geekzapoppin:I spent three years at Amazon. The stock was nice. I worked with some great people. To say that the job was stressful isn't an adequate description of the pressure under which I worked. Every day, we were expected to do more with less and were constantly compared to people in Third World countries who cost less than we did. The day I left, I cried tears of joy. I actually get to spend time with my family now. I'm also pursuing teaching. When I leave this planet, I don't want my contribution to be increased shareholder value.
wiseguy187:I worked at amazon every level of management looks down upon the levels underneath them. Every conversation is people angry about work or talking about leaving. The best way to compare is in toy story when the green guys get picked out of the arcade machine. Anytime someone gets a new job every one is like ooooohhhh, you made it. I left a place at amazon I felt like a total peasant, more than tripled my income and now feel like a valued member where I work now.
Baron_Von_D:I worked as an IT engineer at Amazon. The remote engineers were in charge of the entire office, infrastructure and client services. Since our position was blended and there wasn't a lot of us (only half dozen that managed North America, excluding Seattle), our performance was measured from several positions rolled into one. So we were literally expected to do the work of four people.
Example: IT Support at Seattle only runs tickets, they were measured on the maximum tickets they can do efficiently during a 40hr work week. They took those numbers and applied that to us, on top of all the inventory management, network/systems administration, new hire setups, and everything else we had to do that week. On top of that, we were handed side projects that were related to the company and not the office. Extra admin work, expected to be done. It was like they had imaginary alternate timeliness, as if the completion of the project wasn't contingent on everything else that was needed that week. I also worked in an office with secret projects, which my manager was not disclosed on. So there was a ton of project work with them that I couldn't tell him about, by company policy.
Most of the remote offices had one engineer, some eventually were able to get two. (We had around 200 people in the office before I could convince them to hire another tech) When I left, I got messages from most of my coworkers congratulating me on getting out and how they were also trying to leave.
Theguys:The problem with Amazon is that they are so big now that you are a number on a spreadsheet. Your worth is only measured in how much money you make for the company. The prevailing attitude is, "We're Amazon. Everybody loves us and we're taking over more and more of the world. You'll never work for another company like us, so do what you're told and consistently show us that you're better than everyone else with whom you work. You have a couple of years or else you're out." After three years of missed Christmases, no family vacations, an ever-changing schedule, constantly having to take on the duties of others as they would leave and not be replaced, and constantly being reminded that, no matter how well you did last year, you had better step it up during the next year if you want to continue working there, I took a breath and realized that life was passing me by as I spent all my time and energy working for a company that wouldn't bat an eye if I suddenly dropped dead. So I left.
chrismo1233:Having worked for Amazon myself, I can honestly say that it is the worst job I have ever had.
amznanon:I'm a manager at Amazon and wanted to chime in. Little late to the party but wanted to share my experience as I've been here for over 2 years. The NYT article definitely resonated with me. I hope it brings some improvement to Amazon, but am not optimistic. This place is an absolute pressure cooker and it is a bit like a cult.
RyanBDawg:I quit Amazon last week. It was a horrible place to work.
scout5678297:I worked at Amazon for a few months, and it was easily the worst job I've ever had. I was a "stower", meaning that I spent 10 hours a day putting product on the shelves. Seems simple enough, until every drawer on every shelf is full, and apathetic and exhausted employees are literally shoving the product into these drawers. I had to body slam those drawers shut. When we complained that we couldn't make rate because there was no space, we were just told to find space. Every. Single. Day. Fuck that place.
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