this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2023
282 points (97.3% liked)
Technology
59419 readers
4966 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related content.
- Be excellent to each another!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Approved Bots
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The funny thing is that while your point is solid, he's not wrong. He's talking about a group of people happy to knowingly work for the same company that makes its delivery drivers piss in bottles, treats fulfillment staff as disposable, engages in open unionbusting, provides hazardous working conditions, openly embraces counterfeit goods and scam listings, and does everything in its power to drive legit sellers off the site, but that's all good because it doesn't affect THEM.
And now it does. Amazon has finally come for these employees who were a-okay with Amazon fucking everyone but them.
It's a shitty thing to do, but Amazon is a shitty company to work for, and it was foolishness to expect Amazon's usual employer fuckery would not ever affect them too. I don't hate them like the other guy, and I do hope they land feet first somewhere else, but he's not wrong: this is much more a Leopards Ate My Face headline than Shocker: Reputable Company Mistreats Innocent Workers.
It's not that we didn't think it wouldn't affect us, it's that Amazon pays unfathomable, life changing amounts of money to their engineers. Don't get me wrong there are absolutely insufferable people there, but I'd wager most people are there for the money alone.
I was an intern at AWS, and my return offer for full time was $220k per year fresh out of college to do 40 hours work weeks with a 24/7 one-week on call once every two months. My sign on bonus (lump sum on first paycheck) was $60k, or almost the average yearly pay of a US citizen. Unless you came from money, you'd take that offer in a heartbeat. I grew up middle class so money like that was impossible to say no to. I knew what I was getting into, and I tried to get a comparable offer right up until my start date, but few companies will dump over $200k per year on a new grad software engineer.
I got out a few months ago, and it has been the best thing for my mental health. My anxiety is much more manageable, I don't have week long 24/7 on call shifts, I'm full remote, and my pay is only 10% less. With that said, I wouldn't change a thing if I went back in time. I have financial stability I didn't even know was possible, and it gave me a massive headstart in life.