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Why I, Jeff Bezos, Keep Spending Billions On Amazon R&D

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Re: Why I, Jeff Bezos, Keep Spending Billions On Amazon R&D

#21

Post by flink »

daeken wrote: post #15
petercooper wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, their tech job listings list tech degrees as a must-have . That seems to be a common attribute of companies that care more about HR box ticking than technical excellence, alas.

I thought about going to Amazon when I decided to get out of the startup world about 6 months ago. I went through the standard application process, and promptly closed the tab when I found that they would only accept my r�sum� in MS Word format -- rejected PDFs, HTML, and even plaintext. It may seem like a silly reason not to work somewhere, but I think that the hiring process says more about a company than just abou…

I've never applied for a job at Amazon but I have done the same thing with other companies. When I was last looking for a job, I found a couple of interesting positions whose HR systems would only take resumes in MS Word. I closed the tab and kept searching.

For me, it's a practical and ideological thing. My resume is written in LaTeX (with a plain text version) and unless I'm missing something, there is no good or easy way to convert from LaTeX to MS Word. I also have doubts about a company that insists on word documents - it smells like inflexibility and a heavy-handed top down management approach.

Re: Why I, Jeff Bezos, Keep Spending Billions On Amazon R&D

#24

Post by javanix »

The end result of all this behind-the-scenes software? Fast, accurate search results that help you find what you want.

Has Bezos ever actually used Amazon's search functionality?

I know it isn't the easiest problem in the world to solve, but their search is by far the worst of any of the major shopping sites that I use on a regular basis.

Re: Why I, Jeff Bezos, Keep Spending Billions On Amazon R&D

#25

Post by MatthewPhillips »

daeken wrote: post #15
petercooper wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, their tech job listings list tech degrees as a must-have . That seems to be a common attribute of companies that care more about HR box ticking than technical excellence, alas.

I thought about going to Amazon when I decided to get out of the startup world about 6 months ago. I went through the standard application process, and promptly closed the tab when I found that they would only accept my r�sum� in MS Word format -- rejected PDFs, HTML, and even plaintext. It may seem like a silly reason not to work somewhere, but I think that the hiring process says more about a company than just abou…

You're talking about HR here; they have no idea how to use anything other than Word. The idea of opening a PDF is foreign to their way of doing business, not just because a lack of know how, but because these are people who are very rigid in their processes. If I were to disregard companies that require Word I'd probably be unable to get a job where I live. I just disregard it, and what their qualifications supposedly are.

Re: Why I, Jeff Bezos, Keep Spending Billions On Amazon R&D

#26

Post by brown9-2 »

czhiddy wrote: post #16

Interesting how AMZN jumps 5% after missing earnings, yet GOOG drops nearly 10% with nearly the exact same results (increased hiring and expenses resulting in lower than expected profit).

I think it's really silly to try to draw out any meaning, or even assume any meaning exists in the first place, in single-day movements or reactions like these. What happens in a few hours of trading after earnings announcements means nothing after a few days.

Re: Why I, Jeff Bezos, Keep Spending Billions On Amazon R&D

#27

Post by jmatthews »

groovylick wrote: post #14
icey wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like I'm missing something. As of this moment (9:42AM PDT) Amazon's stock is up 5.6% for the day and near a 52 week high. That doesn't seem like panicky shareholders to me. I'm not a stock maven, so it's possible that I'm missing some important detail.

AZMN stock climbed over 8% during the AWS outage, the market is disconnected from reality.

Just reading his run up regarding their distributed server technology it read to me like a brief ad for AppEngine.

I'm thinking about all of the hardcore neuron work that went in to their infrastructure and how I'm getting a competing product for a song.

Re: Why I, Jeff Bezos, Keep Spending Billions On Amazon R&D

#28

Post by jmelloy »

pkteison wrote: post #12
jordanb wrote: post #5

Judging from things Steve Yegge has written about Amazon, and from friends of mine who have worked there, I don't get the impression that Amazon is a company dedicated to technical excellence. In particular I seem to recall something about 40 million lines of C++ code in their core product, and about mediocre engineering talent and high levels of burnout due to the technical debt they're required to deal with... In f…

I've seen some negative stories about working at Amazon. I don't recall seeing anybody write that it's a great place to program. Anybody have any stories or links about the upside?

I know a lot of people who work/have worked there, and it seems to be a very love it or hate it company. They work people hard, but the people who like that kind of environment thrive. They seem to be pretty ruthless about improving in certain areas and are very metric-focused. I'm not sure it's a great place to program, but it's certainly a great place to learn about programming.

Re: Why I, Jeff Bezos, Keep Spending Billions On Amazon R&D

#29

Post by HockeyBiasDotCo »

daeken wrote: post #15
petercooper wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, their tech job listings list tech degrees as a must-have . That seems to be a common attribute of companies that care more about HR box ticking than technical excellence, alas.

I thought about going to Amazon when I decided to get out of the startup world about 6 months ago. I went through the standard application process, and promptly closed the tab when I found that they would only accept my r�sum� in MS Word format -- rejected PDFs, HTML, and even plaintext. It may seem like a silly reason not to work somewhere, but I think that the hiring process says more about a company than just abou…

I am truly surpised by the rigidness displayed regarding Word docs. Limiting opportunities in your life because an HR department uses the most common document app in the world seems self-defeating. Why not rule out cmapanies that use a certain type of printer paper?

Re: Why I, Jeff Bezos, Keep Spending Billions On Amazon R&D

#30

Post by Seth_Kriticos »

ZackOfAllTrades wrote: post #22
sahillavingia wrote: post #20

$AMZN stock is flying right now: http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NASDAQ:AMZN

Why?

They just announced their quarterly results: http://www.americanbankingnews.com/2011/04/27/amazon-com-inc...
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