From what folks at AWS tell me that’s basically already happened. The best and brightest won’t even apply to work there anymore. For many key functions they’ve legit run out of people to recruit and thus have to go down market compared to competitors. Thats very much true in hot sectors like AI where AWS has “C” and at best “B” team players and leadership.
I’ve also heard key pieces of their infrastructure has sloppily written code and that communication between teams is horrible. Even with their insane salary offers, most people don’t think it’s worth it. Especially given their 6% “unregretted attrition”[1]
The thing is, the brand is toxic. They can offer all the money they want, but no employee has any pride in working for them. So they produce the bare minimum to get their salary - and I applaud them.
