »

pdpi wrote: post #387
wolfgke wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I agree though about the big difference between the German and US management. I have a close friend that works at the regional Lidl HQ and she got reprimanded just after being hired for having used the singular "you" (less formal) instead of the plural "you" (I'm not sure how it translates into German) when addressing herself to her bosses on the company's hallways Using "du" instead of "Sie" for adressing people c…

> The "default language register" in German is typically "one register more formal" than the "default language register" in English. Fun offtopic fact: The default register in English is actually more formal than most people realise. English had "thou" as the informal second person, and "you" as the more formal variant, but "thou" died out, leaving only the formal register. Curiously enough, Brazilian Portuguese unde…

Thanks for this clarification, I was completely unaware of the English part and curious about the Spanish part. <3

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#470

Post by dirtnugget »

paganel wrote: post #134
benjohnson1707 wrote: post #96

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…

German here. I absolutely loathe the formal form. It can be compared to using "Sir" with your superiors. While it is super common to address people informally in younger IT companies, in more traditional ones it is mostly informal.

If they talk formal, run. It's most likely a shithole.

This level of formality between people I find very patriarchal and outdated. Also, with people you just met it becomes somewhat awkward to always ask for which formality to use. English is doing very well without it.

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