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littleMAS t1_iwt501s wrote

Forced ranking works best when it identifies those who are the poorest match for their jobs and works to reposition or retrain them before having to let them go, a continuous process. If a company suddenly decides to use forced ranking as a pretext for a layoff, it is just an excuse for letting managers dump who they do not like.

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warp-speed-dammit t1_iwtff3k wrote

Amazon has a notoriously toxic work culture, ranking system, and reputation in the software industry.

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BurnItFromOrbit t1_iwtrzye wrote

As an ex-Amazonian, i have witnessed this.

There software divisions are probably the worst place to work. They opened up a new site in Vancouver at the harbour center a while back as they drained all the talent pools elsewhere.

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Oscarcharliezulu t1_iwu5a21 wrote

I turned down an offer to come interview based on what friends working there told me.

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SomeGuyNamedPaul t1_iwue77y wrote

In my experience having a few years working in Amazon is actually a negative on your resume. 6 months is possibly positive, but if they're there for like 4 years something's probably wrong with the candidate.

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university_dude t1_iwuffmt wrote

What would be wrong with a candidate for working at Amazon as a software engineer?

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nylockian t1_iwufzmk wrote

Nothing. You really think this person does any FAANG hiring?

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SomeGuyNamedPaul t1_iwuo67r wrote

My primary concern is that they'll bring Amazon's toxic corporate culture with them. Otherwise with most places you wonder why they left, but with Amazon you wonder why they stayed. Yes, I get it that they had a vesting structure that made sticking around really attractive from a financial perspective, but have you seen Amazon workers? Everywhere has happy workers and hollowed out husks and In my personal observations Amazon's ratio isn't good. We've had folks leave for Amazon and then come right back after they realize the mistake they've made.

Mind you, I'm not saying all of the Amazon tech workers are in a horrible place either. Some people can thrive anywhere, some don't have a lot to compare against and have no idea what the rest of the world is like, and some might be under amazing managers who shield their crew. In any case you still interview them, they might suck they might be great, they might be super thankful for rescuing them from a horrid place.

The hardest part about interviewing people is that within the span of 45 minutes it's easy to find reasons to say no and harder to be reasonably confident they'll be a great fit.

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icenoid t1_iwug7p1 wrote

Former amazon employees tend to bring their shitty work culture with them wherever they land. If you are at Amazon for a couple of years, you tend to know how bad the culture is there, but if you are there for 4 or more, you tend to basically screw up anywhere you land.

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Luckbaldy t1_iwu8n6y wrote

Exactly this. The retaliation opportunity here is ripe. If you aren’t good at your job because you don’t possess the appropriate skills, it’s better to find a less stressful alternative. This seems to be a really toxic filter for human capital.

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TheDeadlyCat t1_iwv6y4a wrote

Reading the headline and about what this was I recognized that I was once forced to do that for my team.

I refused following that order on the grounds that the logic behind it was flawed. There isn’t such a thing as a guaranteed universally bad worker in a team. And you wouldn’t want to promote a culture that works with that.

My boss thought about it, also forced to do that with me and agreed.

We later learned his boss randomly assigned people to the bell curve to mitigate this. We were not let go but some of my team quit.

Now I know they picked this method up and here I am years later going „oh shit!“.

I am no longer with that company. They let everyone go there. Jumped the bandwagon later but before that happened.

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diogenes_bull t1_iwtd75o wrote

Eh. Sometimes your employees just suck

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nylockian t1_iwug7o5 wrote

It's pretty damn hard to get a job a Amazon. Your comment reminds me of the scallenge.

Other companies have all the employees that suck.

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