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Amazon confirms corporate staff cuts that could hit 10k employees

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Re: Amazon confirms corporate staff cuts that could hit 10k employees

#191

Post by newbYhrly »

tstrimple wrote: post #164
brokencode wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the point is that it can be hard to legitimately solve some of those tricky leetcode-style problems under time pressure, with no access to outside resources, and with the knowledge that somebody is judging your every move. Memorizing the common problems gives you a big leg up on being able to successfully pass an interview.

Honestly the "right" answer in most of these types of questions is to search for a popular existing implementation. There is never a "we've got to solve this bubble sort algorithm in a locked room with no internet access" scenario. I get that they want to select for people who can solve problems by thinking their way through solutions with code, but I've never been convinced that solving leet code challenges is the w…

Isn’t that exactly what they’re optimizing for.

They don’t want thinkers who re-invent the wheel?

Re: Amazon confirms corporate staff cuts that could hit 10k employees

#192

Post by iLoveOncall »

Zaheer wrote: post #92

Alexa is to Amazon what Metaverse is to Meta. Both are bets to create a new platform as they feel threatened by Apple & Google's dominance on mobile. Meta should take note. Alexa is widely adopted (# of devices) but has little engagement and still hasn't broken outside of the most primitive use-cases (play music, remind me, etc)

For context, I work for Amazon, have multiple Alexa devices, an Oculus Quest 2 and I think the Metaverse is absolute bullshit and will never bring a cent.

But I totally disagree with the comparison between Alexa and the Metaverse. Alexa has adoption and struggles with monetization, while the Metaverse struggles with adoption but would have endless possibilities for monetization.

What is condemning a lot of Alexa teams today is the complete inability for Alexa to be anything more than a music speaker that also tells you the weather and sets timers. It's tedious to interact with and it's impossible to monetize, just because of how limited the "interface" is.

The Metaverse will never struggle with the same problems. It's not gonna work, but not because it can't be monetized.

Re: Amazon confirms corporate staff cuts that could hit 10k employees

#193

Post by dsr_ »

masterof0 wrote: post #97
erehweb wrote: post #5

I found this comment from an anonymous tech industry insider interesting: "Amazon is very, very bloated. So there's lots of people there but they're not providing a lot of value so they're first on the chopping block." This is counter to what I have heard about Amazon, which is that it is a ruthless environment where low performers are stack ranked out of the company. Does anyone have any insight?

I forgot to screenshot the post. But I saw a post on Blind, from a BBC user (which could or could not be a reporter) asking for people to tell stories about the layoffs. I was blown away. I always assumed reporters will try to find someone and talk to them face to face (via zoom or in person) to gather intel on news stories.

A reported doesn't need to even know who they're talking to in order to get leads on who should be pursued, but being wrong can lead to a lot of wasted hours.

Re: Amazon confirms corporate staff cuts that could hit 10k employees

#194

Post by tstrimple »

newbYhrly wrote: post #191
tstrimple wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly the "right" answer in most of these types of questions is to search for a popular existing implementation. There is never a "we've got to solve this bubble sort algorithm in a locked room with no internet access" scenario. I get that they want to select for people who can solve problems by thinking their way through solutions with code, but I've never been convinced that solving leet code challenges is the w…

Isn’t that exactly what they’re optimizing for. They don’t want thinkers who re-invent the wheel?

Then why are they testing them on reinventing the wheel? Isn't that exactly what leet code is doing?

Re: Amazon confirms corporate staff cuts that could hit 10k employees

#195

Post by galoisscobi »

throwaway0asd wrote: post #127
galoisscobi wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any recommendations for resources/tools on state management? My background is in robotics engineering and I’m working on picking up front end so I can build end to end web apps for myself. Currently learning react with a lot of head scratching.

I wrote a thorough examination of state management with a code example. That essay is small enough to fit on two printed pages. I cannot share things I have written without breaking the anonymity of this account. Here is the summary: * You need a storage location * You need a defined data structure to store your state data. I recommend storing everything in a single logical storage object, because 1 is simple and sim…

That’s helpful. Thank you for taking the time to summarize your essay and sharing it here.

