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Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

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Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#231

Post by scarface74 »

balls187 wrote: post #86
scarface74 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given their abysmal warehouse management, it's no surprise they have the second highest employee turnover out of all Fortune 500 companies[1]. Do you think any of the tech companies would treat their blue collar workers any better? It just so happens that all of the products produced by Google, Microsoft and Apple that need a lot of blue collar workers are done by contractors in a different country. I bet none of the…

> Do you think any of the tech companies would treat their blue collar workers any better? Tech typically skirts around this by using contractor/contingent staff.

That’s kind of what I said....

it just so happens that all of the products produced by Google, Microsoft and Apple that need a lot of blue collar workers are done by contractors in a different country.

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#232

Post by kmarc »

oarabbus_ wrote: post #72

I interviewed with AWS for an analyst/business intelligence engineer role. When asked to write a query to get the total GDP by month per country, I wrote a query along the lines of: select date_trunc('month',datecolumn) as month, country, sum(GDP) over (partition by date_trunc('month', datecolumn), country) FROM the_table order by 1 The interviewer asked me if I was missing something. I said no. "Don't you need an ad…

This happens everywhere; The superstar software developer (no) who knows everything (no) gets to interview you, and sometimes they are simply not right.

Your story reminds me my ~7th (?) interview with Google where for LRU caching I mentioned Java's LinkedHashMap; which resulted in he explaining me "what a ridiculous, memory-wasting data structure would that be!" - and going on for a good 5 more minutes bashing my lack of knowledge and me trying coming up with ad-hoc data structures.

Needless to say, I continuously refused all their recruiters since then.

(For the interested: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/LinkedHa..., "This kind of map is well-suited to building LRU caches." - part of Java for more than a decade.)

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#233

Post by daxelrod »

lawnchair_larry wrote: post #202
ohaideredevs wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What specifically?

No company is ever entitled to work you do on your own time without using company resources, although it might get messy if said work directly competes with the company.

This is a very broad assertion about laws that may differ from state to state. It gets even more complicated when you try to answer what "on your own time" means for a salaried worker, and when you consider the broad IP agreements that many companies give to their employees.

Could you point me to where I could read more, please? This doesn't match my current understanding, and it's a topic of interest for me. Thanks!

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#234

Post by Tehchops »

mruts wrote: post #154

Amazon pay is shit. I was laughed out of the room for asking for a salary that some analysts make in finance. People get paid so much more in finance than any other industry that I wonder why tech people aren’t more interested in those jobs. Also the work is more exciting and challenging. And it’s better for the world, though I suspect I’ll get a lot of downvotes for that one.

>I wonder why tech people aren’t more interested in those jobs.

For all the hobgoblins and stories of bad-faith intent by big tech companies, they are still far more progressive than financial companies when it comes to things like hours, working arrangements, tenure, schooling, organizational hierarchy etc...

Find me a finance job that lets me work 100% remote and doesn't care I didn't attend $prestigiousCollege and... I'd suspect it'd end up being a tech company instead :-)

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#235

Post by toss1 »

neilv wrote: post #128

I was leaning strongly towards AWS, after talking with people. I find the business model very appealing, and it sounded like I'd probably be valued well there. Then I did a little due-diligence searching of news articles and such that I vaguely recalled, about both the blue collar and white collar cultures, and was very disappointed. The various stories about non-developer treatment seemed much closer to home and rea…

Excellent choice.

To extend on a related topic, I've made it a general principle for me to read a counterparty's contract(s) as a work product and evaluation of how they do business.

If the terms are balanced rights & responsibilities on both sides (e.g., 'both parties will treat x as y, and in no case with lesser care than their own x') that is one indicator (hopefully among many) that they try to do business fairly.

In contrast, if the clauses appear to be written to all take maximum advantage to their side, and minimize any rights I/we have, then I treat that as a huge red flag to not work/do business with them. If they are very amenable to balancing edits, I may relent, but it it's just those terms or hit the road, I'm gone....

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#236

Post by notyourwork »

scarface74 wrote: post #230
pavel_lishin wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then they're shitty companies that you shouldn't work for, either. I read scarface's comment as implying that every company is equally shitty, the only distinction being that some have been given the opportunity to show their ass and some haven't. My counter argument is that companies that are actively doing bad things are worse than companies that aren't.

What I’m saying is that the other companies aren’t actively doing bad things as long as you ignore all of the contract labor that it takes to produce iPhones/Pixels/Xboxes, etc.

> aren’t actively doing bad things

I guess if it happens overseas we can ignore it? That seems like a perspective that classifies companies in different light. At end of the day, these companies are all doing the same thing, trying to turn a profit (maximize revenue, minimize cost) in every legally possible way. Unless we have evidence these companies are breaking the law, we are debating ethics which simply allows for you to pick your vantage point and easily say "ignore all of the contract labor" which is unfair for some and better vantage for other comapnies.

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#237

Post by balls187 »

scarface74 wrote: post #231
balls187 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do you think any of the tech companies would treat their blue collar workers any better? Tech typically skirts around this by using contractor/contingent staff.

That’s kind of what I said.... it just so happens that all of the products produced by Google, Microsoft and Apple that need a lot of blue collar workers are done by contractors in a different country.

Yep, wasn't disagreeing; adding confirmation.

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#238

Post by scarface74 »

zippergz wrote: post #25
dvt wrote: post #5

I've also turned down countless Amazon interview offers. In fact, I don't get how I'm still on their recruitment lists after asking several times to be removed. Amazon has arguably the worst culture out of any large tech company, and generally treats its workers like dirt. Given all my friends that worked for them, almost all have quit within 5 years. Given their abysmal warehouse management, it's no surprise they ha…

There is no such thing as a "recruitment list" to be removed from, unless you remove all traces of yourself from the internet. Sourcers don't work from a shared list. Also, you might be surprised to hear how often people will say "no" at one point, and later say "yes." Circumstances change. Asking again later works.

What’s crazy is that I have a very light LinkedIn profile, what I do have shows I graduated from a no name college over 20 years ago and that I am your bog standard Microsoft Enterprise Developer/Architect. Yet and still Facebook/Google recruiters are “impressed” with my profile and would glad to have me interview. They are no better than the foreign spammer recruiters.

Ironically enough, the two companies that I do have a semblance of qualifications for - Amazon as an AWS Solutions Architect or sales role and maybe Microsoft never reach out to me.

Especially since my profile is fairly buzzword compliant with the profile of an AWS SA.

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#239

Post by 420codebro »

hnaccount141 wrote: post #91
cameronbrown wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tech industry has the best horizontal mobility of any other right now. Why do we need the downside of unions when we can just move company and have only the upsides?

> best horizontal mobility of any other right now I think you just answered your own question. Unionize while you have leverage to protect yourself for a future where you might not.

Holy shit the unions are out in force today on HN.

Back to your holes, OUT OUT OUT.

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#240

Post by k-ian »

opportune wrote: post #222
whycombagator wrote: post #89

IIRC salaried workers at Amazon get 10 PTO days. This stops me from even applying. I wouldn't ever again consider less than 20, and really need a minumum of 25.

I know people who work on AWS and they were telling me that they get 10 days of some other kind of vacation they can use too. So it's like 10 "real" vacation days that I assume roll-over year to year, you get paid for if you quit with them, etc. and then another 10 that are completely use-it-or-lose it. I don't know the details though

That's basically it. You have normal vacation time, then "personal time", which is what is used as sick leave. It doesn't roll over and you're encouraged to use that by the end of the year.
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