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

Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

lastweekinaws.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

361–365 of 365 posts

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#361

Post by bogomipz »

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…

>"I also didn't like the idea of (reportedly) being stack-ranked, and having everyone's metrics thrown up in a meeting, for a bunch of managers who excel in Amazon's metrics-driven corporate culture to debate amongst themselves."

I've heard on numerous occasions that the culture at Amazon is toxic but I'm surprised to hear that they used "stacked ranking" to evaluate employees. Isn't this kind of a ancient dinosaur corporate idea from GE? I thought this had fallen out of favor. Can anyone verify?

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#362

Post by msiyer »

xyzzyz wrote: post #360
msiyer wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you even read? The PDF has list of companies that form the prison-industrial complex and Amazon has a place there. >> This report exposes over 3,100 corporations that profit from the devastating mass incarceration of our nation’s marginalized communities What else do you expect me to do?

I expect you to tell me where in that PDF is anything supporting your original statement that "Many of these workers are from the prison industrial complex. Pay is non-existent or abysmally low, AFAIK.". That PDF puts Amazon on one huge list of companies, without saying in what exact manner it has anything to do with "prison-industrial complex" at all. Can you quote anything in that PDF that says anything specific ab…

I gave you enough info. If you are really interested, search on the internet.

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#363

Post by neilv »

bogomipz wrote: post #361
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…

>"I also didn't like the idea of (reportedly) being stack-ranked, and having everyone's metrics thrown up in a meeting, for a bunch of managers who excel in Amazon's metrics-driven corporate culture to debate amongst themselves." I've heard on numerous occasions that the culture at Amazon is toxic but I'm surprised to hear that they used "stacked ranking" to evaluate employees. Isn't this kind of a ancient dinosaur c…

Good question. Looks like they've probably improved:

"Amazon to drop dreaded stack-ranking performance reviews ", 2016-11-14. https://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/amazon-says-it-...

> The changes, first reported by tech news site GeekWire and set to become effective in 2017, make Amazon the latest tech firm to abandon the dreaded stack-ranking system.

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#364

Post by xyzzyz »

msiyer wrote: post #362
xyzzyz wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I expect you to tell me where in that PDF is anything supporting your original statement that "Many of these workers are from the prison industrial complex. Pay is non-existent or abysmally low, AFAIK.". That PDF puts Amazon on one huge list of companies, without saying in what exact manner it has anything to do with "prison-industrial complex" at all. Can you quote anything in that PDF that says anything specific ab…

I gave you enough info. If you are really interested, search on the internet.

You gave me none of the info, and I'm not going to waste my time on searching the internet to verify random claims the authors of which are unwilling to substantiate.

Re: Why I Turned Down an AWS Job Offer

#365

Post by Tehchops »

mruts wrote: post #247
Tehchops wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 don't know about remote (No finance firms I know of would allow that), but I haven't even graduated from college and I make good good money working as a quant at a bank. Maybe you don't want to wear a suit and tie each day (I do and I think it makes me looking fresh as fuck), but finance hasn't been a backwater in a while. Maybe there's no slide and free haircuts, but there's something better: cash money baby.

Even if you hadn’t called it out specifically, you’re checking every box for “new finance bro”.

Strangely always devolves into a length measuring contest around things like clothes and income.

Even stranger is how quiet that space gets when the firm hits a couple of red quarters.

Nothing like underperformance to remind the plebes where they sit in the hierarchy of “sweet cash money” versus partners and investors ;-)

(Also if you know a tech company that will install a slide and a barber at my house, could you PM me their name? First I’ve heard of that)

Post reply on HN