diff --git a/contents/articles/2021-10-05-dear-amazon.md b/contents/articles/2021-10-05-dear-amazon.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f34b1324 --- /dev/null +++ b/contents/articles/2021-10-05-dear-amazon.md @@ -0,0 +1,62 @@ +--- +date: 2021-10-06T17:00:00Z +--- + +# Dear Amazon Engineering Recruiters + +tl;dr: No. + +Look, I hate that I've gotten so many emails from Amazon engineering recruiters +that I even feel like this needs to be said, but I don't want to spend so much +as half a brain processing cycle on this again, and am tired of copy-and-pasting +the same response over and over, so I'll make it quick. + +There are two reasons why my answer is no. The first is that I am very happy +with where I am now, and I have neither any intention to nor interest in any +changes any time even remotely soon. I've found a role as a senior SRE that has +been immensely fulfilling[^1], and at a company and with people that put their +money where their mouth is when it comes to being inclusive, fair, ethical, and +equitable, and there is no other place I would rather be for the forseeable +future. + +The second is that I will never have any interest in working for Amazon, as a +result of their unethical treatment of their supply chain workforce and refusing +to take necessary measures to prevent outbreaks of COVID-19 at their warehouses, +and their retaliatory firing of employees[^2] that attempted to organize and +advocate on behalf of improving their own coworkers' working conditions. The +National Labor Relations Board [substantiated][] that at least two of these +firings were retaliatory and illegal and filed a case on those workers' behalf, +and Amazon was forced to agree to a [humiliating][] out-of-court settlement — +requiring them to pay back wages and "post a notice to all of its tech and +warehouse workers nationwide that Amazon can’t fire workers for organizing and +[exercising their rights][]" — rather than face public excoriation in the +hearings process. + +Tim Bray [resigned in protest][] as VP at AWS over the firings, and has [openly +celebrated][] the settlement and called for further judgements against Amazon +for the other employees whose firings are suspected of being related to their +involvement in employee activism. Consider every single word of his statements +and reasoning for leaving as my own for refusing to even consider working for +them: + +> Firing whistleblowers isn’t just a side-effect of macroeconomic forces, nor is +> it intrinsic to the function of free markets. It’s evidence of a vein of +> toxicity running through the company culture. I choose neither to serve nor +> drink that poison. + +If you're an Amazon recruiter that comes across my website, or my profiles on +GitHub or LinkedIn, I hope you find this post and save yourself the time and +energy. + +[^1]: + It turns out that spending so much time on the infrastructure for my own + projects, that I hardly ever wrote any actual code for my own projects, has + its benefits after all. + +[^2]: Incidentally, everyone fired was a woman and/or a person of color. + +[substantiated]: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/05/labor-board-reportedly-finds-amazon-illegally-fired-activist-workers.html +[humiliating]: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/29/amazon-settles-with-employees-who-said-they-were-fired-over-activism.html +[exercising their rights]: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15kVQrpyqH_sbtOXvQ38DeXZx7lwLAn3GVsZUDb6i0e8 +[resigned in protest]: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2020/04/29/Leaving-Amazon +[openly celebrated]: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2021/10/02/Amazon-Catharsis