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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

#81

Post by frouaix »

neuroelectronic wrote: post #54
javanix wrote: post #24

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.

There is probably over a million products on Amazon. Is there any store in the world that offers a bigger selection? The only problem I have with the search is that they need something more NewEgg-like for searching for computer stuff.

You're off by two orders of magnitude.

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

#82

Post by [deleted] »

[deleted] wrote: post #77
kenjackson wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bayesian filtering that works both ways. In fact we currently take PDF/Word/txt/RTF at my job. I'd actual considering narrowing it down to just Word. The type of person who decides that they don't want to submit in Word is probably a type of person that's not a good cultural fit. And I guess we've already ruled out those that prefer to send their resume via smoke signals only. As an employer it is more important to f…

[deleted]

[deleted]

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

#83

Post by cmelbye »

This is only slightly on-topic, but regarding the service-oriented architecture that he mentions at the beginning of the article, how would one implement this internal? Specifically, how would you communicate with your internal services? Just an HTTP API? Is that fast enough? Another thing I'm wondering is what's the best way to handle internal authentication between your frontend and some backend service for example? Sorry if this is too specific for this discussion, but I've just always wondered this and I figure that HN knows.

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

#84

Post by neuroelectronic »

frouaix wrote: post #81
neuroelectronic wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is probably over a million products on Amazon. Is there any store in the world that offers a bigger selection? The only problem I have with the search is that they need something more NewEgg-like for searching for computer stuff.

You're off by two orders of magnitude.

So you're saying I'm right?

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

#85

Post by neuroelectronic »

billswift wrote: post #17
petrilli wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get the feeling that you're both right and wrong. Right in that a lot of the legacy Amazon code is probably burdened with huge technical debt. I also get the feeling they're pushing the boundaries in other areas. A bit of the "chase the shiny coin" syndrome. One of the issues is that none of us really know what goes on inside Amazon. They are notoriously secretive about most everything.

"Secrecy is the beginning of stupidity." It both reduces feedback, often dramatically, and wastes your time and energy in maintaining the secrecy.

Yes, because users always know exactly what they want and provide valuable feedback..

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

#86

Post by 3pt14159 »

JabavuAdams wrote: post #62
sahillavingia wrote: post #20

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

Lol. Sold a bunch of AMZN last week to buy AAPL, just before AAPL announced earnings. Looks like I should have kept AMZN. As a Canadian, the whole currency conversion thing adds another source of risk.

I was mulling over that exact trade, but figured the relatively small amount of AMZN I had didn't justify getting off my tush. Sold a couple hours ago with a solid 60% up in 10 months (usd -> usd) and 41% in CAD terms. I'm fairly bullish on AAPL, but I already own 200 shares (selling medium term call options, hence the 100s multiple) so buying some more probably isn't worth it. Just going to keep it in cash until I see something.

Do you have any experience in hedging your US investments by shorting the USD? I'm wondering if the additional fees are worth it.

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

#87

Post by adpowers »

cmelbye wrote: post #83

This is only slightly on-topic, but regarding the service-oriented architecture that he mentions at the beginning of the article, how would one implement this internal? Specifically, how would you communicate with your internal services? Just an HTTP API? Is that fast enough? Another thing I'm wondering is what's the best way to handle internal authentication between your frontend and some backend service for example…

I don't think it covers authentication, but take a look at Thrift:

http://incubator.apache.org/thrift/

It provides an RPC framework and IDL.

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

#88

Post by zecho »

mlinsey wrote: post #48
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 was hired with no college degree, when Microsoft and Google would not even consider me on that basis. Also, for Amazon and other companies, there is a world of difference going through their public-facing recruiting process and getting to know someone on an interesting team through your network, and getting hired through them.

I'm sure the same rules of networking apply anywhere, though, including Microsoft and Google. Degrees are an HR filter, but networking can bypass HR. So it goes.

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

#89

Post by michaelochurch »

prpon wrote: post #3

That letter is so geeky, I doubt if 90% of amazon investors would get the things he was explaining. As a geek though, I love it.

My feeling about it was that it was written to appeal to top programmers, not investors except so far as "You can read this letter, in which I prove that I know the language one needs to speak to hire smart people".

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

#90

Post by tybris »

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 would say the opposite is true. Amazon is a collection of largely independent product teams that make their own decisions and share very little code. Infrastructure services are used based on its merit. Stuff that works stays, things that don't die out. Unlike most tech. companies that depend on large, common infrastructure, Amazon is carefully designed to evolve.

Main problem is that a new family of species called AWS is so well-adapted and successful that its population is rapidly outgrowing some of the older, less dynamic species on which it depends. You can call that technical debt. I'd call it progress.

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