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From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

jasonshen.com

241–250 of 352 posts

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#242
post #9

"The experience was physically taxing, he was diagnosed with tendonitis after moving hundreds of boxes a day, but it pulled him out of his depression and helped him gain perspective and a deeper sense of meaning"....... I have mixed feelings about this. What this has proven is working at amazon warehouse sucks, and is not sustainable. I've had many physical shitty jobs in my 20's. Then, I had some health issue and co…

  "Office work is much much safer"
Not sure about that, given increased cardiovascular disease risk

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What this has proven is working at amazon warehouse sucks, and is not sustainable. This person went from a 23-year career sitting at a desk to doing physical labor all day. Any physical labor is going to take a toll on someone in their 40s who hasn't been doing physical labor. I have a lot of people in my extended social circle who are in physical labor jobs. Amazon Warehouse jobs are always viewed as the "easy" fa…

Perhaps, but the epidemic of sedentary lifestyle has lead to a large suite of problems, ranging from miserable back pain to cardiovascular problems to diabetes. The average office worker can barely run a mile, do a pullup, squat below parallel with their bodyweight, or climb a flight of stairs without panting. Some of us spend hours a week compensating for this. If lifting boxes and carrying them around all day long…

>> You prefer to be in meetings for 6 hours a day and scramble to code in between them

How did we possibly get to this and what shareholder or customer thinks this is a good idea?

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#244
It resonates with me working as a delivery driver [opinions are my own] (contracted, pretty much all Amazon drivers in the field) in SF that previously had a decades long office job. I was burnt out and needed an immediate change from spending years mostly inside.

From a physical and mental stand point, the work can be quite a lot. Amazon doesn't take it easy on you. However, after gaining some conditioning I enjoy being paid to spend time outside. It's confirmed that I need to take more serious look into fields that let me work outside.

To sustainably preform at my optimum, nutrition and recovery are essential. During "peak" (highest volume of pkgs moved) my  watch will record anywhere from 10 - 14 mi a day of walking with over a +1,000 calories burned.

Navigating streets with tourist, delivering on hills with significant grades, abnormal addresses and entrances (it's never quite as straightforward as one might think), numerous not up to code unique hazards, and what can be daily route changes - [one day delivering to skyscrapers in the Financial, the next to apartments in the Tenderloin) makes for a stimulating week of work.

It's not for everyone but can be rewarding while allowing a more focused split between work/life rather than where you're never really "off" from work.

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#245
post #143

I work in FAANG and enjoy Costco. Sometimes in the food court I day-dream of working there. You know what you are doing, you use your body, you go home and don't think about it. I told my friend. He thought it sounded a lot like larping.

If you work in a FAANG (presumably as some sort of knowledge worker) you have a unique opportunity to never have to work again within just a few years of saving.

How?

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not propaganda, it's a perspective. He's pretty involved in activism on the behalf of trades work, not just the mouthpiece of some think tank ad campaign.

Quoted post unavailable.

> The dude is literally bankrolled by the Koch Industries.

This is just a straw man. Who cares who pays him? I could say the same thing for:

Typescript. It's literally bankrolled by Microsoft, insert quip that says Typescript devs can't have good intentions here

Tensorflow. It's literally bankrolled by Google, insert quip that says tensorflow devs can't have good intentions here

React. It's literally bankrolled by Facebook/Meta, insert quip that says React Framework devs can't have good intentions here

Etc.

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#247
My parents post-retirement after not working for 10+ years both found roles at an Amazon Fulfillment Center - one at the ship dock and the other in returns. They are both in their 70s and built a nice nest for themselves, neither need it for the money. In fact, my dad was a machine learning professor, multiple publications, and they ran a small medium sized business for 20+ years (at their peak they were running 80M USD annual revenue). They both do it for the mental health and for the physical exercise. They meet a lot of people just like them, some of the workers are living in 3M+ USD homes - although most are not, it’s mostly kids that went to state schools and climb the FC ladder.

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#248
post #247

My parents post-retirement after not working for 10+ years both found roles at an Amazon Fulfillment Center - one at the ship dock and the other in returns. They are both in their 70s and built a nice nest for themselves, neither need it for the money. In fact, my dad was a machine learning professor, multiple publications, and they ran a small medium sized business for 20+ years (at their peak they were running 80M…

Really neat story and makes sense that Philip isn’t the only one who thought to do this.

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#249
post #247

My parents post-retirement after not working for 10+ years both found roles at an Amazon Fulfillment Center - one at the ship dock and the other in returns. They are both in their 70s and built a nice nest for themselves, neither need it for the money. In fact, my dad was a machine learning professor, multiple publications, and they ran a small medium sized business for 20+ years (at their peak they were running 80M…

This is why my goal is barista FIRE. Work at an REI store 20 hours/week, the rest go outside. Like Janel said, we need structure in our lives.

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#250
post #247

My parents post-retirement after not working for 10+ years both found roles at an Amazon Fulfillment Center - one at the ship dock and the other in returns. They are both in their 70s and built a nice nest for themselves, neither need it for the money. In fact, my dad was a machine learning professor, multiple publications, and they ran a small medium sized business for 20+ years (at their peak they were running 80M…

My parents had to close their jewelry store that they ran for 35 years during the pandemic. My mom has been working the night shift at an Amazon fulfillment center and she loves it.
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