Re:Goodreads was the future of book reviews. Then Amazon bou...
by anonreader123 on Monday July 03, 2023 @03:32PM
(#36577750)
I worked at Goodreads as an engineer, in recent times, for a period of years. (I'm being intentionally vague. Sorry. I don't want Bezos coming after me.)
In my experience, Amazon really doesn't care about whether Goodreads succeeds or not. It would like Goodreads to not cause them any bad press, so resources are devoted to whatever was mentioned in the latest bad press. Amazon also insists that Goodreads follow with various Amazon technical directives that divert a huge amount of engineering effort.
But aside from that, Goodreads isn't given anywhere near the resources it would need to meaningfully make progress on any front.
The engineers I worked with were a combination of talented, dedicated True Believers in the Goodreads mission, and young folks just looking to work up the Amazon corporate ladder. The second group transfers out of Goodreads as soon as they can, creating a great deal of churn and leaving behind a chaotic codebase.
Management at Goodreads (with maybe one or two exceptions, in my experience) was a constantly revolving door of ladder-climbers, more interested in advancing their own resumes and careers than with the health and success of Goodreads. There were also a smattering of lifers who have comfortable gigs, who have learned how to totally bullshit upper management to retain their comfortable gigs.
In my experience, Amazon really doesn't care about whether Goodreads succeeds or not. It would like Goodreads to not cause them any bad press, so resources are devoted to whatever was mentioned in the latest bad press. Amazon also insists that Goodreads follow with various Amazon technical directives that divert a huge amount of engineering effort.
But aside from that, Goodreads isn't given anywhere near the resources it would need to meaningfully make progress on any front.
The engineers I worked with were a combination of talented, dedicated True Believers in the Goodreads mission, and young folks just looking to work up the Amazon corporate ladder. The second group transfers out of Goodreads as soon as they can, creating a great deal of churn and leaving behind a chaotic codebase.
Management at Goodreads (with maybe one or two exceptions, in my experience) was a constantly revolving door of ladder-climbers, more interested in advancing their own resumes and careers than with the health and success of Goodreads. There were also a smattering of lifers who have comfortable gigs, who have learned how to totally bullshit upper management to retain their comfortable gigs.