Comments on: A culture of beer and overtime http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/a-culture-of-beer-and-overtime/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-culture-of-beer-and-overtime Wed, 24 Sep 2025 01:20:18 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 By: My Amazon interview experience | Jay Huang http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/a-culture-of-beer-and-overtime/#comment-2132 Fri, 10 Jan 2014 23:23:14 +0000 http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/?p=343#comment-2132 […] It all started back when I was still working at SAP. A few colleagues mentioned Amazon was opening up another office in Yaletown. I believe it was in January 2013 or so. I wasn’t very interested at first, but after hearing about it a couple times, I gave it some more thought and decided it wouldn’t hurt. I was going to leave SAP at the end of April, and if Amazon turned out to be a good fit, I just might go there. This was before I interviewed and got offers for Palo Alto, one other company, and the company I worked for from May to July. […]

]]> By: Jesse http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/a-culture-of-beer-and-overtime/#comment-886 Tue, 12 Nov 2013 22:30:28 +0000 http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/?p=343#comment-886 In reply to Jay Huang.

Well, if you added the company to your LinkedIn profile work history, *like any committed developer would ;)* then you wouldn’t have to name names…

You made the right choice leaving, in my opinion.

]]> By: Paul http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/a-culture-of-beer-and-overtime/#comment-878 Mon, 11 Nov 2013 20:05:58 +0000 http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/?p=343#comment-878 In reply to Chris Mapes.

You make a reasonable point, but I have to disagree. Jay’s rightly severed his ties to the organization in question, and has absolutely no further responsibilities on their behalf. If the person running the place is that far out-of-the-loop, frankly they deserve whatever nasty surprise may be coming. And if he/she actually supports the PM in that behavior…well then, let the universe drop its heaviest hammer on them.

]]> By: Where are all the Renaissance men? – Jack Flanagan – The Kernel http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/a-culture-of-beer-and-overtime/#comment-874 Mon, 11 Nov 2013 10:54:18 +0000 http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/?p=343#comment-874 […] techie or founder your life needs to be filled to the brim with ones, zeroes and business plans. This article written by a disgruntled start-up employee describes the weird cult that surrounds tech employment. […]

]]> By: Darryl http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/a-culture-of-beer-and-overtime/#comment-869 Sun, 10 Nov 2013 16:16:18 +0000 http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/?p=343#comment-869 In reply to Jay Huang.

I think it’s very professional of you to not disclose any sensitive company information. Nothing good will ever come from doing that.

]]> By: The HackerNews effect: Hitting #2 on HN | Jay Huang http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/a-culture-of-beer-and-overtime/#comment-866 Sat, 09 Nov 2013 20:58:56 +0000 http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/?p=343#comment-866 […] days ago, my latest post about my experience at my previous job hit the front page of HackerNews. It’s been a while since I left that job, and I held off on […]

]]> By: Jay Huang http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/a-culture-of-beer-and-overtime/#comment-865 Sat, 09 Nov 2013 20:34:15 +0000 http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/?p=343#comment-865 In reply to Darryl.

Yes, it was a full-time salaried role. There was no expectation in the contract of 70+ hour weeks.
Given the structure of the company, the PM’s boss was essentially the executives/board. As mentioned in my post, they were very much removed from the goings-on of the team.

Disclosing anymore information would likely reveal the company, which is not my intention.

]]> By: Darryl http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/a-culture-of-beer-and-overtime/#comment-864 Sat, 09 Nov 2013 17:41:12 +0000 http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/?p=343#comment-864 I’m curious, it sounds like the position adverstised was a full-time salaried role. Was it clearly articulated in your employment contract there was an expectation you would routinely be putting in 70+ hour weeks? If not, sometimes you can gauge company culture by asking questions during the interview phase to find out if the position you’re considering would be a good fit.

I think someone else mentioned this earlier in the comments thread, but did you ever discuss concerns with your PM’s boss? In the end it’s unfortunate you felt compelled to leave the company because of one person on the team.

If anything else, move on and learn from the experience. Looks like there are many positive take-aways.

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/a-culture-of-beer-and-overtime/#comment-857 Fri, 08 Nov 2013 23:58:10 +0000 http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/?p=343#comment-857 In reply to dave.

We need to ask him to finally update the linkedin profile!!!

]]> By: Shane http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/a-culture-of-beer-and-overtime/#comment-854 Fri, 08 Nov 2013 18:45:00 +0000 http://www.jayhuang.org/blog/?p=343#comment-854 I’m dealing with a similar problem now. Moved from NY to SF. Red flags were almost immediate and I had to just power through them. Now, coming up on a year later (next week), it’s become almost unbearable. Working on getting out has become a top priority. It’s a real shame because the product is spectacular.

]]>