Websockets at scale are a special problem and he was probably right. Asking questions for follow up meant you were missing some core piece of the ‘Amazonian’ way of tackling the problem. Not being able to take the hints or criticism and thinking about it for years is probably evidence that Amazon would not have been a good place for you. That’s not always a bad thing.
I think you’ve just made my point clearer that Amazon is good at brainwashing. You’re basing peoples capabilities to fit in so rigidly, and worse yet, in such an uncouth way.
Being super conscientious isn’t useful. That’s not an Amazonism, it’s from living in South Africa.
The ability to fit in isn’t rigid. Many people don’t examine data, the impact to their customers, or actually explore a problem. Hearing people’s work history is often a series of assumptions made with little to no care for alternatives.
The interesting thing is that we collectively decide what the game is and isn't by how and what we play.
Eh. That might be true in the abstract, but I am not even 30, I want to buy a house, live my life, etc... Sure I could just shun any place that requires me to do leetcode style coding interviews for the greater good, but at the end of the day the global impact will be minuscule, while the personal impact would be significant.
true, we can only impact those who hold the power over us if we all take action at the same time, i.e. go on strike.
I don't quite get the study plan, as it sounds more like cramming. Nothing wrong with cramming per se except that what you learn does not stick, and you will have to repeat the process when you need to switch jobs again. I think a better system is to regularly study fundamentals and always deep dive in your work. Case in point, I've never had problems passing interviews by FAANG or other hot startups, I always got ti…
Ok, but the author's method was likely a raise of ~$500 to $600k in 3 months.
It may be true that doing all this stuff the long way IS better, but there's no way it is more efficient.
Hi folks! Author here - did not expect this post to blow up. Figured it might be helpful to provide some context on points of confusion: 1. Money > everything: an alternative way to look at this is that if you sort by offers, you notice there are a lot of neat companies in that list. I didn't just sort and then blindly apply. I sorted, and noticed that they all had something I was really interested in. I use Amazon w…
Reminder to update your HN profile:
> Running engineering teams at Indigo Agriculture. We're an agtech company helping feed the world and we need help from fellow developers like those reading this bio. If you're looking for a job, send me your resume at ...
Out of curiosity, what turns you off about Amazon?
Not the OP. But I interviewed once got a contract to hire position. The recruiter said after about six months I could apply for full time. If I got accepted then immediately the expectation is to put in 60 hours a week or more.
"We will squeeze you like a lemon with hope of getting a full time job and after 6 months whrn you get burned out, we will throw you away".
IMO like the OP choosing jobs on compensation, you were going for them on morality and winding up dissapointed. Best to forget about high compensation or high morals or whatever other metric the faceless company should have, and more about the faces and whether or not you actually click with the people you would be working with day to day. Looking back on it, the best jobs I've ever had always were the ones where I r…
I also did this, but it's so hard to find lasting stable relationships, within 6-12 months it's always a different team somehow. In that case you feel double screwed if you compromised on salary and then the awesome team disbanded and you're left with a shitty team and a low salary. Better to go for the high salary which you know will be stable, and will always "work" in the sense of giving benefit to your life. And…
It seems in my experience smaller companies can avoid these issues. No chance of your team being shuffled around because there's just one team. Usually you will find some employees at smaller orgs have been there working with the boss, who is probably the sole founder/owner of this tiny shop, for like a decade or more, you watch peoples kids grow up and such, etc. Sometimes people leave just to become freelancers, but because of how tight the relationship is sometimes almost nothing changes day to day and they are still very involved with certain projects. I wouldn't feel that comfortable at a big org where labor is just a unit to be moved around either. You won't be maximizing your compensation working like this, but I find maybe the reduction in stress hormones might be its own sort of compensation. Find a family, basically.
you are a tool. that's the reality. we all like to believe that we are somehow better than this and that there is meaning in the work we do, but at the end of the day if you were to disappear tomorrow things will go on without you. you might as well optimize for personal gain from being a tool
You can also optimize for self care
i mean yes. but you can also optimize for money AND self care. it can be a multivariable optimization problem.
What are you planning to do with all that financial independence? If the answer is, "Live a meaningful and satisfying life." then... some people seek out work that gives them some of that while they are earning money. Obviously, the idea that work can provide all of the meaning in your life is a toxic meme that leads to people being exploited. But the idea that work should provide no meaning is equally toxic. You're…
> Meaning is king, everything else is window dressing; only meaning gives you a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Time is king, and the closest thing we have right now (until a time machine is invented if ever) to banking time is money. More money equates to more time to do whatever it is you want.
Yeah, but if the way you acquire that money is by burning time at a job you hate to earn it... all you're really doing is transferring time from your younger self to your older self.
Personally, I'd rather find a job I don't hate and interleave enjoyable use of my time throughout my life.