Amazon Is Hiring More Developers For Alexa Than Google Is Hiring For Everything (gadgetsnow.com)

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Amazon Is Hiring More Developers For Alexa Than Google Is Hiring For Everything (gadgetsnow.com)

Posted by BeauHD on Friday March 16, 2018 @11:20AM from the guns-a-blazing dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gadgets Now: Amazon is hiring 1,147 people just for its Alexa business. To put this number in perspective, it has to be mentioned that this number is higher than what Google is hiring for technical and product roles across its Alphabet group of companies including YouTube and Waymo. According to a report published in Forbes, Amazon is hiring engineers, data scientists, developers, analysts, payment services professionals among others. The Forbes report cites information released by Citi Research in association with Jobs.com. It's clear that Amazon is betting big on the smartphone speaker market if the hiring numbers are to go by. It was the first major company to come with a smart speaker and has almost 70% market share in the U.S. Google has been making in-roads with Google Home devices but still has a lot of catching up to do. The Citi report further mentions that other notable areas where Amazon is hiring are devices, advertising and seller services. Amazon is looking at hiring a total of about 1,700 employees for other divisions.

80 comments

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Phut! by b0s0z0ku · 2018-03-16 11:25 · Score: 3, Insightful

Hopefully, the trend of voluntarily putting a bug in one's home will flop like a lead balloon. If someone gave me an Echo for free, I'd use it for softball practice.
1. Re:Phut! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-16 11:35 · Score: 0
  
  Smart speaker:
  1. Microphone
  2. WiFi
  3. Stays in one place
  
  Smartphone:
  1. Microphone
  2. Data connection
  3. Camera
  4. GPS
  5. (optional) Thumbprint reader
  6. Goes with you just about everywhere
2. Re:Phut! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-16 11:39 · Score: 1
  
  Your smartphone doesn't require you to accept an EULA that grants them permission to record you at any time and store and process this data on some server somewhere.
3. Re:Phut! by b0s0z0ku · 2018-03-16 11:42 · Score: 2
  
  Smartphone mics and cameras work poorly when the thing is laid flat, face-down on a table to charge. Similarly, the cameras get a nice, exciting view of the ceiling. As far as tracking, I choose not to have my phone with me a significant portion of the time.
  The Echo, OTOH, is designed to listen, omnidirectionaly.
4. Re:Phut! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-16 11:45 · Score: 0
  
  While true, in theory, in practice and actual reality it's unlikely. The Amazon echo _relies_ on always listening as a core part of it's functionality. With a smartphone, you typically expect that it's not listening unless you tell it to.
5. Re:Phut! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-16 11:47 · Score: 0
  
  That's like comparing a giant 8-foot angel with a puny 4-foot devil.
  A smartphone is capable of behaving worse than a smart speaker, for the reasons you list. But the current state of affair is that the smartphone does not behave badly (unless you voluntarily or accidentally installed malware or got hacked), whereas the smart speaker is sold proudly with a malware called Alexa, and there's no other option for the end-user to run a different app on that smart speaker.
6. Re:Phut! by rudy_wayne · 2018-03-16 11:51 · Score: 1
  
  Your smartphone doesn't require you to accept an EULA that grants them permission to record you at any time and store and process this data on some server somewhere.
  Not yet.
7. Re:Phut! by known_coward_69 · 2018-03-16 12:04 · Score: 1
  
  OMG, it might record you having sex
  nobody has sex you nasty dirty person you
8. Re: Phut! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-16 12:45 · Score: 0
  
  Seriously? All smartphones are designed to work as a speakerphone. Good luck auditing the 3G connection
9. Re:Phut! by rtb61 · 2018-03-16 13:02 · Score: 1
  
  No, it likely can record all you familial interactions to psychology assess you vulnerabilities to more effectively target them for manipulation. Monitored 24/7, first it supplies suggestion and with a tweak you can not control, it starts issuing instructions, which becomes orders you must obey. Until they have this installed in politicians offices, in every police department, in every government agency managers office and I can access them at any time for any reason to monitor the activity of any of those people, along with all other citizens, it won't be in my home. Why shouldn't we be able to monitor their activity, what have they got to hide, are they lying to us, are they cheating us, I don't not I can not track their activity, the representatives activities, the people that are meant to work for all of us, our employees, why the fuck is that?
  
