While Amazon has a lot of tech and Internet savvy individuals, and Bezos himself is quite sharp, they also have a large cadre of business executives who come fr

While Amazon has a lot of tech and Internet savvy individuals, and Bezos himself is quite sharp, they also have a large cadre of business executives who come from decidedly non-tech backgrounds like Walmart and similar. This is the case in a great many, if not the majority, of large "tech" companies. These executives are the ones who talk out one side of their mouth about wanting "the best and the brightest" and "doing great things" but out the other side of their mouth stick to "best practices" and "proven methods." They are the ones who block remote work. They're the ones who ignore the research and push open floor plans and put emphasis on the number of hours a person works rather than the fruits of their work, load days with meetings and interruptions, etc. They're the ones who have a wealth of knowledge about business management practices. Business management practices developed for manufacturing. And never adapted to address thought-work. In Amazons case, this leads to them having a great deal of policies that are hostile to tech workers. A coworker of mine who has several kids was talking with Amazon and even considering the move to Seattle. But then he asked them about the work schedule. They were not coy. They let him know in no uncertain terms that he would be expected to work very long hours in perpetuity, and that if he desired "free time" to be with his family, he was 'not a good fit'. These practices lead Amazon to churn through people very quickly, leading to their constant need for more people, driving their recruiters to become proficient spammers.