4 ms·

Why do you stay? > I'd be lying if I said I didn't see this seemingly happen with multiple people across multiple Amazon development centers.

StudentStuff 8y ago
I've asked this question to multiple Amazonians who have worked there for 4 years or more, and I've yet to hear a decent answer. There are many companies that have sub-40hr work weeks that will pay you as much as Amazon (plus stock grants), but yet most won't make the time for an interview. All the people I know at Amazon in Seattle consistently get home after 7pm most nights, and a handful of those people come in on the weekends for 10 to 12hrs to fix mundane bugs that aren't in need of immediate fixing. Amazon's high pressure work culture encourages this terrible practice of burning the candle from both ends, but Amazon definitely doesn't create quality products on the first try in part due to this.
- natalyarostova 8y ago
  I've noticed across education and work systems, there are some areas that have an extremely high barrier to entry, and treat you well if you make it, and others where the barrier to entry isn't as high, and getting in doesn't mean you've made it. I've always had an atypical (read: not traditionally competitive) background, both for schools and jobs. As a result, I've found universities and firms that are willing to take a chance on me the best. They are great for me because the tacit agreement is "I know I don't meet the traditional standards, but I'll work hard to prove I'm worth it. And if I'm not, I know you'll fire me." No one ever says it, but it's the strategic system that underlies this. In short, Amazon offered me a job and a salary no other tech company would have. Not even close. I've had to work nights and weekends not on Amazon, but just on teaching myself the tech to do my job (I'm a data scientist who could barely code when I started). And I'm not doing bad. I'm not a genius, but I'm valuable enough. Once I get all my stock and a promotion, I might look at a 40-hour type company. On the other hand, my team is pretty fun, so I don't know.
- chibg10 8y ago
  >All the people I know at Amazon in Seattle consistently get home after 7pm most nights, and a handful of those people come in on the weekends for 10 to 12hrs to fix mundane bugs that aren't in need of immediate fixing. I can't speak on everyone at the company, but the campus is basically empty at the times I leave at 7-8 (which isn't often and usually happens when I show up at 11-12). My own building is 95% cleared out by 6pm on a daily basis. Not saying what you hear isn't true, but it's definitely appears to be the exception rather than the rule from my experience.
  - StudentStuff 8y ago
    Payments and Alexa don't appear to be that way from what I've seen.
wilc0 8y ago
This isn't a great answer, but especially in tech, the barrier of finding another job (i.e. the interview process) is so high, that it's not worth the additional stress + time commitment to really look for place that has equivalent pay. When your stressed out by work, interviewing just piles on the stress and can decrease performance.
cromano 8y ago
I've been a developer at Amazon for about 3 years, and I've stayed for the following reasons: - Reasonable work-life balance. In my 3 years here, there have only been a few "crunch times" the whole team has had to work weekends. We viewed it as a failure in planning and conducted a post-mortem to understand what went wrong. - Nice people. Honestly, I've never experienced poor treatment like that which was highlighted in this article and the NYT exposé. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but in my experience, Amazon has no singular culture. It's more like a federation of start-ups with distinct cultures; if one team isn't a good fit for you, it's pretty easy to switch. - Competitive pay. This is partly due to timing (the coincidental soaring of the stock price when I joined), but in general, my experience has been that Amazon offers strong stock compensation. - Fascinating, hard problems. Pick _any_ specialty within software engineering or data science, and there's a team within Amazon at the forefront. I'm always learning, and I never feel like the smartest guy in a room. I get to work on "moonshot" projects that few other companies would have the resources to finance or the risk tolerance to stomach. I'm not writing this comment to brag or imply my experience is representative of everyone at Amazon. This is just one perspective to even out the chorus of voicing saying it's a terrible place to work. In my experience, it's the polar opposite.
- gozzoo 8y ago
  I don't see how this is relevant to the article or the parrent comment. You are just hijacking a popular thread to plug a praise for your employer.
  - throgdor 8y ago
    All the things he said are pretty cookie cutter responses you'll hear echoed time and time again from Amazonians. They aren't original thoughts, and I wouldn't expect that this poster would respond 100% honestly if he did have concerns about his job as his profile easily links him to a real id, and Amazon doesn't take kindly to criticisms from NDA'd employees. For more context there's usually a training involved to be able to post online about Amazon, and it is explicit in not voicing criticisms.
    - 8y ago

