Amazon CEO Unveils 55,000 Tech Jobs in His First Hiring Push (reuters.com) 46
Amazon.com is planning to hire 55,000 people for corporate and technology roles globally in the coming months, Chief Executive Andy Jassy told Reuters. From the report: That's equal to more than a third of Google's headcount as of June 30, and close to all of Facebook's. Jassy, in his first press interview since he ascended to Amazon's top post in July, said the company needed more firepower to keep up with demand in retail, the cloud and advertising, among other businesses. He said the company's new bet to launch satellites into orbit to widen broadband access, called Project Kuiper, would require a lot of new hires, too.
With Amazon's annual job fair scheduled to begin Sept. 15, Jassy hopes now is a good time for recruiting. "There are so many jobs during the pandemic that have been displaced or have been altered, and there are so many people who are thinking about different and new jobs," said Jassy, who cited a U.S. survey from PwC that 65% of workers wanted a new gig.
With Amazon's annual job fair scheduled to begin Sept. 15, Jassy hopes now is a good time for recruiting. "There are so many jobs during the pandemic that have been displaced or have been altered, and there are so many people who are thinking about different and new jobs," said Jassy, who cited a U.S. survey from PwC that 65% of workers wanted a new gig.
stack ranking (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:stack ranking (Score:5, Insightful)
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That alone makes me avoid any company.
It's OK, with appropriate therapy you too can overcome social phobia and leave your mom's basement. Baby steps, baby steps.
Re:stack ranking (Score:5, Insightful)
yeah but stack ranking.
That's the least of the problems with Amazon. With workers dying in the warehouse [theguardian.com], how long until the stories of Amazon workers dying at their desks start to happen?
Amazon is a very toxic workplace [thelayoff.com]; one that talented people would do well to avoid.
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I almost had forgotten about Amazon Flex, where people could deliver Amazon packages using their own vehicles. Of course Amazon skimmed off the tips so the unsuspecting drivers just saw lump sum payments for each delivery...lol.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/a... [cbsnews.com]
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It's worse than that. Amazon's own executives are worried about running out of people [businessinsider.com] to work at their warehouses the turnover is so massive. They have a 150% turnover rate, with many people only lasting a few hours after starting.
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That's the least of the problems with Amazon. With workers dying in the warehouse, how long until the stories of Amazon workers dying at their desks start to happen? It's worse than that. Amazon's own executives are worried about running out of people [businessinsider.com] to work at their warehouses the turnover is so massive. They have a 150% turnover rate, with many people only lasting a few hours after starting.
Competent management might look at a statistic like that last bit and think, if turnover rate is so high, and dropping off after just a few hours is something that happens more than a few times, there may be something wrong with the working conditions. Sadly, I think the words competent and management are anathema for Amazon at certain levels. It doesn't seem like they understand that you can't just keep sucking up the bottom rung, wringing them dry, then losing them over and over again sustainably foreve
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What's overlooked is that a lot of the "turnover" is people who have left and come back repeatedly. I work in physical security at Amazon, we had DB replication issues last year and I had to look at a couple thousand access badges cardholder records over the course of a couple of months. Some contractors had come left and come back six or seven times, and some of the temp fulfillment center workers had worked every Christmas rush for a decade.
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I've heard similar things in the past about Amazon employees and contractors. The turnover rate is astronomical, but they keep hiring the same people back. Still, you would think eventually people would get burnt out and stop applying for the same crap sandwich of a job. Granted, I suppose if we can keep enough of the lower and middle class desperate enough for a job, maybe they can keep this up to infinity.
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Most of them aren't crap sandwich jobs, though. Even in the fulfillment centers they're difficult and boring jobs, but the conditions and pay is better than doing the same job for Walmart or Target (according to people I've worked with who came out of the FCs.)
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Oh, horsepucky. I'm one of the best in my field (physical security), helping to manage the 4th largest access/alarm/video system in the world, it's been a great ride. They throw a ton of money and benefits at me, insists that I take all the time off that I earn, and I get to do interesting and challenging work with the smartest people that I have ever worked with. I'm retiring soon, and I know I'm going to miss it.
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"Rank and Yank" is a red flag. It seems as if any Amazon department has the same perceived stories. One of my 18 year old twins worked at the Amazon ecom fulfillment center near us. After two weeks on the job, with no prior notice, warning, coaching, etc. he got a phone call the morning before his shift. His error rate was a bit too high. So hit the bricks. Soulless company from all the stories I hear.
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Make stack ranking fun!
6% of 55k is 3.3k will be let go within a year.
How many do they need to hire, to actually retain 55k new people?
