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bertlequant | 8 years ago | on: What Amazon Teaches Us About AI and the “Jobless Future”

Something a tad irksome in the way a corporate behemoth is praised. We all use Amazon, but we all used to shop at Wal-Mart. Difference seems to be everyone always seemed to at least sligtly detest Wal-Mart, but people talk about Amazon with awe and an almost joy-like appreciation.

Some of my friends worked at fulfillment centers, and if most of these 100,000 new hires mentioned are headed to those places, the author fails to mention a very important part: retention. Since he seems very impressed by wheels, one could also compare the fulfillment centers to a gristmill, where people are ground up and discarded. Ever seen an ad for an Amazon fulfillment center hiring event? It's akin to seasonal hiring, where everyone who shows up at event is hired on the spot, knowing a lot of them will quit early on. If a job isn't retained past a certain point, it can't really be seen as a win. It would be interesting to see data about how long the average fulfillment center worker stays in a fulfillment center position.

Many of us have read about how grueling it is to work in an Amazon fulfillment center, and after hearing my friends' stories I agree.

The good thing for Amazon is that the customer never has to see this. They don't have to feel bad seeing what all went into getting them that tea kettle in under 6 hours. Sure, there is a lot of amazing logisitics and technology involved, but there is also a human element that is hidden. In Wal-Mart, you can walk right into a store and see the effects & signs of mass consumption, cheap products, and cheap labor. I think its visibility has driven a lot of the protests and blowback against Wal-Mart, successful or not.

I think not being able to easily see the dark side of Amazon plays into Amazon's customer satisfaction in some ways. You order something and a box arrives. The only interaction you see is the one you made with your computer.

bertlequant | 9 years ago | on: Why don't schools teach debugging? (2014)

All of this greatly depends on the teacher. While I have never specifically seen a debugging class offered at university, some professors do a good/decent job ensuring that you have debugged/tested your code.

bertlequant | 9 years ago | on: Amazon's Leadership Principles

I know a lot of companies have ancronyms, bullet points, or a list of company culture principals. What's everyone's reaction to all of this? Do you take it seriously? Pretend to? Roll your eyes? Find value in them?

bertlequant | 9 years ago | on: Inside Every Utopia Is a Dystopia

It's been a while since I read that short story, but the message I took from it wasn't that there was a seed of evil in the society, but that no matter what society or system exists, there will always be those that cannot fit into it. Perhaps someone considered a failure in one society, would be a "king" in another. If someone doesn't have something that society values, perhaps it will be hard to coexist in that environment, causing them to leave or become something deemed worse. Maybe Le Guin had other motives with her story. Maybe Utopia is just a step towards the next Utopia, which will itself be another step, due to an inherent lack of satisfaction. There are many ways to interpret the story, which is why I have always enjoyed it.

bertlequant | 9 years ago | on: Inside Blue Apron’s Meal Kit Machine

For me, Blue Apron is more something to do every once and a while, as a treat. First, to me at least, the 6 to 9 dollar meal average isn't cheap. Second, like others have posted about, I wonder about the message of pure, fresh, clean food that was rushed to me in a delivery truck with everything packed up all nice and neat.

bertlequant | 9 years ago | on: What My Stroke Taught Me

He goes to physical therapy during the week, because he had to pretty much relearn almost everything. The doctors told us, considering how bad the stroke was, it's amazing where he is at. A testament to my dad, I think the one part he enjoys is the improvement. He has this set of tasks he's been given to do each day, and he goes after them like it's a workout. Since he can't really do the things he once enjoyed (at least at the previous level of intensity), he finds new things to focus on. He was a big hiker and bike rider, and I know he misses all of that now.

bertlequant | 9 years ago | on: What My Stroke Taught Me

It's been really hard seeing my dad after he had a stroke. Someone who used to be so physically active, now seems so fragile when he walks. The hardest part for him is how drastically his life changed. One day he was working and had a career he enjoyed, the next day he would never be able to work again in that field in his former capacity (medicine). It has shown me how resilient people are, because even though there is a perceptible lag in his speech, he is still there as he always was.

bertlequant | 9 years ago | on: Verizon go90 burned over $200M trying to catch the eye of millennials

I remember applying to Verizon when I was still in school. I had to give up because their application kept throwing readable database errors and wouldn't let me continue to the subsequent pages. Weeks later, one of their recruiters contacted me and asked if I wanted to finish my application. I said no.

bertlequant | 9 years ago | on: How I scratched my entrepreneurial itch while teaching English in China

I lived in China for a few years as well, and most expats you run into are usually teachers. This doesn't mean they are all low skill or lost perse. Many are young and come there after college for a gap year or two, to travel and experience something different. However, many are enticed by the ease of life: 16 hour work week for Uni foreign teachers, relatively decent salary, ability to travel, and other assorted reasons. I've seen many people get into side businesses while over there, but it was usually running a school (most likely with a foggy legal arrangement and no ability to procure residence permits - eliminating the true draw of a school for many parents over there). It's been a while since I was over there, so things might have changed, but I think, for the most part, the poster above is correct.
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