Probably not (much to my regret). The only distinguishing factor is Bezos' name, and that is obvious only in retrospect. I see too many ads like this everyday for any one to stand out. Anyway, I'm going to console myself by saying I would've replied and seen them in person, and immediately realized they were onto something huge, blah blah blah
If anything the ad could discourage some because, not knowing any better, it may have looked like Bezos was one of those people who thinks you can make a late project finish sooner by working sweatshop hours (3x more hours to finish in 1/3 the time).
Everyone asks for "communication skills" and everyone says they're the best and that their shit doesn't stink, too.
Compare:
"You must have experience designing and building large and complex (yet maintainable) systems, and you should be able to do so in about one-third the time that most competent people think possible. You should have a BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science or the equivalent."
with:
"Requirements: BS or MS in Computer Science or equivalent (PhD a plus). Several years of software development experience. Extensive experience programming in C++ and/or Java. Enthusiasm for solving interesting problems. Experience with Unix/Linux or Windows environments, C++ development, distributed systems, machine learning, information retrieval, network programming and/or developing large software systems a plus."
The first is from Amazon, the latter is from Google.
Great companies grow where top-notch engineers meet exciting market meet confident coworkers with high expectations. :-)
"Energetic detail-oriented software engineer who wants to create systems with mind-numbing performance. Should enjoy working with people, solving non-trivial problems, and communicating these solutions. Should also wish to learn more about how others have engineered high-performance systems. We desire someone who is an expert in at least some of the following areas and eager to learn the others: distributed computing, compilers & interpreters, fault tolerance, network & storage devices, high-performance computation, algorithms & data structures, os/kernel experience."
That's from my last employer, which has been around for 8 years and has I believe about 4 recurring customers. In the 2 years I was there, they got no new major customers and only a few consulting jobs. 3 key employees have left in the last 8 months.
My point is that all job applications basically look alike. It's very difficult to pick out winners just from the job-app. In hindsight, the big successful companies all require top-notch engineers, exciting markets, and confident coworkers with high expectations. But many employers have that (or ask for it; it's often hard to tell the difference until you've been working there for a while) and still fail.
He was obviously looking for the right people for the right OS and programming languages at that time for highly scalable communication systems. Would be interesting to compare that with job offers of competitors of that time (who were those, btw?).
I think there were a few technical bookstores online, but he was one of the very earliest, and certainly the first to try to have a larger scope (e.g. before it was 'let's sell our inventories online', Amazon's idea was 'let's sell every possible book online').
Interestingly enough, Amazon was (if I recall correctly) started as a research project: David Shaw (of the hedge fund D. E. Shaw) asked Bezos (then a VP there) for a list of ways to make money online. At the top of Bezos' list was bookstores. Shaw decided it wasn't worth the risk, Bezos decided it was, so Bezos left the company to found Amazon. Shaw ended up starting Juno, though, so it's not a total loss.
The add seems very reasonable (in the startup mentality kind of way):
"Well-capitalized start-up seeks extremely talented C/C++/Unix developers to help pioneer commerce on the Internet. " -- Good. I want to work with only other top notch developers.
"You must have
experience designing and building large and complex (yet maintainable)
systems, and you should be able to do so in about one-third the time
that most competent people think possible. " -- Ok. I get it, you want the very good fast types. But are you willing to pay for it?
"Familiarity with web servers and HTML would be
helpful but is not necessary. " -- Awesome. You just showed that you know what is important. Don't you love adds that say must know HTML. How hard is to learn anyways?
"Your compensation will include meaningful equity ownership. " -- Awesome. This is what I wanted to hear. You want great developers, but you are willing to compesate them in a meaningful and fair way.
If I knew C/C++ that well, at the time, and if I wasn't in school, and if I was around the area of Seatles, I would have responded to his ad.
I am still waiting for some ad like this, but in the mobile space.
1) Yeah, it's a reasonable ad - but that's my point. Almost all ads are "reasonable". You never see an ad saying "Startup looking for mediocre developers." Nothing about this one really resonates.
2) "if I wasn't in school, and if I was around the area of seatles". If I knew this was going to be Amazon, I would MOVE to Seattle and take a leave of absence from school.
I wouldn't have the confidence to apply, thanks to "You must have experience designing and building large and complex (yet maintainable) systems, and you should be able to do so in about one-third the time that most competent people think possible."
something else to learn from this, is how we should all look for employees. a number of the books i have read like "good to great" and "built to last" have suggested the only true way to build a great company is to create an environment where the right people flock, and the wrong people leave on their own. setting the bar this high from the start will have this effect, and will give you the authority to tell someone the are good, but just not what you were looking for. it will keep your costs low, the expectations high, and the time you spend managing down.
i wonder which amazon employee/ founder was hired as a result of that ad.
I've answered far less intriguing ads in my 'desperate for a job phase'. The fact is that I'm simply not looking at job ads most of the time, and I'll probably only work on something if I already know the person, or I really, really like the idea.
going to museums hardly makes me weep, but stuff like this touches a special place in my heart. i always wonder what the future of digital anthropology will be like, especially in the wake of DRM, and encryption.
I may be one of those someones in the MA area. ;-)
Actually, I can think of at least two offers that I may kick myself for not taking up. But if I did, I might kick myself for giving up my own startup. If only we all had 20/20 foresight...
