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I don't want to minimize what this guy went through - anything that takes you to the edge is too much - but I can't help but interpret this story as a story of

I don't want to minimize what this guy went through - anything that takes you to the edge is too much - but I can't help but interpret this story as a story of professional & personal growth rather than an example of why Amazon sucks (Sidenote: I happen to agree they suck, just not for this particular reason). How many people in other professions have had similar experiences from the perspective of intensity/amount of work? I-banking is _built_ around this level of intensity for years, and I've heard similar stories from people at other tech companies, plus VC, PE, consulting, medical residencies... My big takeaway here is much less that Amazon sucks than that in a high pressure job, it's critical to know your limits: "I can go so far and no further." The author seems to acknowledge this; why are so many comments implying Amazon is uniquely terrible?

deleted 6y ago
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valbaca 6y ago
amznymous here You are absolutely right. As other have pointed out, it's probably 1000x worse to be a doctor saddled with med school debt who is literally operating on people. I will not argue that, ever. But that's also not me and so I told the story I could; mine. I really want this to be more about how vital professional and personal boundaries are. While also highlighting how certain company behaviors make it challenging (on/call, etc.) Before Amazon I had worked at a company that (due to the nature of the work) necessitated a strict 9-5. You literally couldn't work a minute more. Before that, I was in college and had hourly jobs. So you could say this was my first big-boy job with salary-hours, as well as real responsibilities (rent, car, wife, life)