<story><title>Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week</title><url>https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/16/amazon-jassy-tells-employees-to-return-to-office-five-days-a-week.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>colmmacc</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve worked at Amazon (and AWS) for over 16 years and have made many friends, and it&amp;#x27;s how I met my wife. What&amp;#x27;s always kept me here is that it&amp;#x27;s been fun the whole time, with meaningful problems and opportunities that move the needle for so many customers.&lt;p&gt;So many modern experiences that are built into our improved quality of lives; apps on phones that can know my tastes and preferences, hailing a cab virtually, a bonkers level of selection of goods to all consumers, low friction same-day delivery, far greater access to online services including education and financing, just wouldn&amp;#x27;t exist (or at least not as quickly) if weren&amp;#x27;t able to cut down so many old-school structures and replace them with much more efficient and available alternatives. Getting to create a transformation in digital infrastructure and logistics at that level is just nuts. And there&amp;#x27;s still plenty to do. The money is great too; a far better result for me financially than the startups I worked at.&lt;p&gt;But all that said; Amazon isn&amp;#x27;t for everyone. It&amp;#x27;s probably not for most people. I don&amp;#x27;t mean that in the &amp;quot;Amazon only hires the best&amp;quot; sense. That&amp;#x27;s true, but so do the other big tech companies. It&amp;#x27;s more that you have to be a particular combination of driven and outcome focused with a relentless tolerance or even insatiable need for urgency, hard work, and trade-offs.&lt;p&gt;If that resonated, and you have an opportunity to join Amazon towards the middle or advanced stages of your career; definitely try to do it. I interviewed several times at Amazon to get in. But if you are at the earlier stages of your career; choose your team and manager very carefully and care a bit less about the company you join. That will make a bigger difference.</text></item><item><author>pknomad</author><text>Genuine question for the folks over at Amazon:
What is the value of working at Amazon (or even just AWS) these days? Every now and then I get a ring from a recruiter gauging my interest and sometimes I get the itch to just to go through the process so that I can have a FAANG in my resume.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve heard from others that Amazon could be an amazing place to work, citing fantastic colleagues and work opportunities. But then again, Amazon doesn&amp;#x27;t claim monopoly on those and one has to assume the risk of working for a place that churns people out and has upper-level management that are hostile to IC&amp;#x27;s needs&amp;#x2F;wants.&lt;p&gt;Perhaps a better question is - if one can get an offer at other FAANGs and the equivalents... is there a reason to choose Amazon over others?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mykowebhn</author><text>Yours is a heartfelt, sincere take on a successful 21st century career in tech, but I feel it is so one-sided.&lt;p&gt;Yes, you seem to have benefitted greatly, but your examples of efficiency and availability are flawed. For example:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;apps on phones that can know my tastes and preferences&amp;quot;: I don&amp;#x27;t see any benefits. When Youtube recommends for the billionth time a stupid soccer short because I previously watched one soccer short, I want to scream. Also, privacy or lack thereof.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;hailing a cab virtually&amp;quot;: made possible due to full-time workers who have none of the benefits of full-time workers, in other words, exploitation.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;a bonkers level of selection of goods to all consumers&amp;quot;: One word that encapsulates the other side of your &amp;quot;bonkers level of selection&amp;quot;--Temu.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;low friction same-day delivery&amp;quot;: Made possible due to our reliance on fossil fuels&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;far greater access to online services including education and financing&amp;quot;: I&amp;#x27;m not sure about the financing part. Education? Yeah, if I want to learn about something like video-editing. But I could&amp;#x27;ve bought a book on that in the past and probably learned it much more in depth. If I wanted to learn something like German Idealism, not so much.&lt;p&gt;I think your pocket book has benefitted immensely, but all of the other benefits don&amp;#x27;t seem like benefits to me on a macro level. But kudos to you for doing so well and believing the world partakes in your good fortune.</text></comment>
<story><title>Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week</title><url>https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/16/amazon-jassy-tells-employees-to-return-to-office-five-days-a-week.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>colmmacc</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve worked at Amazon (and AWS) for over 16 years and have made many friends, and it&amp;#x27;s how I met my wife. What&amp;#x27;s always kept me here is that it&amp;#x27;s been fun the whole time, with meaningful problems and opportunities that move the needle for so many customers.&lt;p&gt;So many modern experiences that are built into our improved quality of lives; apps on phones that can know my tastes and preferences, hailing a cab virtually, a bonkers level of selection of goods to all consumers, low friction same-day delivery, far greater access to online services including education and financing, just wouldn&amp;#x27;t exist (or at least not as quickly) if weren&amp;#x27;t able to cut down so many old-school structures and replace them with much more efficient and available alternatives. Getting to create a transformation in digital infrastructure and logistics at that level is just nuts. And there&amp;#x27;s still plenty to do. The money is great too; a far better result for me financially than the startups I worked at.&lt;p&gt;But all that said; Amazon isn&amp;#x27;t for everyone. It&amp;#x27;s probably not for most people. I don&amp;#x27;t mean that in the &amp;quot;Amazon only hires the best&amp;quot; sense. That&amp;#x27;s true, but so do the other big tech companies. It&amp;#x27;s more that you have to be a particular combination of driven and outcome focused with a relentless tolerance or even insatiable need for urgency, hard work, and trade-offs.&lt;p&gt;If that resonated, and you have an opportunity to join Amazon towards the middle or advanced stages of your career; definitely try to do it. I interviewed several times at Amazon to get in. But if you are at the earlier stages of your career; choose your team and manager very carefully and care a bit less about the company you join. That will make a bigger difference.</text></item><item><author>pknomad</author><text>Genuine question for the folks over at Amazon:
What is the value of working at Amazon (or even just AWS) these days? Every now and then I get a ring from a recruiter gauging my interest and sometimes I get the itch to just to go through the process so that I can have a FAANG in my resume.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve heard from others that Amazon could be an amazing place to work, citing fantastic colleagues and work opportunities. But then again, Amazon doesn&amp;#x27;t claim monopoly on those and one has to assume the risk of working for a place that churns people out and has upper-level management that are hostile to IC&amp;#x27;s needs&amp;#x2F;wants.&lt;p&gt;Perhaps a better question is - if one can get an offer at other FAANGs and the equivalents... is there a reason to choose Amazon over others?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>red-iron-pine</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;But all that said; Amazon isn&amp;#x27;t for everyone. It&amp;#x27;s probably not for most people. I don&amp;#x27;t mean that in the &amp;quot;Amazon only hires the best&amp;quot; sense. That&amp;#x27;s true, but so do the other big tech companies. It&amp;#x27;s more that you have to be a particular combination of driven and outcome focused with a relentless tolerance or even insatiable need for urgency, hard work, and trade-offs.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;aka &amp;quot;its a wall to wall hustle that will never get better, and when it comes to trade-offs, you&amp;#x27;re the one making them&amp;quot;</text></comment>