As a clarification, I could see how this could read as a lame recruitment ploy for that company, and let me say that I am in no way affliated with friendfeed. I just wanted to point out that there are perhaps equivalent opportunities to the Amazon ad going on right now. Sorry to the friendfeed's if that happened.
I can't figure out any other reason why someone would downmod, but hopefully it wasn't because of that.
[+] [-] aneesh|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] henning|18 years ago|reply
Everyone asks for "communication skills" and everyone says they're the best and that their shit doesn't stink, too.
[+] [-] ggrot|18 years ago|reply
- experience designing and building large and complex (yet maintainable) systems. Mostly the yet maintainable bit.
- must be willing to relocate
- Well-capitalized, we will cover moving costs, meaningful equity ownership
- Alan Kay
- @netcom.com
[+] [-] gaborcselle|18 years ago|reply
with: "Requirements: BS or MS in Computer Science or equivalent (PhD a plus). Several years of software development experience. Extensive experience programming in C++ and/or Java. Enthusiasm for solving interesting problems. Experience with Unix/Linux or Windows environments, C++ development, distributed systems, machine learning, information retrieval, network programming and/or developing large software systems a plus."
The first is from Amazon, the latter is from Google.
Great companies grow where top-notch engineers meet exciting market meet confident coworkers with high expectations. :-)
[+] [-] nostrademons|18 years ago|reply
"Energetic detail-oriented software engineer who wants to create systems with mind-numbing performance. Should enjoy working with people, solving non-trivial problems, and communicating these solutions. Should also wish to learn more about how others have engineered high-performance systems. We desire someone who is an expert in at least some of the following areas and eager to learn the others: distributed computing, compilers & interpreters, fault tolerance, network & storage devices, high-performance computation, algorithms & data structures, os/kernel experience."
That's from my last employer, which has been around for 8 years and has I believe about 4 recurring customers. In the 2 years I was there, they got no new major customers and only a few consulting jobs. 3 key employees have left in the last 8 months.
My point is that all job applications basically look alike. It's very difficult to pick out winners just from the job-app. In hindsight, the big successful companies all require top-notch engineers, exciting markets, and confident coworkers with high expectations. But many employers have that (or ask for it; it's often hard to tell the difference until you've been working there for a while) and still fail.
[+] [-] plusbryan|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mynameishere|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jdavid|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Andys|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] petercooper|18 years ago|reply
"It's easier to invent the future than to predict it." -- Alan Kay
[+] [-] tlrobinson|18 years ago|reply
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."
http://www.smalltalk.org/alankay.html
[+] [-] neilk|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mattjung|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] byrneseyeview|18 years ago|reply
Interestingly enough, Amazon was (if I recall correctly) started as a research project: David Shaw (of the hedge fund D. E. Shaw) asked Bezos (then a VP there) for a list of ways to make money online. At the top of Bezos' list was bookstores. Shaw decided it wasn't worth the risk, Bezos decided it was, so Bezos left the company to found Amazon. Shaw ended up starting Juno, though, so it's not a total loss.
[+] [-] angstrom|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ardit33|18 years ago|reply
"Well-capitalized start-up seeks extremely talented C/C++/Unix developers to help pioneer commerce on the Internet. " -- Good. I want to work with only other top notch developers.
"You must have experience designing and building large and complex (yet maintainable) systems, and you should be able to do so in about one-third the time that most competent people think possible. " -- Ok. I get it, you want the very good fast types. But are you willing to pay for it?
"Familiarity with web servers and HTML would be helpful but is not necessary. " -- Awesome. You just showed that you know what is important. Don't you love adds that say must know HTML. How hard is to learn anyways?
"Your compensation will include meaningful equity ownership. " -- Awesome. This is what I wanted to hear. You want great developers, but you are willing to compesate them in a meaningful and fair way.
If I knew C/C++ that well, at the time, and if I wasn't in school, and if I was around the area of Seatles, I would have responded to his ad.
I am still waiting for some ad like this, but in the mobile space.
[+] [-] aneesh|18 years ago|reply
2) "if I wasn't in school, and if I was around the area of seatles". If I knew this was going to be Amazon, I would MOVE to Seattle and take a leave of absence from school.
[+] [-] sbt|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kajecounterhack|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jdavid|18 years ago|reply
i wonder which amazon employee/ founder was hired as a result of that ad.
[+] [-] sohail|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] prakash|18 years ago|reply
was a seattle a big startup hub in the early 90's? What else was there besides MSFT in the tech sector?
[+] [-] byrneseyeview|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DaniFong|18 years ago|reply
So it really depends on whether or not I see it.
[+] [-] raghus|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jdavid|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] run4yourlives|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] henning|18 years ago|reply
http://bc.tech.coop/blog/060304.html
[+] [-] jamiequint|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jrockway|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wave|18 years ago|reply
(click on "Show quoted text") http://tinyurl.com/52gdhr
[+] [-] acangiano|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aswanson|18 years ago|reply
http://friendfeed.com/about/contact
[+] [-] nostrademons|18 years ago|reply
Actually, I can think of at least two offers that I may kick myself for not taking up. But if I did, I might kick myself for giving up my own startup. If only we all had 20/20 foresight...
[+] [-] aswanson|18 years ago|reply
I can't figure out any other reason why someone would downmod, but hopefully it wasn't because of that.
[+] [-] aswanson|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kashif|18 years ago|reply