[hackernews777]

I thought he was referring to the fact you don't have to be particularly clever or competent person to keep your job. Amazon isn't known for firing people on the spot for honest mistakes (CoE gets filed and life goes on). It's usually more along the lines of people are not doing the work they were assigned to do.

[NBJack]

I wish that was the case. I've seen brilliant people forced out of their jobs because a particular project was botched: a principal engineer, a former founder of a company bought by Amazon, an amazing director. And those were just the people I encountered on my journey.

Amazon certainly won't "fire you on the spot" in most cases; that gets them all sorts of trouble. However, if something got screwed up and your name is on it, I'm sorry to say it's just a matter of time before it comes up in a review cycle.

There are good folks at Amazon. Really. But as a whole, I don't see evidence of a company that even attempts to see the long-term value of people.

[Sparkyte]

Absolutely what I was saying.