The truth is…
Amazon is just like it is described in the NY Times article.
Amazon is nothing like it is described in the NY Times article.
It is a soulless dystopia and people cry at their desks.
It is a family that loves and rallies around one another in hard times.
The environment is soul-crushing and drives people to drink too much.
The environment is filled with people who can become your running buddies or gym partner and help you stay healthy.
Every day amazing things are built and launched to improve the lives of Amazon customers.
Every day shit is built that will never see the light of day because it was always a bad idea, has an incompetent leadership team, or a crappy architecture.
Customers LOVE Amazon and couldn’t live without their books, groceries, or digital goods.
People exist who have never one time logged into Amazon and other people exist who HATE Amazon and all they stand for.
These things are all true and can co-exist.
Amazon is a company…which contrary to some party politics does NOT make them a person. There are however real live people working there, building things, quitting every day, crying in the bathroom, celebrating the birth of a baby, having a launch party, being put on a performance plan, getting the promotion of a lifetime, and not getting the promotion they’ve earned for the 5th straight year.
Humans…we are so inconsistent. We are so different. We thrive in a variety of environments. We hate and love what we hate and love…and sometimes it makes complete sense and sometimes it is totally illogical.
It is valid for the NY Times to do their research and say what they did.
And it is also possible that Jeff B doesn’t see what they say is happening.
Is it shortsighted? Maybe. But really both perspectives are short-sighted because neither represents 100% of the experience of all involved.
Everything is not always black and white. And when people are involved it is rarely clear cut and simple. And surprise surprise…that is also OKAY! That is humanity. And humanity is all of us robed in our beautiful inconsistency.
(Bloggers Note…I’m admittedly not objective on this topic. The NYT article made me feel better because it validated many of my experiences working at Amazon. But I can also enumerate the things I learned and benefitted from in my time working there.)