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An Amazon programmer’s perspective (2015)

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Re: An Amazon programmer’s perspective (2015)

#251

Post by WorkAllDay »

posix_me_less wrote: post #244
MattGaiser wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the people I know are fairly new graduates, so that would skew things. My friends and I spent most of our lives since grade 9 doing school stuff or stuff to get into school stuff. In my case, couple that with introversion and an aversion to most normal activities and the easiest thing to do is be good at the get into school stuff. In university, most of my social activities revolved around the startup world,…

Thank you for sharing. I can hear a shy cry for help. I think it's fine to spend a lot of time with computer, in general, I do it myself. There is so much to do, learn and help others. On the other hand, I think it is good to realize when it eventually becomes a replacement activity for lack of motivation/opportunities to do something harder. Then try to break that, take a challenge, do something new, either with com…

Any ideas for a guy who lives in a downtown condo? Im that guy who logs in at 3AM to distract from the boredom of life.

Re: An Amazon programmer’s perspective (2015)

#252

Post by xyst »

This is why you don't let upper management walk all over you.

I would personally love to tell Bezos to "fuck off" if the ask was unreasonable. Worst case scenario, I have to find a new job (which I usually have a few companies/recruiters in my back pocket), or best case scenario I get "respected" and the deadline is pushed to a more reasonable date. Typically massive corporations like this put you on a "performance improvement plan" which can give you few weeks to a few months to find a new job (or "improve").

Also learn to make friends with your teammates in the trenches. Presenting a push back to management in a unified front is much more compelling than a 1:1.

Re: An Amazon programmer’s perspective (2015)

#253

Post by WorkAllDay »

MattGaiser wrote: post #209
thorwasdfasdf wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is very informative. I wouldn't have believed it, without the first person perspective. Before i read this, it was simply unbelievable to me that people could be that bored without any life outside work. Speaking as someone who really values free time and has tons of hobbies and things to do outside of work, it's just unbelievable.

Most of the people I know are fairly new graduates, so that would skew things. My friends and I spent most of our lives since grade 9 doing school stuff or stuff to get into school stuff. In my case, couple that with introversion and an aversion to most normal activities and the easiest thing to do is be good at the get into school stuff. In university, most of my social activities revolved around the startup world,…

4 years out of school and yeah, I never managed to find anything to replace the profession and academic milestones.

Re: An Amazon programmer’s perspective (2015)

#254

Post by MrCapybara »

aripickar wrote: post #39

I have had a different experience with working at AWS. I've heard really terrible things working in retail, but AWS has been a pretty good place to work, with normal 9-5 hours. I can go more into detail about how my experience has been different from the article if people want.

Please do! I would love to read about the experience of someone on the AWS team.

Before covid happened, I was interviewing for a SDE-2 position within AWS Canada, so it would be of great value to me!

Re: An Amazon programmer’s perspective (2015)

#256

Post by nanoscopic »

ikRwS3Nb6Y wrote: post #241
nanoscopic wrote: post #154

I can chime in that a lot of this rings true for me. I was also an SDE-II ( started as one ). I also was loaned out to other teams. I also suffered the idiocy of being locked into 2 years of work or get saddled with a huge amount of money to pay back. Also, I consider that my child is dead because of what happened. See https://amazonandmykid.com for the full story.

I'm not sure if you're legally bound not to say certain things by the terms of the NDA you signed, or if you've simply chosen not to share some details. But I read that entire page, and who is in the wrong in that story hinges entirely on the exact events of the day you requested to go home, and exactly what you said that was considered a death threat. The extreme vagueness around those details leaves me with no abil…

I wrote a long response to this. Hacker news then presented me with a message "Your comment was too long".

Short version: Think what you will. My story serves as a warning to anyone who thinks you can survive the Amazon hell. I may have issues of various sorts, but no one should have to tolerate the "Amazon way" or be subjected to their insanity.

Re: An Amazon programmer’s perspective (2015)

#257

Post by abdabab »

rantwasp wrote: post #118
MattGaiser wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is it about tech culture that people within it refuse to admit the level of abuse-by-design that happens at these companies? The Amazon example is extreme, but a lot of tech workers fit the stereotype of people who don't have a lot else to do. I spend 100+ hours at my computer a week, so if you want long hours, I can live with that. I am up at 1AM anyway, so if you need something done at that time, sure. I jus…

yeah no. as someone who has worked at Amazon for 7 years I can tell you that it’s not true across the board and there are good “pockets” where there is respect for people’s boundaries. To add to this, in my time there I worked during the weekend 3 times (i don’t count oncall here). My work day included 8 hours at most. I would get in at around 8AM and leave at 4PM. (optimizing the commute) I started as an SDE 2 by th…

> I started as an SDE 2 by the time I left I was a Principal SDE.

How many promotions was that? 4? How did you manage to do that in 7 years? That doesn’t sound easy at all.

Re: An Amazon programmer’s perspective (2015)

#259

Post by dang »

ladrien wrote: post #242
notyourwork wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon is open about engineers owning their on-call duty. This should not be a surprise to a new hire.

Idiot

Personal attacks and name-calling are bannable offenses here. Would you mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and sticking to the rules when posting to HN? We'd be grateful.

Re: An Amazon programmer’s perspective (2015)

#260

Post by rienbdj »

openasocket wrote: post #220
dfgdghdf wrote: post #107

Based on my experience with the various AWS SDK libraries, I don't think Amazon has very good developers, or perhaps they have good developers but a poor development culture. The architecture is convoluted, heavily OOP and just generally reminds me of Java in the early 2000s.

The SDK? Those are all auto-generated

That would explain why it reads like a UML diagram
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