@Anonymous136843, WTF. who is gonna read that giant paragraph. Bezos skates by like no other on "future potential". Speaking of lab126, When's Fire Phone 2 coming? I wonder if it will break the 25,000 sales unit ceiling.
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You might make fun of his face. He is a genius. He has upended ECommerce like no one else.
I actually worked at Lab126 - less than 2 years. Yes because it is not a forgiving company.
But do not doubt his competency.
Jeff Bezos does not care too hoots about being politically correct or touchy feely.
It is his company and he runs it his way.
And unlike Qualcomm, institutional ownership of shares compared to his own holdings is low - so he can do what he chooses to do.
Here is the riposte from the head of AWS on the NYT report.
LinkedIn Pulse
Nick Ciubotariu
Nick Ciubotariu
Head of Infrastructure Development, Amazon.com Search Experience (SX)
An Amazonian's response to "Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace"
August 16, 2015 • 57,688 Views
Disclaimer and proviso: "The postings on this site are my own and don't represent Amazon's position in any way whatsoever".
Update: I really appreciate the notes of thanks this post has received, here and on other social media avenues. If you enjoyed reading it, please share it with others. I tried to post it in the comments section of the New York Times article. I'm sad, but not surprised, to say it was moderated out. Thankfully, in today's day and age, there are other avenues for rebuttal and setting the record straight.
Final Update: This article has gotten a lot of attention, and I won't have time to respond to everyone. I want to state - unequivocally so - that NO ONE asked me to write this article, or had any idea that I would write it, or edited/proof-read it prior to it hitting LinkedIn, aside from my wife, who was upset that I was spending a perfectly good Saturday in front of my computer. Someone internal actually emailed me this morning, and asked if I had contacted PR ahead of time, and if I had seen the Social Media guidelines (the answers were no, and yes).
I wrote the article because it was the right thing to do. I would have written it regardless of whether PR would have approved or not, because the NYT article is so blatantly incorrect, and additionally, purposefully designed to make past data reflect current reality at a company that has done quite a bit to change its ways and continues to work hard to do so. Those in the technology community that know me, and have known me for many years, know of what I stand for, and where my integrity bar lies. My integrity is not for sale, at any price, and I don't operate with a parachute or safety net. My words stand as they are, and I appreciate your readership and support.
Very long read. TL;DR version:
Step 1: Have bias
Step 2: Find ex-employees with anecdotal stories that fit in with your bias
Step 3: Gather old stories and criticism while glossing over changes made to improve on that, and completely ignore that it's still significantly better than industry practice
Step 4: Take half-truths and spin spin spin!!
Step 5: Publish article
Long version:
As I woke up ready to start the weekend (without the slightest inclination to work, I might add – much more on this later), I glanced at my iPhone to appease my Facebook addiction and see what my friends were up to. Much to my surprise, a New York Times article describing Amazon had polluted my feed.
Amazon is a big company, and gets referenced often. I’ve read many articles that describe us. Some are more accurate than others. Sadly, this isn't one of them. This particular article, has so many inaccuracies (some clearly deliberate), that, as an Amazonian, and a proud one at that, I feel compelled to respond.
To baseline, no one asked or expected me to do this. As I cracked open my laptop to write this article, people were already discussing its existence on certain email distribution lists, and the expressions were mostly of disbelief at how uninformed the article was. It’s certainly not how I anticipated spending a good part of my Saturday. But I’m not going to stand idly by as a horribly misinformed piece of “journalism” slanders my company in public without merit. I don't have the data to discuss the past - so I won't. However, so much that is written here is deliberately painted to match current reality, and it does not, even by a stretch of the imagination. That is not responsible journalism - that's a hatchet piece. So let's correct that, starting now.
Getting some bonafides out of the way of what actually qualifies me to rebut this article:
I actually work here, and can give you a data-driven perspective of what life at Amazon is really like, today. I’m not an anonymous source, and I’m not something a journalist made up to generate clicks. I am putting my name and reputation behind everything I write, and willing to stand by my words 100%.
I’ve been at Amazon since March 24, 2014, which means I have 18 months of data to draw from – recent, on-the-ground experience. I have worked in two of our biggest product groups: Marketplace and currently, Search and Discovery, which means my experience covers a good swath of the Amazon populous.
