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I've hired several AWS engineers. Everyone of them, despite of having left AWS had nothing but good things to say. You'd think that since they left AWS, they'd

I've hired several AWS engineers. Everyone of them, despite of having left AWS had nothing but good things to say. You'd think that since they left AWS, they'd have a boat load of things to unload. The only gripe I heard was occassional work/life balance during launch or critical times. Otherwise, AWS/Amazon is akin to working at Intel, GE, IBM, Oracle, etc. Bog standard corporate job. You are a cog in the machine, get used to it. In return you get a stable career, can raise a family and do better than 99.99% of the people on this planet. NYT's story was very controversial. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/08/17/432555175/jeff-bezos-responds-to-new-york-times-report-on-amazons-workplace https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/08/17/432555175... https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/10/amazon-responds-new-york-times/411232/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/10/amazon-... https://www.vox.com/2015/8/17/9166023/new-york-times-amazon https://www.vox.com/2015/8/17/9166023/new-york-times-amazon NYT has a tremendous agenda and often goes unchecked.

kyleplum 5y ago
To be fair, it's generally discouraged to speak ill about a previous workplace when interviewing/working at a new job as it may reflect more poorly on you as an individual than the company you are disparaging.
- systemvoltage 5y ago
  Yes, but the same people had no problem talking about their previous employer prior to AWS. One guy was ex-Siemens employee from their Swiss office in Zurich.
  - onionisafruit 5y ago
    That explains why Amazon seemed great to them.
cosmodisk 5y ago
Were you speaking to them about AWS before hiring or once they were hired? I could tell lots of justified shit about my previous employers but none during an interview.
- systemvoltage 5y ago
  After onboarding and getting to know them better. Of course, speaking ill about your current job in an interview is unprofessional.
shahbaby 5y ago
Anyone who worked at Amazon is smart enough to not bad mouth their old employer. Anonymous discussions are as far as most people will go.
tomcam 5y ago
Interestingly, my experience has been the exact opposite. I live in the Seattle area and always ask Amazon tech people how they liked their tenure there. No one has said they thought it was a good decision to work there.

kyleplum 5y ago

To be fair, it's generally discouraged to speak ill about a previous workplace when interviewing/working at a new job as it may reflect more poorly on you as an individual than the company you are disparaging.

systemvoltage 5y ago
Yes, but the same people had no problem talking about their previous employer prior to AWS. One guy was ex-Siemens employee from their Swiss office in Zurich.
- onionisafruit 5y ago
  That explains why Amazon seemed great to them.

cosmodisk 5y ago

Were you speaking to them about AWS before hiring or once they were hired? I could tell lots of justified shit about my previous employers but none during an interview.

systemvoltage 5y ago
After onboarding and getting to know them better. Of course, speaking ill about your current job in an interview is unprofessional.

shahbaby 5y ago

Anyone who worked at Amazon is smart enough to not bad mouth their old employer. Anonymous discussions are as far as most people will go.

tomcam 5y ago

Interestingly, my experience has been the exact opposite. I live in the Seattle area and always ask Amazon tech people how they liked their tenure there. No one has said they thought it was a good decision to work there.