Why I refused to work in AWS

When I talk about AWS, I try to be objective. If they have done something good, I tell you about it - and people believe me, because I will definitely let you know when they create some garbage.



Today is such a case.



On July 26, 2019, Amazon sued the former AWS manager for violating a non-competition clause in an employment agreement. Here is the lawsuit (pdf) .



Since most of us do not like to read legal documents, let me summarize: “Philip Moyer (a simple sales manager) worked for AWS, sold cloud services. He quit and switched to Google to sell cloud services already there. "Amazon is furious and has filed a lawsuit with the King County Supreme Court, demanding a ban on competition of at least 18 months, as well as compensation."



For reference, all US Amazon employees, except California (where employee rights are better protected), sign a non-competition clause in the employment agreement.



According to the statement of claim, this paragraph states:

“Prohibition of competition. During work and for 18 months after the dismissal, the employee will not directly or indirectly, on his own behalf or on behalf of any other entity (for example, as an employee, agent, partner or consultant), participate or support the development, production, marketing or sale any product or service that competes with or is intended to compete with any product or service sold, offered or otherwise provided by Amazon (or intended to be sold, offered or otherwise provided yaemym in the future, Amazon), over which the employee worked or supported, or which has received confidential information. "

These are clearly offensive conditions.



Please note that the condition applies to Amazon, not just AWS. If someone signs such an agreement, what job can he go after leaving, so as not to violate this point? I would say “writing articles that make fun of AWS,” but damn it, they do that by launching services with names like System Manager Session Manager .



I want to emphasize several points:

1. The most common argument in favor of such a wide prohibition of competition is something like this: employees know very confidential information, and a new employer should not be given a simple tool for corporate espionage through hiring these people. Of course, this argument ignores the fact that confidentiality agreements are in force in all US states (regardless of whether the information is classified as trade secrets such as the Coca-Cola formula) and effectively prevent people from earning a living. When a company decides to use a competition ban, it’s not about protecting its top-secret strategy - in the case of AWS, it’s “to create a lot of things that customers like and sell them as services!” - it's about control.
   
   
2. Amazon turned to the new employer of this poor man for negotiations, on which he will be allowed to work. Can you imagine: you got a new job, and then the fucking Amazon calls your new boss with threats?
   
   
3. It is clear that AWS is trying to warn GCP that employees should not be lured. Unfortunately, this warning is passed through a lawsuit against one random manager in Pennsylvania. Moyer represents Google no more than he represented Amazon during his time there.

I thought about this for a long time, because in 2018 it was because of this point that I rejected a rather attractive offer to work in AWS for a position that suits me perfectly. Amazon remained adamant on this point, and during the discussion, several people (both officially and unofficially) convinced me to accept the proposal, citing a few stupid arguments:

“This item is necessary to protect the business.”

Charming. As I said, these provisions do not apply in California. And they have never acted since the formation of the state in 1850 (which is often mentioned as the reason why Silicon Valley appeared at all). Not to mention that AWS has a lot of employees in California, as well as Google and almost all other technology companies. This does not bother anyone. Moreover, any employee who has signed such an agreement is no longer bound by obligations after moving to California.



I understand that you want to "protect your business." But I want to be able to feed my family when I eventually leave the company.

"It is never respected."

Then why sign it? I have some strange notion that you must comply with the signed agreements. If I am not ready to comply with them, I do not sign them. In addition, there were clearly proceedings under this item here . And here . And here . And here too.



When I wrote an article, a thread appeared on Twitter on this topic. Read: it’s not about a lawsuit, but about forcing an employee to sign a document after he has already moved from Ireland to Seattle on a visa.

“We will never apply this against an employee in a position below the vice president”

The poor salesman they are suing is clearly not the vice president. Also see links above.

“No, we will not pay you a salary during the term of the ban on competition. It doesn’t depend on whether we file a lawsuit or not. ”

This is how these norms work in some European countries . They would have laughed out loud if I had proposed this in the negotiations.

"We used it only when a person burns bridges before leaving"

You know me? I had to burn all the bridges to get an AWS job interview! What are the guarantees that I can safely leave the employer, where I offended at least one vice president with something? As far as I know, at the time of this writing, I was very angry with exactly three AWS vice presidents, and I don’t even work there ! (By the way, if you are the vice president of AWS, you hate me and are not sure that I know about this, please let me know and I will increase the counter!)

“Well, why not just stay in California and work at your local office?”

If you are the only employee on the remote, your influence is essentially limited. From my own experience, either the entire team works remotely, or the remote employees are second-class citizens. Thus, it can be formulated as follows: “Why not damage your career even before it begins?”



The fact that I can refuse the offer is a huge privilege. Not everyone has it. There is not even a close balance of power between the candidate and the company with a capitalization of a trillion dollars. Point. Especially when the company spitefully begins to sue former employees.



I know great, talented professionals who work for AWS. None of them deserve something like this happen to them when it is their turn to leave.



Come on, AWS.



Do not stoop so.



You are above that.