55k = 0.94x
Which is using the interest formula with a -6%
~58,511 (rounded up)
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Don't fall for it (Score:5, Insightful)
Working for Amazon is a nightmare. They will use you, stress you out and then, if you're not up to 100% par, they'll phase you out with a PIP. It's been going on for ages. Look elsewhere.
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I hope others fall for it. Any increase in demand for tech employees will help drive up wages, which is good for me. Even if they hire all these positions in India, it will drive up wages there, which will help keep other jobs here.
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55000 tech jobs? (Score:4, Insightful)
Just a naming issue. The jobs are certainly available.
Re: 55000 tech jobs? (Score:3)
jobs
will be new titles for existing employees. Most of the rest will indeed be new hires, but once the fiscal quarter, or year, ends the existing (higher paid) employees will fall away through forced churn and normal attrition. You get some good Press, shake out some dead weight, and if done right end up with a smaller payroll.
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Even if they're talking about engineering and software development staffing, those numbers would include project managers, regular managers, and other support staff. Not that those aren't good or important jobs, but they're not necessarily "tech" jobs in the traditional sense (though the best managers will have a lot of tech experience).
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Less than 20% of Amazon employees work in the Fulfillment Centers, and even then a large number of those do networking, robotics, server administration, etc. Amazon is very much a tech company, before it's a retail company.
That's nice and all (Score:3)
Also are these actual new jobs or is this market consolidation? In other words is Amazon eating up other markets and then counting the people they hire in the process of devouring those markets as new jobs?
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A polite note to Amazon (Score:4, Insightful)
Shove your "gig" up your ass, along with some broken glass. People want actual jobs. You know...the kind where you're treated like an actual human being with rights and dignity.
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Only comment I could find that seems to capture my sentiments. Pert' shure Amazon isn't hiring any employees for the "Make Amazon less evil" department.
Just joking. It's a paradox. They'd have to find someone smart enough to make Amazon less evil and simultaneously stupid enough to believe that Amazon wants to be less evil.
Jobs or Careers? (Score:5, Interesting)
Tech jobs, is no longer the job for the young kid, who can make they way into cool new stuff while they are in High School. Industry is slowly starting to realize the value of experienced workers.
The crappy code mass produced by 20 something kids who will work 80 hours a week, and will get fired when they sneeze the wrong way. Can only go so far. Where other companies who hire employees with a better work life balance, and job stability. They may not get as much done as fast, but they get better outcome with the stuff they produce. Also with staff that isn't turned over every 2 years, there is some consistency with the products.
need to work 60-80 hours to not be lower 10% (Score:3)
need to work 60-80+ hours to not be lower 10%.
As if you are in the lower 10% you may be cut.
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Oh, baloney. The only time that I've worked a 60 hour week in the last 8 years here (and yes, I'm salary) was during a major system migration. Normal for my group is 40-50. They expect a shit-ton of work out of you, and they expect it to be done right pretty much every time, but if you can do that it's a fascinating place to work.
robot repair technicians (Score:2)
They are all robot repair technicians, for the robots that will replace the people that Amazon hires, because robots don't have to pee
Amazon has been warming us all up for the robot experience by packing boxes so inefficiently that a robot could do the same shit job without any trouble
key word "globally" (Score:4, Insightful)
During the height of American prosperity, the 1950’s through the 1970’s, Corporations and rich individuals paid up to 91% income tax and paid the majority of taxes to support the country. The reversal of rolls placing the tax burden on an ever shrinking middle class has predictable results: under funded education (once the crown jewel of the American dream), crumbling infrastructure, sacrifice zones (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrifice_zone), unprecedented income disparity, and validation of Marx’s “Surplus Labor” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Get ready for a Dickensian future, and guess what, you’re not the one with a job.
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No labor, environmental, intellectual property or wage and hour laws, no child labor laws, no company paid benefits- no different than slave labor.
Sure it's different from slave labor. For slaves you have to provide room and board. For tech workers in San Francisco, you can pay less than that.
Open positions to be hired from where? (Score:2)
India, China, Brazil, ???
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Where do you want to work? There are normally postings in 30+ countries. A former co-worker went to Singapore and another took a job in Dublin, and the company paid their relocation.
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Hamster (Score:2)
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Re: Hamster (Score:1)
Awesome! (Score:1)
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I've worked there 8 years (AWS and Corporate), and have enjoyed it all. They'll want a shit-ton of work out of you, and they expect you to do it right almost every time. If you can do that then you'll be working with some of the smartest people you've ever met in your life doing interesting and challenging projects. I'll be retiring next month, and I know I'll miss it. Great way to close out a career. Email me directly if you are actually interested in more info.
P.S. - The 'leadership principles' are r
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Get treated like shit & burn out (Score:2)