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OP joined Amazon without a doubt. (Build everything in house, working nights and weekends, rigid team-switching rules.) I just interviewed there and the onsite

OP joined Amazon without a doubt. (Build everything in house, working nights and weekends, rigid team-switching rules.) I just interviewed there and the onsite presented more red flags than a Soviet military parade. Would definitely recommend treating them somewhat differently from the other FANG companies

Arainach 5y ago
When someone joins Google or Microsoft or Facebook, they say "I joined Google/Microsoft/Facebook". When they join Amazon, they say "I joined a FAANG company". It's amazingly how well it correlates.
- rejectedandsad 5y ago
  Do you think that’s because Amazon is a lesser company? I work at Amazon and I’m depressed as hell because of it - not because the work is bad, but because you people think people like me are subhuman. I’ve studied leetcode for years but apparently my IQ is just too low to get into a better company - what should I do? Is my career over, or should I just accept being considered a subhuman for the rest of my life?
  - Arainach 5y ago
    I don't work at Amazon and never have, so take my opinions with a grain of salt. I have worked at multiple other "FAANG"-caliber organizations, so add a few more grains. Let's start with the obvious: "FAANG" was a term coined by financial types, not technical types, based on stock valuations rather than any particular technical merits. Exactly what companies are in it are controversial - Microsoft has the pedigree and the culture, they just didn't have the stock price (at that time). Netflix hires smart people but has never been in the same league as the rest in my personal opinion - they're too small and they have only one product. Now, back to your question. If I had to guess, it's primarily about stigma. If I was working at Amazon, I would be fully aware of their reputation for abusive employee treatment, grinding fresh college graduates into a burnt out pulp faster than their RSUs can vest, poor work life balance, and so on. I'd be tired of answering the same questions about all of the above. I'd be aware that everyone already has their opinions about Amazon, that what I say isn't going to change much, and would probably deflect in the hope of getting interesting responses before everyone inevitably notices that my question lines up with all the feedback they've heard from their former-Amazon friends about the sad state of the internal tech stack, the working conditions, etc.
    - rejectedandsad 5y ago
      Basically, all of this seems to wind down into the fact that Amazon engineers are lesser and less worthy than everyone else and that even Amazon engineers know about this. Why the hell should I even continue if that's the case? I make a pittance and everyone in society thinks of me as a untermensch.
      - elpatoisthebest 5y ago
        Hold up. Let's keep it in perspective here. "Worthy" of what? Dignity? Respect? Every human is worthy of those things. I don't work FAANG, never even gotten a callback interview. I am a decent software engineer at a small company. I do pretty boring things, in pretty boring tech. I don't even understand how our k8s deploy works. I have to imagine your "pittance" of a salary at Amazon is higher than mine. But none of that is embarrassing to me. It's just a job. It's not something that defines who I am. I clock out at my 8 hour mark and I go do things I love with people I love. Comparison is the thief of joy. You aren't measured against anyone else, least of all other FAANG employees here showing off the best side of themselves. Be proud of yourself, and don't let your job define you. You are worth more as a human than your job title, and certainly the company you work for.
      - themacguffinman 5y ago
        I don't know that you should continue since it is severely affecting you but I doubt that focusing on other people's tier rankings of Amazon engs is healthy or beneficial in any way. A lot of people overdo the whole "don't listen to what other people say" (external judgments can be valuable & insightful), but naturally it's possible to overdo the opposite. AFAICT, Amazon has a terrible reputation because they are abusive and are known to hire-to-fire. If you don't feel abused and you've stuck around long enough to be confident that you weren't just hired to fill a firing quota, then these criticisms don't really apply. Basically all big companies are large enough to offer a mix of good & bad experiences, prevailing reputation is going to be an average of that mix. But your own experience isn't an average, you don't have to measure it against some public reputation. Public reputation is for outsiders, it's for people to forecast what outcomes are likely before joining. It's not for you. When you can see sunny skies with your own eyes, you don't look at the weather forecast.
  - jgwil2 5y ago
    No one considers Amazon engineers "subhuman" - if that is your perception then all I can say is I think you need to seek therapy for your depression because no one should have to feel like that.
    - rejectedandsad 5y ago
      We clearly are - we didn't go to the Olympics, don't have free massages at work or even free first class travel to Hawaii like Googlers do - no unlimited external validation, etc and I make as much as a new grad at other companies. I have literally nothing to show for my hard work. Nothing.
      - jgwil2 5y ago
        This reads like satire, but on the off-chance you're serious, you need to reframe your perspective. Consider the lives of Amazon warehouse workers, to take the most obvious example. Maybe therapy can help with this.
        fortuna86 5y ago
        > Maybe therapy can help with this. Or mediation. OP seems to be blind to what they have.
awsthro00945 5y ago
OP implied in another comment that it's Google (I could be misinterpreting that comment, though)

