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Amazon Pip Horror Story

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Re: Amazon Pip Horror Story

#41

Post by qbasic_forever »

bodge5000 wrote: post #31
qbasic_forever wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Um, you realize people need a job to put a shelter over their head and food in their mouth--right? For everyone below vice president Amazon is just a J-O-B to them. It's not their lifestyle, it's not their worldview. You're missing out on an unbelievable amount of good candidates with that view.

I have noticed on HN a weird idea that most programmers are insanely rich and can pick and choose any job they like (I even saw one person say "lets be honest, none of us need a job..."), so I guess they're going by the logic that if you work for them you either endorse their worldview or don't care, which as you say I doubt is true for the majority of us

You can look up the average salaries for Amazon folks on sites like glassdoor. They're known for being competitive but not particularly larger or better than any other tech company. They pay well enough to live in a high cost of living area like Seattle but that's about it. Someone who spends a couple years at amazon is not going to be 'insanely rich'.

Re: Amazon Pip Horror Story

#42

Post by mytailorisrich »

greatpostman wrote: post #27
BossingAround wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe a silly question on my part; did you manage to learn a lot? In the past, I thought of putting myself in positions like these to increase my understanding in short time, at the short term expense of personal life. I wonder if that's just a stupid thought that leads to nothing but burnout, or actually a viable short-term strategy to get up to speed with some of the tech stack you know but haven't really used in p…

I’ll be honest, I learned an absurd amount. Like more in those six months than in four years if previous work. It was real software development, with actual distributed systems problems. But was also scarring, I have huge trust issues with management now

> But was also scarring, I have huge trust issues with management now

This is the normal approach. You are experienced and wise now.

Re: Amazon Pip Horror Story

#43

Post by evgen »

treyfitty wrote: post #11

People say that working for Amazon for a year is enough “training” to serve as a resume badge. However, I’d like to provide a counter to that: when I see Amazon on a resume, I actually discount the candidate. In my opinion, the branding has suffered tremendously and I view the candidate as a compensation maximizer beyond all costs- why else would you join Amazon despite the well known horror stories, as well as their…

"Oh, those grapes were probably sour anyway!"

Some people work a short period to get a taste of the tech stack and pace of a FAANG while other people post to HN about upcoming interviews at Meta and how they may hate the company's morality but want that big fat comp package. Everyone has their own reasons for taking a particular job and sometimes that calculation needs include the cost of associating your work history with the brand of the company you are working for, but if you think that what you are doing and the impact it has on the rest of the world is important then that warm and fuzzy feeling is a part of the compensation you are maximizing. In the long run no one will care, so anyone who is not maximizing compensation is probably a fool.

Re: Amazon Pip Horror Story

#45

Post by tgv »

slt2021 wrote: post #21

How it started - https://i.imgur.com/7Cyia1U.jpeg How it is going - https://archive.fo/pdYHy#selection-525.105-525.423

That first post, is that the acceptance speech for a Nobel prize?

Re: Amazon Pip Horror Story

#47

Post by deltaonefour »

slt2021 wrote: post #25
cabirum wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No idea how things work at Amazon, but why did you accept such a tight deadline? Have you provided your own estimates for dev time?

amazon has Leadership Principles (corporate koolaid) that makes deadlines top-down and non-negotiable, otherwise you are deemed as not meeting a bar

What if the deadline is fundamentally impossible? No room for leeway here?

Re: Amazon Pip Horror Story

#49

Post by goldenkey »

yrral wrote: post #8

Is it really so dysfunctional there that if this happens to you (manager puts you on PIP upon being notified you're doing an internal transfer) there's no one to talk to to make this right? Maybe his manager is a piece of shit, but I can't believe there's no one to report to above him that can see this for what it is and make it right?

HR at Amazon is a shit show. I had $100 of pizza stolen from the fridge at Amazon and I mentioned it casually to HR, as something notable but not too important. And HR then decided to tell my manager without my knowledge. The manager then berated me over communicating about a "trivial matter." So yeah, wouldn't put much stock in HR at Amazon.

Re: Amazon Pip Horror Story

#50

Post by xorandor »

(dare I ask what a dev plan (pip) is?) quick google check...

Development plan is a regular plan which you do with your manager, where you are focusing on your career progress. You focus on your strengths and weaknesses. Based on this plan you will get tasks which will utilize skills you are good at and also help you to improve skills you want to have improved.

PIP is a plan which is assigned to employees with unsatisfactory results. It's a few months long plan where you got assigned some tasks you should complete. If you are not able to complete them in time, you are fired.

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