Current Events > Hmm... Amazon is looking for network engineers in Austin

(+) Yeah! (+)

Just applied
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good luck

i've heard they're one of the most demanding companies to work for. i hope you like working more than 40hours/week.
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Don't (or at least be very wary). I've heard nothing but horror stories from Amazon. Their MO seems to be to aggressively recruit, run people ragged for a few years, and then when they've burned out just replace them.
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I thought I mentioned our Austin offices a few weeks back. Good luck!
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I heard an electrician got killed there recently. I go to school for the trade and my instructor was telling this dude flipped a damaged breaker in a high volt panel and it blew and killed him. Place is off to a great start.

Edit: it might not be the amazon place, i cant remember if he said amazon or the samsung facility.
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Yeah, I wouldn't even consider working for Amazon if they were my only option. Place sounds like utter hell for its workers.
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BLAKUboy posted...

Yeah, I wouldn't even consider working for Amazon if they were my only option. Place sounds like utter hell for its workers.

It's really not. I work at Amazon Japan, which you would expect to be hell from the stories and the fact that Japanese businesses have long hours to begin with, but it's great overall.
I think some dev departments have a lot of pressure, but I've never been exposed to anything like that myself.
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s0nicfan posted...

Don't (or at least be very wary). I've heard nothing but horror stories from Amazon. Their MO seems to be to aggressively recruit, run people ragged for a few years, and then when they've burned out just replace them.

Probably not network engineers.
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

good luck

i've heard they're one of the most demanding companies to work for. i hope you like working more than 40hours/week.

Also working more than 40 hrs a week is pretty fucking standard in systems / networking.
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Aizret posted...

BLAKUboy posted...

Yeah, I wouldn't even consider working for Amazon if they were my only option. Place sounds like utter hell for its workers.

It's really not. I work at Amazon Japan, which you would expect to be hell from the stories and the fact that Japanese businesses have long hours to begin with, but it's great overall.
I think some dev departments have a lot of pressure, but I've never been exposed to anything like that myself.

Amazon Japan is probably the fucking worst Amazon out there. Their agents are all Japanese instead of the Indian ones the rest of the world uses. They are uncompassionate and accusatory as fuck. I literally got banned for life because I bought two Lucina Amiibo and the limit was one. No warning. No resolution. They emailed me the same response literally for 2-3 months.
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Tyranthraxus posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

good luck

i've heard they're one of the most demanding companies to work for. i hope you like working more than 40hours/week.

Also working more than 40 hrs a week is pretty fucking standard in systems / networking.

Yeah, I typically work about 46 per week. I also did a couple 80+ hour weeks when we were moving to our new corporate office.
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You abandoning your current employer?
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y'all are thinking of Amazon warehouses. he'd be working in a datacenter, NOC or corporate office - very different

DoctorVader posted...

Aizret posted...

BLAKUboy posted...

Yeah, I wouldn't even consider working for Amazon if they were my only option. Place sounds like utter hell for its workers.

It's really not. I work at Amazon Japan, which you would expect to be hell from the stories and the fact that Japanese businesses have long hours to begin with, but it's great overall.
I think some dev departments have a lot of pressure, but I've never been exposed to anything like that myself.

Amazon Japan is probably the fucking worst Amazon out there. Their agents are all Japanese instead of the Indian ones the rest of the world uses. They are uncompassionate and accusatory as fuck. I literally got banned for life because I bought two Lucina Amiibo and the limit was one. No warning. No resolution. They emailed me the same response literally for 2-3 months.

I will refrain from commenting much, but what I will say is that the JP CS team is the highest-regarded in terms of customer experience, globally. They also have multiple teams of English-speakers outside the country in order to support the foreign customer base.
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I passed up a cloud engineer job in austin with them several years ago that i kinda regret now....just wasnt a good time.
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Tyranthraxus posted...

s0nicfan posted...

Don't (or at least be very wary). I've heard nothing but horror stories from Amazon. Their MO seems to be to aggressively recruit, run people ragged for a few years, and then when they've burned out just replace them.

Probably not network engineers.

Actually yes. Ive heard thats how they treat their engineers and have spoken to many who left for that reason.

But you make bank there. Most people stay 3-4 years, until their stocks fully vest, and then run the hell away. Most engineers Ive talked to said they had a horrible experience though.

Aizret posted...

I will refrain from commenting much, but what I will say is that the JP CS team is the highest-regarded in terms of customer experience, globally. They also have multiple teams of English-speakers outside the country in order to support the foreign customer base.

Is that a public metric? Or just an internal regard?

Because me and tons of other collectors have all had issues with their customer service, yet our Amazon US and UK/Euro experiences have been nothing short of excellent. Issues that were solved instant there, were denied or made complicated with Amazon Japan.

The Japanese agents are cold and uncaring, whether you are using their English team, or dealing with their Japanese team. They get rude really fast.