I’m an Engineering Leader. I manage other managers, as well as Engineers – which means I run an organization and have visibility into both Executive direction as well as everyday Engineering cadence. I sit on the floor, in a desk, not an office, by choice – because I like to be close to my folks – so I can relate to what it’s like for individual contributors as well as managers.
I’m a technical Bar Raiser, which means I’m part of a select group of people at Amazon who not only has visibility into our hiring standards and practices, but has the direct responsibility of ensuring they are always met.
More important, all those who know me know I’m a people-centric manager first and foremost: I live and breathe by the Golden Rule, and I believe in kindness, respect, integrity and transparency, and that being a good human being comes before anything else. Those principles are not for sale, at any price – not to me. And they never will be. I’ve never been afraid to speak my mind, publicly, about companies I’ve worked for where those principles get violated – scan my LinkedIn publisher feed and you’ll find that counter-example quite quickly. And if Amazon was the type of place described in this article, I would publicly denounce Amazon, and leave.
Quoting from the article: “Data creates a lot of clarity around decision-making,” said Sean Boyle, who runs the finance division of Amazon Web Services and was permitted by the company to speak. “Data is incredibly liberating.”
Yup, I 100% agree. So, in very Amazonian fashion, I’m going to do what Jodi and David did not. I’m going to use data, and provide you with actual facts, starting now.
The headline itself, and subsequent "experiment" references
There is no “little-known experiment”. That’s just silly. No one at Amazon has time for this, least of all Jeff Bezos. We’ve got our hands full with reinventing the world.
“On Monday mornings, fresh recruits line up for an orientation intended to catapult them into Amazon’s singular way of working.”
Yes – this is called “New Hire Orientation”, or NHO. At Microsoft (referencing my personal experience), this is called “New Employee Orientation, or NEO. Every company has one, and they call it something. Here’s what happens at ours, precisely:
New employees get a good breakfast (fruits, pastries, cereal, that kind of thing)
They immediately get a laptop and backpack
They get a “Welcome to Amazon” introduction
They fill out benefits paperwork
They learn a bit about the company, including our leadership principles
They hear a story about how important our customers are, as “Customer Obsession” is widely known to be our first and foremost leadership principle
They hear from a guest speaker about their experience at Amazon
They get their badge picture taken, and receive their badge
At the end, the employee’s Manager is waiting for them to welcome them to Amazon, and the new employees get taken out to lunch
This happens from 8 AM – 12:15 PM, or 9 AM – 1:15 PM. Anyone else know of any other company that has a somewhat similar process for new employees?
“They are told to forget the “poor habits” they learned at previous jobs, one employee recalled.”
This is completely false, and also, well, quite impossible. Amazon shares tons of “habits” with many other companies, and we hire the best people from those companies because we want to learn from their experience. No one in New Hire Orientation says this. New Amazonians are encouraged to “come up with better ways”, a recurring theme of how we encourage innovation, and something you hear often at Amazon. “Unless you know better ways” is something we live by. The world doesn’t stand still. If you don’t evolve, you perish. And as things get better, we are not only open about incorporating them, we foster the practice of doing so.
“To be the best Amazonians they can be, they should be guided by th
Forget his face. Look at the 20 years cumulative profits
Just look at the face of Bezos, I would not want to work for that company.
It's very often reputation from the inside is dramatically different from the outside: Amazon and Q are good examples; they seem to have similar internal business practice: ruthless; unfortunately this seems to be reality of corporate workplace, and may only get worse at time goes on since "the bar" can always be raised.
losing money is the new making money. Look at Tesla. The game has just begun
It's not worth it over there - the game is over for them as they cannot grow anymore. There is a lot of fog surrounding their business model, they keep getting cash injections to stay afloat and the music is about to stop. Bezos is a psychopat.
The company is conducting an experiment in how far it can push
white-collar workers to get them to achieve its ever-expanding ambitions.
Thank God qualcomm isn't that way right?
Stock is going up so they like the abuse
Thanks for the link. Horrible company! Horrible culture! As if they are running a race to land on Mars. Why don't they file a class action?
I can see putting that much time and dedication into starting your own company.
But for someone else's? Go climb a tree!
Life is short. A big deathbed confession is wishing not to have worked so much and missed out on life.
Downsize and be happy over burning it at both ends for someone else.
Great article. Would really suck to get PIP'd for getting cancer