Arainach 5y ago

When someone joins Google or Microsoft or Facebook, they say "I joined Google/Microsoft/Facebook". When they join Amazon, they say "I joined a FAANG company". It's amazingly how well it correlates.

rejectedandsad 5y ago
Do you think that’s because Amazon is a lesser company? I work at Amazon and I’m depressed as hell because of it - not because the work is bad, but because you people think people like me are subhuman. I’ve studied leetcode for years but apparently my IQ is just too low to get into a better company - what should I do? Is my career over, or should I just accept being considered a subhuman for the rest of my life?
- Arainach 5y ago
  I don't work at Amazon and never have, so take my opinions with a grain of salt. I have worked at multiple other "FAANG"-caliber organizations, so add a few more grains. Let's start with the obvious: "FAANG" was a term coined by financial types, not technical types, based on stock valuations rather than any particular technical merits. Exactly what companies are in it are controversial - Microsoft has the pedigree and the culture, they just didn't have the stock price (at that time). Netflix hires smart people but has never been in the same league as the rest in my personal opinion - they're too small and they have only one product. Now, back to your question. If I had to guess, it's primarily about stigma. If I was working at Amazon, I would be fully aware of their reputation for abusive employee treatment, grinding fresh college graduates into a burnt out pulp faster than their RSUs can vest, poor work life balance, and so on. I'd be tired of answering the same questions about all of the above. I'd be aware that everyone already has their opinions about Amazon, that what I say isn't going to change much, and would probably deflect in the hope of getting interesting responses before everyone inevitably notices that my question lines up with all the feedback they've heard from their former-Amazon friends about the sad state of the internal tech stack, the working conditions, etc.
  - rejectedandsad 5y ago
    Basically, all of this seems to wind down into the fact that Amazon engineers are lesser and less worthy than everyone else and that even Amazon engineers know about this. Why the hell should I even continue if that's the case? I make a pittance and everyone in society thinks of me as a untermensch.
    - elpatoisthebest 5y ago
      Hold up. Let's keep it in perspective here. "Worthy" of what? Dignity? Respect? Every human is worthy of those things. I don't work FAANG, never even gotten a callback interview. I am a decent software engineer at a small company. I do pretty boring things, in pretty boring tech. I don't even understand how our k8s deploy works. I have to imagine your "pittance" of a salary at Amazon is higher than mine. But none of that is embarrassing to me. It's just a job. It's not something that defines who I am. I clock out at my 8 hour mark and I go do things I love with people I love. Comparison is the thief of joy. You aren't measured against anyone else, least of all other FAANG employees here showing off the best side of themselves. Be proud of yourself, and don't let your job define you. You are worth more as a human than your job title, and certainly the company you work for.
    - themacguffinman 5y ago
      I don't know that you should continue since it is severely affecting you but I doubt that focusing on other people's tier rankings of Amazon engs is healthy or beneficial in any way. A lot of people overdo the whole "don't listen to what other people say" (external judgments can be valuable & insightful), but naturally it's possible to overdo the opposite. AFAICT, Amazon has a terrible reputation because they are abusive and are known to hire-to-fire. If you don't feel abused and you've stuck around long enough to be confident that you weren't just hired to fill a firing quota, then these criticisms don't really apply. Basically all big companies are large enough to offer a mix of good & bad experiences, prevailing reputation is going to be an average of that mix. But your own experience isn't an average, you don't have to measure it against some public reputation. Public reputation is for outsiders, it's for people to forecast what outcomes are likely before joining. It's not for you. When you can see sunny skies with your own eyes, you don't look at the weather forecast.
- jgwil2 5y ago
  No one considers Amazon engineers "subhuman" - if that is your perception then all I can say is I think you need to seek therapy for your depression because no one should have to feel like that.
  - rejectedandsad 5y ago
    We clearly are - we didn't go to the Olympics, don't have free massages at work or even free first class travel to Hawaii like Googlers do - no unlimited external validation, etc and I make as much as a new grad at other companies. I have literally nothing to show for my hard work. Nothing.
    - jgwil2 5y ago
      This reads like satire, but on the off-chance you're serious, you need to reframe your perspective. Consider the lives of Amazon warehouse workers, to take the most obvious example. Maybe therapy can help with this.
      - fortuna86 5y ago
        > Maybe therapy can help with this. Or mediation. OP seems to be blind to what they have.

awsthro00945 5y ago

OP implied in another comment that it's Google (I could be misinterpreting that comment, though)