Is it based off their ability to understand? Because yeah, the English team is probably the most cognizant Amazon team out there, because the other ones basically look for quick scripted resolutions. But that doesn't really matter much when they are hard to work with. I prefer quick scripted resolutions.

I mean, they all kept accusing me of being a reseller and when they banned me, they wouldn't even refund a bunch of orders they had revoked in transit. Literally stole the money and I asked for several months till I contacted my CC to get it back.

Nothing from them has shown me anything good. Amazon US doesn't even waste their time hassling customers like this and there's millions that would vouch for them. Go on import and collector forums, and everybody bashes Amazon Japan.
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SomeLikeItHoth posted...

You abandoning your current employer?

I don't know yet.
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Godnorgosh posted...

CableZL posted...

SomeLikeItHoth posted...

You abandoning your current employer?

I don't know yet.

Any update on whether they're making you permanent? You said they were talking about it a while ago.

They haven't yet. Not sure if it's actually gonna happen. I'm not too concerned about it any more. I'm still getting paid, and they're gonna need a network engineer to manage their network either way.
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CableZL posted...

Tyranthraxus posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

good luck

i've heard they're one of the most demanding companies to work for. i hope you like working more than 40hours/week.

Also working more than 40 hrs a week is pretty fucking standard in systems / networking.

Yeah, I typically work about 46 per week. I also did a couple 80+ hour weeks when we were moving to our new corporate office.

i probably should have said something like 'i hope you have a great work ethic and don't mind long hours'. im spoiled because i work tech but at a non-profit and hardly anyone there works >40h/w

you'll probably make bank while you're there and it would look real good on a resume.
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DoctorVader posted...

Aizret posted...

I will refrain from commenting much, but what I will say is that the JP CS team is the highest-regarded in terms of customer experience, globally. They also have multiple teams of English-speakers outside the country in order to support the foreign customer base.

Is that a public metric? Or just an internal regard?

.....

I'm mainly going off of internal regard; since I'm not a part of CS, I'll admit I don't know much about how we're handling the same issues in other countries. From my own personal experiences with them (both Japanese speakers and the English team), I've honestly only had excellent and fast responses, and never had trouble with them. The level of support in all of my cases was the same as what I got in the past with Amazon in the US.

What I can say, though, is that *all* companies out here in Japan are very rigid about collectables, as suppliers are big on limited-run items, and "otaku" here can be the most demanding group. Many otaku have a rule to buy in 3s (1 to open and show off, 1 to store away, 1 to keep in a display case), and people reselling/scalping domestically and abroad are starting to hurt that market and culture. If they have a clear rule (limit of 1 per customer, etc) and it gets broken, most companies will ban without remorse lately. Likely, that same method in terms of transaction risk assessment and culture has also been adopted at Amazon.

No offense, but rather than just complain on forums, why not pool forum members are raise more formal complaints? In general (not only Amazon), the more complaints about a specific negative interaction, the more focus will be put on handling or improving that interaction. If you really are not doing anything wrong, then it should be fixable if enough customers are complaining.
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Cleo_II posted...

Tyranthraxus posted...

s0nicfan posted...

Don't (or at least be very wary). I've heard nothing but horror stories from Amazon. Their MO seems to be to aggressively recruit, run people ragged for a few years, and then when they've burned out just replace them.

Probably not network engineers.

Actually yes. Ive heard thats how they treat their engineers and have spoken to many who left for that reason.

But you make bank there. Most people stay 3-4 years, until their stocks fully vest, and then run the hell away. Most engineers Ive talked to said they had a horrible experience though.

I think that depends on the type of engineer we're talking about. Support engineers (of all kinds) in DCs, FCs, and Corp locations...I don't really see them being run ragged, and I was a support engineer for 3 years after I joined Amazon.
Devs in engineering disciplines, however, do tend to have aggressive timelines with that would lead to stress...and if time management isn't done well, then I've seen some that end up getting tired of it and quitting. That's true wherever you go, though. If you're good at what you do, there are also many possibilities to move to other teams to find a better fit.

I've been here over 7 years now, though, and have not personally run into any issues or problems, or had instances where I felt that the company was taking advantage of me or running me ragged. Of course, I cannot speak for all departments.
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treewojima posted...

y'all are thinking of Amazon warehouses. he'd be working in a datacenter, NOC or corporate office - very different

Actually its not so different. Ive spoken to many Amazon engineers that absolutely hate the environment there. The all day the culture is toxic. They basically leave as soon as their stocks are fully vested. They make bank though.

s0nicfan posted...

Don't (or at least be very wary). I've heard nothing but horror stories from Amazon. Their MO seems to be to aggressively recruit, run people ragged for a few years, and then when they've burned out just replace them.

So.... Like every retail company ever then?
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