This Business and Moment...

Even once-coveted Big Tech positions are under fire with reports indicating workers are leaving for smaller companies where they can have greater control and more options
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Source CIO

So as you can see - AWS isn't the only large company with this issue.

This occurs when orgs get more business, attempt to scale without changing the culture. There's a temptation to do more with an ever decreasing pool of staff without actually fixing the problem (typically because culture is a big problem to change).
 
Screeeech said:
I argued that this approach is simply crass, because in the final analysis it just boils down to a basic exercise of me explaining the bleedin' ******** obvious, that we can't jump fifty feet in one go. This idea that we get given impossible deadlines and heaps of pressure - then when we predictably fail to hit the date, we have to have an essay explaining why we couldn't achieve the impossible - it's just bloody stupid. I can't be arsed to work like this - not because I'm crap, or I don't care - I just can't be arsed with being in this stupid, stressful and ultimately pointless situation.
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There's a couple of well documented techniques that people will use to git rid of people - under-role and overload/stress.

My point here is that your manager, without understanding this basic principle, is driving staff out. The accountability for that lies with the programme and senior leadership staff. Typically down to saving face by keeping inside budgets.

The reality check is that expanded business should be more than enough to pay for the staff required to deliver it. It smells like the top of the organisation isn't "day 1" but COO operations are out of touch.
 
Rant...the Xmas party is still not confirmed...meant to be 'next Thursday-Friday' however zero information and we were promised last Friday.

Its incredible. We are flying 5-6 people over from Serbia for it as we haven't been together and even then, no planning or news...it was meant to be very early January.

Its one of the main reasons I am not happy...such a lack of culture/togetherness. :(
 
NickK said:
Source CIO

So as you can see - AWS isn't the only large company with this issue.
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Honestly, I'm liking the idea of working for some of these little FTTP broadband startups, got something on the table from one of them - basically the option to own the whole technical side of the business, "make it mine" if you will, be in from the start and have a real say in what goes on.. It's quite appealing to be honest! A bit of risk, but a potentially decent payout if I hang around for 5 years or so.

NickK said:
My point here is that your manager, without understanding this basic principle, is driving staff out. The accountability for that lies with the programme and senior leadership staff. Typically down to saving face by keeping inside budgets.
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Yeah I really don't see eye to eye with him at all, it's been a long time since I've been in a position where I've had a bad manager, or manager who doesn't know what they're doing. Although that said - I know that he's getting hammered in a different way by different people, so maybe because he's overworked, stressed out and burning out - he's just neglecting his staff...

One problem at Amazon, is that things change a lot, eg; I've had 4x different managers in 17 months. The first manager was great (she hired me) I was under her for 4 months, she was brilliant - she was hard as nails and would always be in your corner, everybody liked her - she buggered off to Twitter lol. Since then our team has been inside a pinball machine, and it's ******** everybody off.
 
Screeeech said:
The first manager was great (she hired me) I was under her for 4 months, she was brilliant - she was hard as nails and would always be in your corner, everybody liked her - she buggered off to Twitter.
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That, to me says she is fair but basically knows when it's a bad situation.

If AWS has a personnel problem then it becomes a risk, not only delivery but also operational and security.
 
Glad to hear you looked after yourself @Screeeech. I've been reading your updates for a while thinking "this is going one of two ways" and it sounds like handing your notice in has released that burden before it ended in disaster :)

An update: I applied for an internal regional manager role at the end of January and I'm still waiting for the yes/no. They've kept someone on (he was due to retire this month) until May on a part-time basis to help with a hand-over but it's looking more and more likely the successful candidate will get barely 1 week of handover.

I'm friendly with HR so she's pulled up the job req and looked the other way whilst I looked at my interview score (3/3) but there's basically no news. If this was external I'd have walked long ago.. sad thing is; I called the hiring manager and asked what's happening and got no closer to finding out :mad:
 
In my positive news, I've had confirmation that I'm getting extended for 6 months rather than the usual 1 or 3 months I've had :)
 
SideWinder said:
Rant...the Xmas party is still not confirmed...meant to be 'next Thursday-Friday' however zero information and we were promised last Friday.
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It's March innit?
I was supposed to apparently get a hamper at Christmas. I never got it lol whatevs.

A lot happened at work but then not anything... they still pay me so far!

Maccy said:
In my positive news, I've had confirmation that I'm getting extended for 6 months rather than the usual 1 or 3 months I've had :)
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Awesome stuff. I know how this feels.
 
@Screeeech, great insight. I must admit, I've heard a lot of bad things about AWS, and how they pay well but work you to the bone.

