Comment by coredog64
4 years ago
Here it’s focused on k8s, but it’s not out of line if we generically apply it to AMZN. How many services look cool, have a great re:Invent kick-off, and then go KTLO a year later? I’m going to lay that at the feet of the AMZN promo process, which prioritizes creating something new over real and needed maintenance.
I’m going to further reduce this to lazy management. It’s easier to point to splashy announcements to show impact than it is to put in the work and help your direct reports quantity unglamorous maintenance work.
Not sure how long you've been at or spent at Amazon, but the promotion process doesn't prioritize building new things at all. It's true that people think complexity = build new things, but promotion criteria specifically encourage people to stick to simple things and build on top of what exists rather than invent something new for promotion's sake.
When selling your work to a promo committee, building a new shiny thing lowers the communication hurdle.
Personal anecdote, at Amazon, my wife led a very challenging refactor of legacy code and didn’t get promoted, I built a shiny thing barely anyone is using yet, and got promoted.
> Personal anecdote, at Amazon, my wife led a very challenging refactor of legacy code and didn’t get promoted, I built a shiny thing barely anyone is using yet, and got promoted.
How much of that is the effect of shiny vs. dull, and how much is male vs. female (apologies if my assuming you are male was mistaken, but it seemed the way to bet)?
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I'd argue this depends on what org and team and the culture surrounding. It can be vastly different in various nooks of the company.
Laughably false.