StudentStuff 8y ago

I've asked this question to multiple Amazonians who have worked there for 4 years or more, and I've yet to hear a decent answer. There are many companies that have sub-40hr work weeks that will pay you as much as Amazon (plus stock grants), but yet most won't make the time for an interview. All the people I know at Amazon in Seattle consistently get home after 7pm most nights, and a handful of those people come in on the weekends for 10 to 12hrs to fix mundane bugs that aren't in need of immediate fixing. Amazon's high pressure work culture encourages this terrible practice of burning the candle from both ends, but Amazon definitely doesn't create quality products on the first try in part due to this.

natalyarostova 8y ago
I've noticed across education and work systems, there are some areas that have an extremely high barrier to entry, and treat you well if you make it, and others where the barrier to entry isn't as high, and getting in doesn't mean you've made it. I've always had an atypical (read: not traditionally competitive) background, both for schools and jobs. As a result, I've found universities and firms that are willing to take a chance on me the best. They are great for me because the tacit agreement is "I know I don't meet the traditional standards, but I'll work hard to prove I'm worth it. And if I'm not, I know you'll fire me." No one ever says it, but it's the strategic system that underlies this. In short, Amazon offered me a job and a salary no other tech company would have. Not even close. I've had to work nights and weekends not on Amazon, but just on teaching myself the tech to do my job (I'm a data scientist who could barely code when I started). And I'm not doing bad. I'm not a genius, but I'm valuable enough. Once I get all my stock and a promotion, I might look at a 40-hour type company. On the other hand, my team is pretty fun, so I don't know.
chibg10 8y ago
>All the people I know at Amazon in Seattle consistently get home after 7pm most nights, and a handful of those people come in on the weekends for 10 to 12hrs to fix mundane bugs that aren't in need of immediate fixing. I can't speak on everyone at the company, but the campus is basically empty at the times I leave at 7-8 (which isn't often and usually happens when I show up at 11-12). My own building is 95% cleared out by 6pm on a daily basis. Not saying what you hear isn't true, but it's definitely appears to be the exception rather than the rule from my experience.
- StudentStuff 8y ago
  Payments and Alexa don't appear to be that way from what I've seen.

wilc0 8y ago

This isn't a great answer, but especially in tech, the barrier of finding another job (i.e. the interview process) is so high, that it's not worth the additional stress + time commitment to really look for place that has equivalent pay. When your stressed out by work, interviewing just piles on the stress and can decrease performance.

cromano 8y ago

I've been a developer at Amazon for about 3 years, and I've stayed for the following reasons: - Reasonable work-life balance. In my 3 years here, there have only been a few "crunch times" the whole team has had to work weekends. We viewed it as a failure in planning and conducted a post-mortem to understand what went wrong. - Nice people. Honestly, I've never experienced poor treatment like that which was highlighted in this article and the NYT exposé. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but in my experience, Amazon has no singular culture. It's more like a federation of start-ups with distinct cultures; if one team isn't a good fit for you, it's pretty easy to switch. - Competitive pay. This is partly due to timing (the coincidental soaring of the stock price when I joined), but in general, my experience has been that Amazon offers strong stock compensation. - Fascinating, hard problems. Pick _any_ specialty within software engineering or data science, and there's a team within Amazon at the forefront. I'm always learning, and I never feel like the smartest guy in a room. I get to work on "moonshot" projects that few other companies would have the resources to finance or the risk tolerance to stomach. I'm not writing this comment to brag or imply my experience is representative of everyone at Amazon. This is just one perspective to even out the chorus of voicing saying it's a terrible place to work. In my experience, it's the polar opposite.

gozzoo 8y ago
I don't see how this is relevant to the article or the parrent comment. You are just hijacking a popular thread to plug a praise for your employer.
- throgdor 8y ago
  All the things he said are pretty cookie cutter responses you'll hear echoed time and time again from Amazonians. They aren't original thoughts, and I wouldn't expect that this poster would respond 100% honestly if he did have concerns about his job as his profile easily links him to a real id, and Amazon doesn't take kindly to criticisms from NDA'd employees. For more context there's usually a training involved to be able to post online about Amazon, and it is explicit in not voicing criticisms.
  - 8y ago