[super-serial]

I wonder what the success rate is for their retraining program to turn factory workers into coders.

When watching Andrew Yang's Presidential pitch for UBI he said most government retraining programs only have a success rate of 17%.

[pardavis]

My job takes me to many Amazon FCs. The job families that we currently offer through career development classes are usually things like CDL, operations management, dentistry, EMT, process engineering, mechanical tech, etc. It is really a grab bag of what is most highly requested by the diverse working cohort at each FC.

Code as HN would think of it is not as common, but associates becoming IT or facilities technicians or engineers(remember, these things are teeming with robotics and conveyor systems) is highly common.

I’m glad that we are spending more on this.

[killjoywashere]

> dentistry

can you add some detail here? Are the career development classes intended to prepare people for life outside Amazon? Or does Amazon have company dentists?

[krapp]

I've complained numerous times at my FC that none of the career programs are actually careers, and that none of the degree programs offer anything higher than an associates degree. FC employees with any technical expertise and a desire to retrain somewhere in the Amazon network beyond the FC system seem to be SOL. Of course, the situation might differ between facilities.

And I work at a FC near the second biggest tech hub in the US... it would be easy pickings for Amazon (pun intended) but it seems like no dice. But if I want a second associates' degree and to restart my career as a truck driver or paralegal at 40, I can do that.

[killjoywashere]

17% strikes me as not bad. Not great, but not awful. People who take jobs that are at eminent risk of automation probably weren't exceptionally diligent in school the first time around. Add in the burdens of adulthood (parenting, bills, etc) and the odds of staying in a retraining program seem bleak.

Does anyone have a better success rate?

[Waterluvian]

17% sounds good to me. I did co-op at Elections Ontario and the place is just chock full of barely employable people who resist change to the status quo.

[HSO]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20419574

[mter]

There are a bunch of different programs targeting different cohorts. Associate2Tech and AmazonCareer choice are targeting the fulfillment center workers.

ATA is incredibly successful at small scale. Biggest challenge is scaling it up + making it work for everyone. If you are familiar with amazon's think big and pr faqs, educated guesses can be made as to the end vision for that program.

The NYT article is actually pretty poor compared to https://www.geekwire.com/2019/amazon-spend-700m-retrain-100k... or https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-det... because it misses the apprenticeship which is by far the most interesting program amazon is running since it's targeting the veterans.

[HSO]

Actually, he says it's 0-15 percent, which I've always assumed is just the granularity of the study to which he refers.

Alternatively, since those retraining programs were focused on specific industries or occupations in manufacturing in specific regions, maybe it's the range of results in those occupations/regions.

Never heard him say specifically 17 percent (and I have pretty much watched everything Andrew Yang related ;)

[kevin_thibedeau]

Amazon doesn't care about the success rate. They just need positive spin they can point to for any layoffs. "See, we had these retraining programs in place for our recently redundant workers."

[ardy42]

> I wonder what the success rate is for their retraining program to turn factory workers into coders.

Probably about 0% for their warehouse workers: they're so exhausted by the end of their shifts that they won't have the energy to learn, and their most at risk of losing their jobs to automation.

This is a feel-good announcement that will likely do little good without other management changes that Amazon is probably loathe to make.

[lbatx]

1. Is it really too much to believe that someone with a physically demanding job might be in good enough condition to do something else after work? I'm pretty sure folks in all sorts of physical jobs have physical hobbies as well. You never hear this sort of excuse about carpenters.

2. It's hard to work full time and go to school after. It's by definition going above and beyond.

[krapp]

>Probably about 0% for their warehouse workers: they're so exhausted by the end of their shifts that they won't have the energy to learn, and their most at risk of losing their jobs to automation.

I work at one of those warehouses and people do try to put in the effort to learn - unfortunately, Amazon only offers Associates' Degree level education and (judging from public complaints) all but forces people to work night shifts and extra hours to keep their numbers up, and doesn't actually teach the classes well, because of course their first, primary and overriding interest is in having their warehouse employees meet their quotas and fulfill business needs.

Which is why I recently just suggested that people just take Udemy courses and stay away from Amazon's offers altogether.

[mensetmanusman]

I have a brother in law going through this process. Having young kids seems to be enough motivation to work more after brutal overnight shifts. He recently immigrated to the US.

[mulmen]

I worked harvest and was a janitor in college and still had energy to study. I had no time to do anything else but it was strangely “easy” at the time because I had no distractions.

[dlphn___xyz]

i wonder if its cheaper to retrain vs outsourcing