Amazon cuts 16k jobs • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#541

Post by volkk » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 9:54 PM UTC

layer8 wrote: post #422

volkk wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i just don't feel like enumerating all of the common patterns ai slop produces. again, if you don't see this as obvious, i can tell you're clearly not using this stuff often enough (which might be a good thing)

The thing is, these stylistic patterns existed before AI, and weren’t completely atypical. Maybe you’re using LLMs so much that you’re over-associating them with AI now. Or maybe the author is using LLMs so much that he’s unconsciously adopted some of the patterns in his own writing.

i think the much higher probability isn't that this guy wrote literally like an LLM before LLMs came out, but rather that he just used an LLM to write all of it. You can see even more of these examples directly on his campaign site.

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#542

Post by petersellers » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 9:56 PM UTC

iLoveOncall wrote: post #510

bjt12345 wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't say it's programmers though but middle management: > Amazon slashed 14,000 white-collar jobs in late October, with CEO Andy Jassy stressing the need for the company to eliminate *excessive bureaucracy* by trimming operational levels and reducing the number of managers.

Yes but this is a lie, a vast majority of the cuts in both rounds from October and today have been individual contributors, not managers.

Do you have a source for that?

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#543

Post by lovich » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 9:58 PM UTC

irishcoffee wrote: post #514

repstosb wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And citizens benefit from the taxes paid by non-citizen immigrants, whether documented or undocumented. Not just income and payroll taxes that might be dodged by under-the-table arrangements, but sales taxes, property taxes (perhaps paid indirectly via rent to a taxpaying landlord), the consumer share (nearly 100%) of tariffs, etc. And much of that tax base is spent on benefits and services that are not accessible to…

Sales tax is actually paid by the vendor, they just pass the cost along. The landlord pays the property tax, they just pass the cost along. It is absolutely impossible for an undocumented alien to meaningfully contribute towards their tax burden in any meaningful way.

Oh, in that case no w-2 employee pays income taxes, their employer does. I guess we’re all just mooches on society and only the company owners do anything.

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#544

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 9:58 PM UTC

taswellian wrote: post #488

kjsingh wrote: post #414

If you have to post this, you are the reason for fear factor: Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm – where we announce broad reductions every few months. That’s not our plan.

What do you mean? Who is "we" and "our"?

[deleted]

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#545

Post by maxbond » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 9:59 PM UTC

guerrilla wrote: post #529

tchalla wrote: post #97

Interesting perspective of an L7 who was laid off at Amazon https://xcancel.com/PlumbNick/status/2016500347053773198

I'm not reading all that. I thought tweets were supposed to be short. What the hell happened?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_limit#On_Twitter

> In November 2017, Twitter increased its character limit from 140 to 280 characters. In 2023, Twitter boosted the character limit for Twitter Blue subscribers. In February, it was increased to 4000. In April, it was again increased to 10,000, and in June, to 25,000.

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#546

Post by reliabilityguy » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 10:01 PM UTC

VirusNewbie wrote: post #271

33MHz-i486 wrote: post #179

having worked there. Amazon has toxic managers, culture that turn ICs against each other. no tech vision. insane politics. low caliber people gatekeeping. Their stock will go up the next year or two only because of their luck of partnering with Anthropic (back when they were a distant second choice to OpenAPI)

but the partnership is fake marketing. Amazon uses TPUs more than it uses graviton, it trains on GCP, and Google owns a larger percentage because they were much earlier investors, despite amazon investing more money.

> Amazon uses TPUs more than it uses graviton, it trains on GCP

Can you share a source for this claim? Graviton is a CPU, it would be strange to train LLM (I assume you meant LLMs) on a CPU.

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#547

Post by levocardia » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 10:01 PM UTC

dzonga wrote: post #375

Insightful Comment from X - https://xcancel.com/PlumbNick/status/2016500347053773198?s=2... I was an L7, I led global AI enablement. I built systems executives depended on, moved wherever the company needed me and fixed problems that had been sitting untouched because no one else could untangle them. And I was still cut. Here’s the part we’re all supposed to politely ignore: in the U.S. right now, experience isn’t an…

What's especially funny is that the post reads exactly like it was written by an AI.

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#548

Post by nitwit005 » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 10:01 PM UTC

nxm wrote: post #243

shartshooter wrote: post #144

This summer I went camping and at the campground next to me was a middle manager at Amazon. I’ve been out of the workforce for about a year, so I asked him how much of an impact AI was having in his role. He told me that he had worked to develop a tool that would replace effectively all of the middle management function that he was responsible for: gathering information from folks below him, distilling it down and re…

Actual effective managers do much more than "gathering information from folks below him, distilling it down and reporting that to people above him."

In some organizations, the upper management generates a real burden on people below them with ever changing demands for information.

I have to assume some of it serves a social, rather than practical purpose, like having people re-assure them that projects are going well. If that's the case, automation may just not make sense.

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#549

Post by esseph » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 10:02 PM UTC

socalgal2 wrote: post #507

shartshooter wrote: post #144

This summer I went camping and at the campground next to me was a middle manager at Amazon. I’ve been out of the workforce for about a year, so I asked him how much of an impact AI was having in his role. He told me that he had worked to develop a tool that would replace effectively all of the middle management function that he was responsible for: gathering information from folks below him, distilling it down and re…

I'm super sympathetic that losing your job sucks. I lost mine once. At the same time, what's the alternative? Progress happens. We no longer have liveries for holding horses nor horse shoe makers (not at the level we used to). We no longer have telephone operators. Making up jobs to keep people employed isn't a viable solution to me. Supporting them in some way (re-training, UBI, service work, ...) seems like the onl…

> Making up jobs to keep people employed isn't a viable solution to me.

That's what the TSA is in the US

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#550

Post by joshstrange » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 10:02 PM UTC

Loughla wrote: post #338

antonyh wrote: post #136

I'm outside the US, and boycotting Amazon for anything I can get elsewhere (which turns out isn't everything, but best efforts and all that). The shift towards AI is either a very bad thing (as per Microslop and the raft of recent articles about quality dropping), or just a cheap excuse to replace expensive staff with cheaper people. Alternatively they may be using AI in HR as part of the decision making, and it's ma…

I have yet to find something on Amazon that I can't find on either eBay, straight from the retailer, or B&H. And usually for less money.

Sometimes yes but this not apple-to-apples unfortunately. Shipping and support are two places where Amazon _currently_ reigns supreme. Getting an item fast and returning an item easily are often lacking in alternative marketplaces.

I do try to buy stuff directly but so many times I order it and then it comes 10+ days later and often very little info upfront or during about when I will receive the order. I ordered from a website the other day where it said Dec 22nd delivery, it came mid-January and support was unhelpful (parroting the FAQ, might have been a LLM).

Now, I've head great experiences purchasing directly as well. The Smartest House [0] is where I buy everything I can smart-home-related. Their pricing is excellent, their shipping is fast, and their support is top-notch. I had a problem with 1 device, they got on a call and tried to fix it, then when that didn't work, they shipped me a replacement.

So I agree, there are great alternative out there and I also like B&H. I just wish it was easier to be (more) sure about how quick something will ship or how easy returns will actually be. Finding consistently good merchants online sometimes feels like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

[0] https://www.thesmartesthouse.com/