For context, I work for VMware and I've been toying with the idea of applying for a position with AWS in their VMC on AWS team (which I do a lot of). I actually had an application in, then I sat back and thought to myself that in the 2.5 years I've been with VMware it's been frankly excellent, so I pulled it. Sure, it has had its moments, mainly due to some of the customers I've worked with. But as a company, they gave me time off when I needed it, I've had loads of training, decent projects with great co-workers etc. And to top it off, they've just approved 18 weeks paternity leave for new fathers so with my annual allowance on top, I've got 6 months off work this year - fully paid! Sure, I could get 10-30% (maybe more) extra elsewhere plus potentially bigger bonuses/RSUs etc, but I think it's just being greedy. My work/life balance is currently excellent and I don't want to spoil that.

I'm sure if I do want to move on, I'll easily get something elsewhere as I'm now getting to be known and I've had companies fishing around and seeing if I'd jump ship. Many do, and then come back to VMware but at a higher pay scale/role. But for now, my priority is my family.

Hopefully you find something soon, and start to enjoy work again.
 
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EVH said:
There must have been a reason for you to go looking, so I say take it!
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There certainly were/are reasons, things that are not going to change overnight.

Whilst they are bending over backwards to keep me, the things they can do for me don’t fix the issues I see with the wider business.

So think it’s maybe time for a change and the excitement of a move (and after 10 years, a pretty nerve racking decision).

I like what my job was where I am now, but it’s slowly changed over the years, and in my eyes it’s done so to make up for issues elsewhere.

I can see myself doing something different for a few years then going back if they’ve solved things…
 
ChrisD. said:
@Screeeech, great insight. I must admit, I've heard a lot of bad things about AWS, and how they pay well but work you to the bone.

For context, I work for VMware and I've been toying with the idea of applying for a position with AWS in their VMC on AWS team (which I do a lot of). I actually had an application in, then I sat back and thought to myself that in the 2.5 years I've been with VMware it's been frankly excellent, so I pulled it. Sure, it has had its moments, mainly due to some of the customers I've worked with. But as a company, they gave me time off when I needed it, I've had loads of training, decent projects with great co-workers etc.
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Yeah, I mean that hasn't been my experience at all, at AWS. (as I'm sure you can tell from my rantings :D )

If I had to pick one thing I don't like about AWS, it would be the relentless, constant, unrealistic and draining work regime; being assigned projects with impossible deadlines which forces everyone to run at 200% all of the time.. I had a meeting with my L7 manager today, and I just told him outright that I can't be arsed to work like this, because I can't - I'm bloody knackered.. He seemed to think that was more of a "me" problem, but gaslighting me doesn't work - I know too many people at AWS who have just fallen to bits and gotten out.

That's not withstanding this;

uokouWn.jpeg

I honestly don't think a job could exist, where I could get paid this much money, where I'm literally wanting to gtfo as fast as possible lol..

ChrisD. said:
My work/life balance is currently excellent and I don't want to spoil that.
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I mean, it would make a lot of sense if you were at the bottom of the ladder with tons of drive and no commitments, wanting to just be thrown into a world of chaos to absorb it all like a sponge. But it sounds like you're doing well - and you're already at VMware - which is very relevant and a great place to be, if you value your work life balance - stay the hell away from AWS lol, just stay the hell away :D

I remember my manager bragging about starting work at 5am and finishing at 9pm, the lesson I've learnt in all of this, is to stay the hell away from this.

ChrisD. said:
Hopefully you find something soon, and start to enjoy work again.
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Had a couple of interesting conversations today, I think Meta (Facebook) have some sort of weird hook into Linkedin, as one of their lead recruiters sent me a personal message today asking for a chat, asking "how it was going at AWS.... and whether I'd like to talk to them" I was thinking "How the **** do they know I'm looking to move??" so i'll chat to them... Facebook is a bit of a moral dilemma for me as I hate social media, but if they're gonna pay me a load of money, who cares! Also talking to Twitter, which I think I'd prefer - but a long way to go on these opportunities yet..
 
I don't think I could ever work for Facebook, I hate the company. Although if they came knocking with a stupendous salary I might reconsider! :D

It does sound like you might have grounds to go on sick leave, especially if you're on anti-depressants etc.

I've definitely had my moments, but they've been more 'get me the hell of this project' rather than 'I want to move to a new company' moments. I think VMware's comparative lack of success when you look at the growth of Amazon and Microsoft as an example is one of the biggest advantages for employees. We tick over nicely, have some great tech, work with amazing partners and some very interesting customers.
 
ChrisD. said:
I don't think I could ever work for Facebook, I hate the company. Although if they came knocking with a stupendous salary I might reconsider! :D
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Yeah it feels like going to work for Benson and Hedges or something, like 21st century tobacco :D I'll still talk to them though - if anything it can be used as practice, I think it'll be the hardest one for me to land, as they really want lots of software skills - and I live more in the weird world of ASICs, packets and protocols than I do a python programmer - but we'll see.

ChrisD. said:
We tick over nicely, have some great tech, work with amazing partners and some very interesting customers.
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Sounds like ****** heaven lmao. :D
 
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