It is a gauntlet.) But it is much harder to want to stay. (Those descriptions of the interview day you read in the other posts are right. No one says, "I hope I stay here forever." They are putting their time in for the cash or their family or a new house or kids in college and then walking "as soon as I can." Everyone has a time table for quitting. I do not know one person who is happy at Amazon. As incredible as this company is, it's hard to imagine how much more powerful it could be if anyone here, more than the odd few, were happy. I am doing all I can to leave as soon as possible, despite my team mates who are great and intelligent but who are just as miserable. My expectations have never once gone ungratified. When I walk through the doors my head is ringing with regret, mind-numbing repetition, and expectations of browbeating. Does that make sense? I dread like a root canal appointment every Sunday night, knowing Monday morning is on its way. I've had worse jobs in my life (we all have), but I've never hated a job or a supervisor more. You are told all the time of really great people who leave without so much as a goodbye email. It is always "Meet Bob, he's the new Jim" and I had no idea Jim was gone. So the proof is in the other people you see in the hallways every day. You cannot help but start looking within a few months. When there are so few long-lasting employees around, it kind of goes unsaid that other smart people like you can find a better situation elsewhere and move on. Dark eye circles, muttering under yawns, all. This company counts every single penny (to offer the best price and selection for the customer, which is admirable), but when it is all added up, running a business this way just has to be more expensive than an environment where "lifers" exist with the mental and physical fortitude to keep everyone around them motivated and serve as an aspiration. It is only a matter of time until the tech world runs out of smart people who believe it will be "different for me." (My theory: they bank on candidates from other countries who are not only unaware of the rumours, but who see the compensation as a windfall and don't care about the consequences.) That approach to employee replacement cannot go forever. It is not long until those people get tired too, and so it goes. Trust, morale and institutional knowledge erode every day, only to be buoyed by the wide-eyed n00bs who start in their place. Think about how expensive it must be (financially and to their reputation, which are not so different in the long term) to lose hard-working, smart people at such a frequency. I am not sure if that is true, but it would not surprise me at all. ![]() I've heard that the average employment of an Amazon corporate staffer is less than a year and a half. ![]() The problem is that it comes at the expense of the employees, their health and their families. Many other huge corporations make the same claim, but this company backs it up. This soulless machine looks down on employee work-life balance as "weak" and "uncommitted to the customer." I've got to hand it to them though. I've been with Amazon for a little over a year and you can count my experience in the Ugly category. In the past two days, we've brought you stories from… As long as you don't work here." Amazon Insiders Tell the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Today, a current and a former Amazon employee expound-in detail-on how "Amazon is an amazing company. ![]() In the past week, we've heard from several insiders at Amazon describing the company's bizarre and sometimes exploitative workplace culture.
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