“Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft” [1]
Amazon is the New York equivalent in the analogy. The NYT article in 2015 [2] changed a few things, but not all.
Worked 4+ years in Amazon, or as the OldFart tool would say, was among the 4% oldest employees.
Left to preserve my sanity and to not become toxic, I could feel the negative change permeating my personality. I avoid most ex-colleagues from there, they "are now become the KoolAid".
The toxicity and gaming of the system by old timers is bad. Promotions and upwards-management are well managed by a select few who start charming the next level of approvers from day one. The ones who put their heads down and work will get spat out by the system. There is pressure on managers to "top-grade" the system, i.e. to remove bottom performers, never mind the fact that in a hyper-competitive environment that screens for the brightest, the so called bottom performers are merely relative to the top ones.
It's a system designed to burn and churn - burnout and churn the folks before they complete the 2 year cliff (5% and 15% equity at years one and two).
The system gnaws at your self-worth. It's good if these points come out in the open.
Amazon is the New York equivalent in the analogy. The NYT article in 2015 [2] changed a few things, but not all.
Worked 4+ years in Amazon, or as the OldFart tool would say, was among the 4% oldest employees.
Left to preserve my sanity and to not become toxic, I could feel the negative change permeating my personality. I avoid most ex-colleagues from there, they "are now become the KoolAid".
The toxicity and gaming of the system by old timers is bad. Promotions and upwards-management are well managed by a select few who start charming the next level of approvers from day one. The ones who put their heads down and work will get spat out by the system. There is pressure on managers to "top-grade" the system, i.e. to remove bottom performers, never mind the fact that in a hyper-competitive environment that screens for the brightest, the so called bottom performers are merely relative to the top ones.
It's a system designed to burn and churn - burnout and churn the folks before they complete the 2 year cliff (5% and 15% equity at years one and two).
The system gnaws at your self-worth. It's good if these points come out in the open.
[1]: Mary Schmich, Wear Sunscreen: A Primer for Real Life. http://www.davidpbrown.co.uk/poetry/mary-schmich.html
[2]: Inside Amazon, wrestling big ideas in a bruising place ... https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-...