I've been reflecting on the current talent landscape and strategic direction at Amazon, particularly within our tech divisions, and I can't help but feel we're in a crisis of leadership and vision. The symptoms are everywhere: a noticeable scarcity of truly groundbreaking applied scientists, a worrying prevalence of mediocre coding and quality standards, and an organizational culture that seems to favor political maneuvering over genuine innovation. Our product management seems to be led by inexperienced MBAs fresh out of college, intent on building their empires through relentless feature releases that often appear to be little more than carbon copies of what companies like OpenAI and Google are doing. It's frustrating to see such talent and potential squandered in an environment that doesn't seem to value the hard work and creativity required to push genuine innovation. The constant reports from sales about losing ground to Azure and GCP are troubling. And now, with Amazon's latest initiative—Project Olympus—it begs the question: Is the Titan project essentially defunct? It seems like Bedrock was a non-starter from its announcement. One has to wonder, why is it such a Herculean task to find and empower applied scientists and researchers at Amazon who deeply understand the technology they're working with? Take, for instance, the few experts we have on reinforcement learning within the context of Large Language Models (LLMs)—their insights are often sidelined by leadership that seems disconnected from the core tech. Why do we give so much autonomy to PMs whose contributions are questionable, to say the least? And one can't help but ask: Is CEO Selipsky aware of these issues? Is there a plan to address this? I believe it's time for a serious introspection and a strategic overhaul. We have the talent and the resources to be pioneers, not followers. Amazon has always been a place where innovation is key to our success, and it's time we get back to that ethos. What are your thoughts? How can Amazon reclaim its place as a leader in tech innovation? TC: 340 L7
how do u change company name to ex Amazon
Blind does it
Bruh, do you think anyone give a F about how a massive corp like Amazon will survive?
No, just my 2 cents
As a recent ish grad from a top MBA program - can confirm that almost everyone got an Amazon PMT offer if they tried enough
This has to be a joke. My friend from Haas (Berkeley) tried for the PM (or PMT) role and told me they only hired one for their post-MBA program.
Is this pre or post high interest rates? My anecdote is pre And since OP is referring to the people already at the company, this aligns with that
What do you expect when leadership is busy in petty attendance counts. Ngl, something changed in the last one year and I see myself worried by random other stuff than actually giving my best. But again I'm not an AS, but do remember so many of them being cut off in last November layoff right before chatGPT was released. Found it funny actually.
Day 2
Well said!
Because it’s amazon
TLDR
My understanding 😂 Despite the infamous culture, Amazon was innovative (aws, etc..) and always leading, not following. Now, from an insider's perspective, Amazon is dangerouslyy sinking and sidelined, especially in critical areas (LLM research, etc). Audacious projects are dying and other questionable ones are getting started? That is the case for many reasons such as an emphasis on political competition instead of tangible skills, questionable practices such as MBA driving technical aspects, etc.
Personal thoughts: - OP must be one of those people who were shaped in a good way by Amazon: proactive, using LPs for good, and driving real impact with no patience for BS. However, it seems that they are not in the US, close to L8!! promotion and realizing the incompetence all around (both above and below his level). - I think Amazon suffers the same fate as any other big tech: the culture is too corporate and slowly hampering progress. Add to that scared employees and you get a clusterf*ck. Amazon might have been better before but now it's joining the slow and confused stage of Microsoft and Google maybe. We were just saved by Cloud and OpenAI lately thanks to Satya.
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Metamate- cringe max posts by this wannabe influencer
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Brother beaten severely as a kid. Doesn’t speak to dad at all now.
Need more bananas
Nope, was very happy with what I got. The culture and leadership was the 2 many reasons I quit