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I lasted three minutes at Amazon

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Re: I lasted three minutes at Amazon

#51

Post by tsumnia »

diveanon wrote: post #37
ushakov wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

isn't this the same with tech jobs though? you are just as replaceable and the interview process is only there to filter out the bad candidates it's only more intense because the cost/risk ratio is magnitudes higher

This is a gross simplification and really trivializes the struggle of people not privileged enough to work in our industry.

I actually disagree. If you're going to look down at "those people" making the company run, then yeah, us techies are just as easily trawled through and filtered via intense programming interviews. What's the turnover time for SWEs at Amazon anyway?

Re: I lasted three minutes at Amazon

#52

Post by poulsbohemian »

Bostonian wrote: post #41
Waterluvian wrote: post #22

I don’t mean to be rude to those who are seeking a living, but let’s call this what it is. It’s not a hiring process. There is no interview. They aren’t interested in working with you to figure out if you’re a good fit for each other. They’re trawling the ocean and filtering the catch through drug and background tests. They process countless people every day, constantly replacing others who have broken down or reache…

I think the last sentence is unrealistic. People work at Amazon or any other company because that's the best job they can find. A large fraction of the population does not have the brains for high-end white-collar work.

What's nutty to me though is that we don't have enough of any kind of skilled tradespeople either. Electricians, plumbers, carpenters, cabinet makers, roofers - and I know it isn't just isolated to my geographic area. I've got a friend who is in the middle of building a luxury home to sell - he's basically doing all the work himself because he can't find guys who will just show up, stay off drugs on the job (hazardous!), and seek to do good work. Oh, and it helps if you don't steal tools from the job site too.

Here's a couple jobs that are in short supply: Home inspectors and appraisers. After the 2009 crash, they changed the licensing rules and it's led to a serious shortage of appraisers in particular. Both of these are gigs where you get to set your own schedule and can make some reasonable money while not needing to be a rocket surgeon. Yet, we can't find enough people willing to do it.

Re: I lasted three minutes at Amazon

#53

Post by kevingadd »

preetamjinka wrote: post #8
dekhn wrote: post #5

I had to read carefully into the article before I understood this is probably a fulfillment center job, not an AWS SWE.

Same. Do SWE/SDE roles also involve drug tests and orientations?

Every SWE role I've had in the last decade had a 1-day orientation (plus additional training after)

Re: I lasted three minutes at Amazon

#54

Post by version_five »

throwawaylinux wrote: post #42
version_five wrote: post #14

I clicked feeling like it would be impossible to give them a fair chance in 3 minutes, but reading it I definitely am on the workers side and he gave them way more than 3 min. This is a Kafka level story, having long dealings with an obviously incompetent and labyrinthine organization, only to be immediately penalized for the slightest miss on his own part. Especially the "if you're not at your workstation in one min…

What is your feeling on the state of labor? The state of Amazon's blue collar working conditions are widely considered to be crap of course, and there are a lot of complaints about labor laws, unions, outsourcing and immigration, etc. I didn't quite see how he connected the issues in the post though. I mean beyond state of labor = not good (and maybe that's all you were saying too).

I was broadly agreeing with the poster that it's worth crying over. Without writing an essay, automation (and I mean mainly business process automation) has sucked the humanity out of work (maybe its always been that way), and people are treated at "resources". This happens at all levels but is worst, to the point of being potentially inhumane, in low skill jobs.

Re: I lasted three minutes at Amazon

#55

Post by dekhn »

ushakov wrote: post #18
preetamjinka wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. Do SWE/SDE roles also involve drug tests and orientations?

in Germany, they could do a background check if you used cannabis and got caught, you'll have a police record for up to 5 years when applying expect it not to be in your favour

Fair enough, I was curious about that point too (but maybe they were working for govcloud, which probably has more onerous background checking).

Every single job I've had in California for the past 30 years (from academic software engineer to computer scientist to industry software engineer) has clearly stated that they do not drug test before I signed any paper. In fact, my manager at Lawrence Berkeley Lab (RIP) was specifically sent there after he refused to take a drug test at a more serious DOE lab, "so he could fit in with all the other hippies and druggies".

I can't speak to any of the other roles, although in my time in the food service industry there wasn't any testing either.

Re: I lasted three minutes at Amazon

#57

Post by torbTurret »

After reading that, I can’t help but feel like this is just someone experiencing awful anxiety and unable to cope with work:

“ I go home absolutely drained and i didn’t even do anything. I wake up with the worst existential dread I’ve ever experienced. I cried for an hour straight. Not because amazon specifically, but for the broader state of labor in general.

Sometimes id rather die then suffer until I die from an illness inevitably. I power through my break down. Leave for work to drive through a horrible storm. I ended up being a single minute late. I already get one point against me. Then I’m told if I’m not at my station by 7:05 I’ll get another point. I was never told where to report to. So I asked. In the rudest way possible they say they don’t know. I walk a little bit. 7:05 hits. And I just turn around and go home.

I did everything I was supposed to do but got shit on before I even officially hit the floor. From the time I applied to when I walked out. I tried so hard to be optimistic, but that was the worst experience I’ve had getting a new job. I can’t help but feel disappointed with myself. I’m not in a good financial situation, and my girlfriend is not going to be happy. But with it being a shit show the entire time I just don’t see how that was gonna work, especially at a company like amazon. “

Re: I lasted three minutes at Amazon

#58

Post by whoknowswhat11 »

There is plenty of info online about becoming a worker at AWS if you are interested.

https://hiring.amazon.com/hiring-process#/ https://hiring.amazon.com/hiring-process/application-guide#/

This guy did an insanely detailed step by step of the process.

https://youtu.be/mfKctyhTi_Y?t=60

Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8Ja-dm83mgqj8B_cP4Gt...

He has videos about picking jobs, application, first day etc.

Note that from what I've heard Amazon really leans on the tech (ie, Amazon A to Z). You can resign / quit etc even from the phone app you download.

Probably for the best for this person they didn't make it more than 3 minutes at the job - its not that easy in the end from what I've heard - much easier WFH type jobs these days if you can get them.

Re: I lasted three minutes at Amazon

#59

Post by [deleted] »

Waterluvian wrote: post #22

I don’t mean to be rude to those who are seeking a living, but let’s call this what it is. It’s not a hiring process. There is no interview. They aren’t interested in working with you to figure out if you’re a good fit for each other. They’re trawling the ocean and filtering the catch through drug and background tests. They process countless people every day, constantly replacing others who have broken down or reache…

[deleted]

Re: I lasted three minutes at Amazon

#60

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

idontwantthis wrote: post #24

I highly mistrust anything on /r/antiwork. So many of the posts are the “and everyone clapped” variety but get hundreds or thousands of upvotes, I’m pretty sure it’s at least half a troll karma farm.

It seems more than a bit like quoting the front page of /r/relationship_advice to make a point about how bad relationships are these days. Even if you don't have any specific reasons to doubt it, how can you trust a source that adversarially selects stories for virality?
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