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For most readers of Hacker News, though, I suspect that they see these anecdotes rarely, and for many the NYT article is the first one... yet they have seen pre

by MCRed 11y ago

For most readers of Hacker News, though, I suspect that they see these anecdotes rarely, and for many the NYT article is the first one... yet they have seen press releases from Amazon that are designed to tout it as a tech company and Jeff Bezos as the next Steve Jobs, every month, like clock work for the past decade. (and we'll get even more of them now.) The anecdotes are hard to find. Glassdoor promotes positive reviews over negative ones, effectively burying them, even when the negative ones have more up votes and you're looking at reviews ranked by vote! Most people Amazon is hiring aren't exposed to the negative reviews of the company.

redblacktree 11y ago
Even before getting to anecdotes about the experience of working there, I was put off by the interview process. They have asked me to drive from Indianapolis to Chicago to interview with a large group of people. Thanks, but no thanks.
gdulli 11y ago
> Most people Amazon is hiring aren't exposed to the negative reviews of the company. Yeah, that's why it's so important for people to gain awareness of this while it's so visible. It's not just anecdotes, it's a pattern. Every large company has things about it that suck, every company has its former employees with complaints about it. But Amazon is in a qualitatively different category. Other companies don't get such a bad overall reputation.
fludlight 11y ago
Glassdoor's revenue comes from companies advertising to job seekers. It would not surprise me if this comes with a handshake deal to make the advertiser look good.
- shostack 11y ago
  Glassdoor's entire revenue stream is dependent on having a user-base visit them to generate the impressions that comprise their inventory of job seekers. That user-base will only continue to visit Glassdoor if they maintain their reputation of having credible reviews around companies. It really does not seem in their best interest to shoot themselves in the foot in that regard. Of course Yelp was accused of similar things (whether true or not) and I'm not sure it really hurt them, so who knows.
Apocryphon 11y ago
After all of the excitement of the keynotes and the dazzling new hardware and software products are released, few forget that Steve Jobs was also a very authoritarian and abusive figure, and that Apple is a company just like any other.
morgante 11y ago
I don't think it's fair to accuse Glassdoor of corruption. Even it makes it clear that Amazon is a much worse employer than other tech firms, with an average rating of 3.0 vs >4 for Google, Facebook, etc. [0] [0] http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Amazon-com-Reviews-E6036.htm http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Amazon-com-Reviews-E6036.ht...

by MCRed 11y ago

redblacktree 11y ago

Even before getting to anecdotes about the experience of working there, I was put off by the interview process. They have asked me to drive from Indianapolis to Chicago to interview with a large group of people. Thanks, but no thanks.

gdulli 11y ago

> Most people Amazon is hiring aren't exposed to the negative reviews of the company. Yeah, that's why it's so important for people to gain awareness of this while it's so visible. It's not just anecdotes, it's a pattern. Every large company has things about it that suck, every company has its former employees with complaints about it. But Amazon is in a qualitatively different category. Other companies don't get such a bad overall reputation.

fludlight 11y ago

Glassdoor's revenue comes from companies advertising to job seekers. It would not surprise me if this comes with a handshake deal to make the advertiser look good.

shostack 11y ago
Glassdoor's entire revenue stream is dependent on having a user-base visit them to generate the impressions that comprise their inventory of job seekers. That user-base will only continue to visit Glassdoor if they maintain their reputation of having credible reviews around companies. It really does not seem in their best interest to shoot themselves in the foot in that regard. Of course Yelp was accused of similar things (whether true or not) and I'm not sure it really hurt them, so who knows.

Apocryphon 11y ago

After all of the excitement of the keynotes and the dazzling new hardware and software products are released, few forget that Steve Jobs was also a very authoritarian and abusive figure, and that Apple is a company just like any other.

morgante 11y ago

I don't think it's fair to accuse Glassdoor of corruption. Even it makes it clear that Amazon is a much worse employer than other tech firms, with an average rating of 3.0 vs >4 for Google, Facebook, etc. [0] [0] http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Amazon-com-Reviews-E6036.htm http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Amazon-com-Reviews-E6036.ht...