Hacker News Reader

Comment by mahyarm | Hacker News Reader

For me amazon just seems like a bad deal compensation wise compared to other BigCos like facebook, google, apple, msft . Back loaded stock grants, lower pay, etc. Then add a high pressure big-company culture on top of that. I'll be pleasantly surprised if I'm wrong!

View on HN

The thing that I like about working at Amazon is that they don't push the "Kool-Aid" culture that I sense from Facebook, Google, and Apple. I come to work, I feel proud of what I've done, I go home. That is it. That is what I want out of a job. I don't want to be a "Googler," or be told that I'm "changing the world" as I deploy a new sticker pack of poop emojis to Messenger. I want a job, not a cult.

The funny thing about your statement is that you are drinking your own version of koolaid at Amazon.

FWIW, there is definitely koolaid mentality at Google and Facebook (source: worked at, and have lots of friends at both), but it's not the same way as you think. People are proud of what the company has accomplished as a whole in changing the world, but they aren't as blind to think that the feature that they added to a product is world changing in itself.

From interviewing and having friends that currently and have worked in facebook, google, apple and amazon, it's not like that at all.

Employees of other companies are not a cult, though this perception is common internally to Amazon. It discourages you from quitting, and stigmatizes people who leave.

Think about this next time you have a conversation where everyone quotes the leadership principles.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com