Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 498 posts

Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#221

Post by pessimizer »

filoleg wrote: post #128
jjallen wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are zero openings. How does this prove it’s not shutdown?

> There are zero openings. How does this prove it’s not shutdown? Since when does having zero openings mean that a team is shut down? Sometimes teams are staffed enough to not need more people at the moment, so they will post a job opening whenever there is a need for it. A specific personal example: my org had a period of a couple of months with no openings in late second half of last year, simply because we didn't…

> Since when does having zero openings mean that a team is shut down?

This is not a claim that anyone made. The claim was that an ad for zero openings doesn't prove a team hasn't shut down.

Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#222

Post by Aperocky »

swellguy wrote: post #135

The fed generated money like Germany in WW2. Unfortunately people at tech companies don't understand the so called laws of supply and demand and just hired people with no logical thinking at all.

Looks like they understood it and operated exactly according to supply and demand.

If the Feds did not raise interest, I doubt any of this would have happened, inflation might cross 10% though.

Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#223

Post by pishpash »

chihuahua wrote: post #169
zitterbewegung wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was covered in ArsTechnica [1] and it seems like they are laying off a large portion of the Alexa team because it doesn't make a profit. I bought the Alexa when it first came out and it had and still has a great UI. When the Alexa launched I made a skill on the platform which I don't think anyone really downloaded. What confused me the most was Amazon never allowed for paid skills (which I really think was an ex…

Alexa is a bit of a mystery. The plan apparently was: 1. Sell millions of devices at cost. Unrelenting sales on Echo devices 2. ??? 3. Profit And Step 2 was never filled in. Maybe it was "if people can re-order paper towels by shouting at Alexa, we'll sell more paper towels". But that plan has its limits.

What's the mystery? It was to get in on the device platform game: walled garden, app store, ads, subscriptions, control, etc., same as Google, Apple, Meta, and even Microsoft and Sony.

Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#224

Post by dasil003 »

VincentEvans wrote: post #36

Here’s a thought that has been percolating in my mind for a bit since these “market adjustments” began a month or two back. Somehow at some point, in what perhaps could be blamed on the ever-hated mass produced MBAs - companies got really comfortable with the “it’s not personal, it’s just good business” of letting go of their employees for a slightest reason, or sometimes for no reason at all - just to make it look t…

I hate to break this to you, but the decline of company-employee loyalty started 40 years ago, and even before that it only existed as a result of unprecedented post-war prosperity and lack of global competition.

This doesn't mean that it's all downside for employees though. Amazon grew a huge business and paid their corporate employees top of market with huge upside over the last 20 years due to their phenomenal growth. It was a very good deal for those who worked in Amazon corporate over the last 20 years—a lot of people got richer than their parents ever could have gotten in the previous generation of more stable corporate jobs.

But make no mistake, Amazon is not a magic pot of gold, they still have a P&L like any other company. 17,000 employees are not cheap. Amazon grew from 800k employess to 1.3m and then 1.6m at the end of 2019, 2020 and 2021 in response to the pandemic. It is to be expected that their forecasts were not completely accurate in light of the generational event and tech sea change that the pandemic brought. The fact that people are scandalized by this is indicative of how insane the 12-year bull run for tech really was.

Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#227

Post by twblalock »

VincentEvans wrote: post #36

Here’s a thought that has been percolating in my mind for a bit since these “market adjustments” began a month or two back. Somehow at some point, in what perhaps could be blamed on the ever-hated mass produced MBAs - companies got really comfortable with the “it’s not personal, it’s just good business” of letting go of their employees for a slightest reason, or sometimes for no reason at all - just to make it look t…

> We are seeing a bit of a market downturn - but it hasn’t hit Amazon pocketbook now, has it? Are they in danger of running out of money?

That's not the logic we should expect from companies in a competitive market economy. Companies that think like that will eventually pile up so many bad decisions that they will fail -- and then everyone gets laid off!

Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#228

Post by muh_gradle »

m00x wrote: post #35
nfRfqX5n wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they can make L5/6 to get that salary then they're probably pretty good actually

You can make it to L5/6 without being a good engineer. I interviewed several Uber/Amazon engineers and they couldn't solve a simple problem (very easy problem that most bootcamp grads could do). A lot of them get there by being interviewed by other bad engineers, and just float when the market is strong, or use politics to get in a good position. A guy at my company just merges library upgrade PRs blindly. That's all…

Ok I'm going to bite. What is this simple problem that Amazon and Uber engineers can't solve?

Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#229

Post by twblalock »

sys_64738 wrote: post #22
raziel2701 wrote: post #13

It's crazy that AMZN announces this and the stock goes up in after hours trading. People are losing their livelihoods yet rich people only care about the potential higher profits. This is very disconnected from reality, amzn needs consumers to buy their products. If layoffs keep piling up higher and deeper something is going to break and hello recession!

A business is run to maximize shareholder value. Cutting costs is part of that equation.

Also, it's worth remembering that the number of Amazon shareholders, and the number of people impacted by Amazon's stock price as a component of index funds, is vastly larger than the number of Amazon employees.

Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#230

Post by sbierwagen »

ferdowsi wrote: post #219
mahidol wrote: post #205

This is worrisome - joined Amazon ~4 months ago because it seemed like the most sensible thing to do considering my immigration status. Have one last attempt left at the H-1B lottery; PERM is underway but no hopes of getting it finished before STEM OPT runs out. Was thinking of getting married to my girlfriend soon, but not too sure about that anymore (she's in the 3rd year of her PhD so she cannot really move with m…

How did you go from 9 to working age without getting residency in the US or another country?

TPS visa maybe.
Post reply on HN