Re: Amazon confirms corporate staff cuts that could hit 10k employees

#196

Post by fdye »

vkou wrote: post #110
fdye wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to see this occasionally and always see it as wasteful. However, there is another angle here. Imagine your a C-Suite or senior level manager and you have lots of resources at your disposal. Now you have identified a strategic widget you need to get to within some timeframe, say 2 years to lay into your grand strategic vision. Scenario A: Task a single team, staff them and let them do their thing. Cross your fi…

Scenario B very rarely happens. What actually happens is Scenario C - it doesn't arise from a top-down planner mandating it, it arises from middle managers (or their subordinates) further down the food chain each trying to grow their own kingdom, who all get the same idea at roughly the same time, and each build their own solution to the same problem. During times of plenty, or if the top-level planner is only absent…

Agreed, C is also a very real possibility.

Re: Amazon confirms corporate staff cuts that could hit 10k employees

#197

Post by newobj »

bgro wrote: post #123
no_wizard wrote: post #78

Just wanted to say: I feel for anyone impacted by this I truly hope that they're able to land on their feet and Amazon does right by them and gives a healthy severance. Least they could do. Another quirk of this story in terms of how this makes me feel is that this makes me sad in a strange way: Amazon was my "fallback" job if my current job ever bit the dust and I couldn't find anything else relatively quickly. Seem…

Could you help explain why the general consensus seems to consider Amazon as a just given backup and easy interview path (but the hard part is the actual job crunch apparently)? They still do leetcode screening don’t they? IMO they’ve been harder than the others because the process is so automated that you either pass or fail on the code test. There’s no tech interviewer to give you a hint unless they changed that re…

The median turnover at Amazon is 18 months. They have to hire a lot. The bar is just lower.

Re: Amazon confirms corporate staff cuts that could hit 10k employees

#198

Post by galoisscobi »

jrockway wrote: post #130
galoisscobi wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any recommendations for resources/tools on state management? My background is in robotics engineering and I’m working on picking up front end so I can build end to end web apps for myself. Currently learning react with a lot of head scratching.

If you're building web apps for yourself, do you even need to do state management? Just print the results wrapped in HTML from your backend.

I’m hoping to grow side projects that I enjoy working on but not in the short term, hence current focus is to only build things for myself. It’s also fun and educational for me to develop my own toolbox to get a sense for what works at different scales, how to iterate quickly on features of arbitrary complexity in the same spirit as PG’s beating the averages essay.

Re: Amazon confirms corporate staff cuts that could hit 10k employees

#199

Post by zem »

bgro wrote: post #123
no_wizard wrote: post #78

Just wanted to say: I feel for anyone impacted by this I truly hope that they're able to land on their feet and Amazon does right by them and gives a healthy severance. Least they could do. Another quirk of this story in terms of how this makes me feel is that this makes me sad in a strange way: Amazon was my "fallback" job if my current job ever bit the dust and I couldn't find anything else relatively quickly. Seem…

Could you help explain why the general consensus seems to consider Amazon as a just given backup and easy interview path (but the hard part is the actual job crunch apparently)? They still do leetcode screening don’t they? IMO they’ve been harder than the others because the process is so automated that you either pass or fail on the code test. There’s no tech interviewer to give you a hint unless they changed that re…

i've never interviewed at amazon, or even heard much about their interview process, but the sheer amount of recruiter spam i get from them gives off a "desperate for engineers we aren't getting" vibe, so i can see why people think it would be easier to get in there than at the other tech megacorps.

Re: Amazon confirms corporate staff cuts that could hit 10k employees

#200

Post by nostrebored »

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #144
bgro wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you help explain why the general consensus seems to consider Amazon as a just given backup and easy interview path (but the hard part is the actual job crunch apparently)? They still do leetcode screening don’t they? IMO they’ve been harder than the others because the process is so automated that you either pass or fail on the code test. There’s no tech interviewer to give you a hint unless they changed that re…

> They still do leetcode screening don’t they? I mean that's a big part of what makes it so easy. Near zero "culture fit" or anything random you just need to solve easy problems.

The entire interview at Amazon is based around culture fit. The tech bar is the same across levels. The ability for you to execute in the culture is the whole point of the interview.
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