I wonder how Amazon's poor reputation as an employer is going to effect this hiring push. I would take one of those 55,000 jobs for a FAANG salary but only if I was sure Amazon wasn't going to chew me up and spit me out.
I would have thought about working for Amazon as an inexperienced engineer, but at this point after getting just 3 YOE, I have way too many options to go work for Amazon, they would have to more then double my salary because Amazon is known for backloading pay, so you won't make that much money until you have been there 2+ years.
As we all know, there is not an infinite number of experienced devs and Amazon is burning through them quickly
My point is even with a relatively small amount of experience, I have an unbelievable amount of opportunity, so I wouldn't take an Amazon job.
If Amazon becomes a revolving door of new grads who are just trying to get a year or two experience and bolt, it will not be good for Amazon as a company and eventually and the Amazon stamp on your resume will loose its prestige, at which point even new grads won't want to work there.
Amazon desperately needs to change its reputation.
I understand the argument you are making, but it seems like Amazon is one of the most successful companies ever, and is absolutely printing money.
I'm not saying you are wrong, I just don't know if this reality or whether this is what people wish would be the case for emotional reasons.
It's not a binary thing, it's a scale. Fact is Amazon could keep better engineers for longing if they weren't so cut throat and that is not helping them. Will they be able to stay successful regardless of this? Who knows, they will probably become worse at innovation, but they could potentially keep running their store and delivery for a long time without much innovation.
You are probably right in regards to emotion, who doesn't want to see a company who treats workers like that fail? I still shop there, it is way too convenient and cheap.
If I had no other options, I would obviously go for it. That said, despite a good addition to resume, its not something I would personally go for of my own volition.
Needless to say, I'd rather look at other FAANG options.