Why hire good engineers?

Amazon
Fudjdnjs

Go to company page Amazon

Fudjdnjs
Aug 9, 2021 523 Comments

I know this sounds stupid but hear me out.

I used to work as a developer at a non-tech company in the Midwest. I joined Amazon three years ago thinking that I was going to learn to write great software.

The code here is atrocious. Rediculously bad. I used to get paid 60k and the code was 10000000x better than at Amazon.

Guess what, Amazon is one of the most valuable companies in the planet. I'm not really sure that the quality of code really matters to the value of the business.

So if the quality of code doesn't really matter, that begs the following question: does the quality of engineers matter? Could a company perform just as well by targeting median (or even below median) developers as compared to hiring top talent?

Let me know your thoughts.

TC = 250k

comments

Want to comment? LOG IN or SIGN UP
TOP 523 Comments
  • Google
    lcxt

    Go to company page Google

    lcxt
    Lol, you still think engineers are paid to write code.

    We aren't. If I just need coders I would outsource it

    Once you understand that the code is one of the least important part of your job the better off you will be.
    Aug 9, 2021 15
    • Temasek
      TroyMich10

      Temasek

      TroyMich10
      You hire expensive coders as they help you get to the end objective the best. Understanding what the company needs is more important. It's like setting up the 2x4s behind drywall in a house, only some people can do it, but making the layout of the house correct is way more important than accurately spacing the 2x4s - they get covered by drywall anyway.
      Aug 10, 2021
    • Tesla
      VeejBill

      Go to company page Tesla

      VeejBill
      You have defined it in the best way a person can.
      Aug 10, 2021
  • Google
    MeDreaming

    Go to company page Google

    MeDreaming
    In 3 years of being oncall at Google I was paged only once. That’s why
    Aug 9, 2021 36
  • New
    MqKG78

    New

    MqKG78
    I heard the same about the Facebook codebase. I'm curious too.
    Aug 9, 2021 16
  • Amazon / Eng
    πŸ€πŸ‘©πŸΌβ€πŸ’»++

    Go to company page Amazon Eng

    πŸ€πŸ‘©πŸΌβ€πŸ’»++
    Why do you think on-call sucks so much?
    Aug 9, 2021 4
    • Amazon
      .🍌+πŸ“ž

      Go to company page Amazon

      .🍌+πŸ“ž
      You can fix it in one of two ways:
      Write good enough code or pay enough engineers to put out fires as they happen.

      Smaller companies need higher quality code just to survive.

      Established companies like Amazon throw money at the problem.

      I think it'll eventually come back to bite Amazon... But when that is I've no idea.
      Aug 10, 2021
    • Amazon
      BNjB41

      Go to company page Amazon

      BNjB41
      the strategy is with enough good engineer before it comes to bite back, good engineers can stand up a replacement service.

      and this is good anyways. you need to revisit from time to time. over the years technology changes, approach changes better alternatives available
      Aug 10, 2021
  • Google
    nidorino

    Go to company page Google

    nidorino
    Anyone can work on good code. Working on bad code requires good engineers.
    Aug 10, 2021 10