  --
  Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
10. Re: Phut! by b0s0z0ku · 2018-03-16 13:03 · Score: 1
  
  They do so poorly when they're in a rubber case and the mic-hole is facing a surface.
11. Re:Phut! by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · 2018-03-16 13:35 · Score: 1
  
  When did you last buy a smartphone?
  
  --
  Your ad here. Ask me how!
12. Re: Phut! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-16 13:59 · Score: 0
  
  That's cute. You think they can't activate those features now. You should look at the telecom requirements for phones. Many made under the e911 changes.
  The obvious modification that should have told you something was up is emergency mode. Did you know they can put a phone into a mode that will not drop call? You literally have to pull the battery to shut the phone down. Anyhow, while dictating those changes what else do you believe they did?
13. Re:Phut! by Nethead · 2018-03-16 15:06 · Score: 1
  
  The Echo, OTOH, is designed to listen, omnidirectionaly.
  That's why my Echo spends all day with my parrot.
  
  --
  -- I have a private email server in my basement.
14. Re:Phut! by ShanghaiBill · 2018-03-16 16:16 · Score: 2
  
  Your smartphone doesn't require you to accept an EULA that grants them permission to record you at any time and store and process this data on some server somewhere.
  Neither does the Amazon Echo. You would be more credible if you tone down the hyperbole.
15. Re:Phut! by ShanghaiBill · 2018-03-16 16:28 · Score: 1
  
  The Amazon echo _relies_ on always listening as a core part of it's functionality.
  It listens for one thing: The trigger word "Alexa". It transmits over WiFi, and you can watch the packets and confirm that it transmits if and only if it hears the trigger word. Plenty of people have done this.
  
  With a smartphone, you typically expect that it's not listening unless you tell it to.
  What you "expect" is irrelevant. A smartphone has more recording and monitoring capability, and it transmits over the cellular network that is far more difficult to sniff.
  If you are paranoid about Alexa and not paranoid about your smartphone, then you have some severe cognitive dissonance.
16. Re:Phut! by drinkypoo · 2018-03-16 22:57 · Score: 1
  
  Smartphone mics and cameras work poorly when the thing is laid flat, face-down on a table to charge.
  
  Your smartphone doesn't have a top or rear mic? Is it from 1998?
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
17. Re:Phut! by Kohath · 2018-03-17 00:23 · Score: 1
  
  Old man shakes fist at cloud
18. Re:Phut! by b0s0z0ku · 2018-03-17 01:58 · Score: 1
  
  Nope. It's just a cheapie $100 phone from last year. If it did, a drop of epoxy would fix it while still retaining the ability to call.
19. Re: Phut! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-17 04:08 · Score: 0
  
  You'd notice, running a phone as a listening device consumes a lot of power.
  Instead of lasting 4 days between charges, mine would be empty at the end of the day.
  Oh, and the Echo will listen for 'Alexa' or what the programming 'thinks' is 'Alexa' and then start transmitting. That stuff after 'or' is the big problem. I wonder if it can distinguish between 'Alexa' and 'give me an extra ' for example. Wasn't there a URL where you can listen to all recordings amazon made?
The future of AI = bad search engine by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-16 11:46 · Score: 0

Computers were hard to use, so we got smart phones, but they were too hard to use, so we got a box that old people can shout at incoherently, which can play NPR. We called this advanced AI because most people have no idea what AI is.
Why? by niff · 2018-03-16 11:48 · Score: 0

I have an Echo Plus at home, and after one hour of trying to make it sing or say funny things the enthusiasm quickly wears off.
Nowadays I mostly use it to read the time when I'm in a hurry. That's it.
Maybe 1500 fresh engineers will result in something more useful.
1. Re:Why? by fahrbot-bot · 2018-03-16 11:52 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Nowadays I mostly use it to read the time when I'm in a hurry. That's it.
  Maybe 1500 fresh engineers will result in something more useful.
  Like adding motion sensors to notice when you're in a hurry so your Echo Plus can proactively tell you the time.
  
  --
  It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
2. Re:Why? by rudy_wayne · 2018-03-16 11:53 · Score: 2
  
  After Amazon burns through a few million in salaries, there will be big layoffs and they will move on to the next "big thing".
3. Re:Why? by jetkust · 2018-03-16 12:48 · Score: 1
  
  I have an Echo Plus at home, and after one hour of trying to make it sing or say funny things the enthusiasm quickly wears off.
  Nowadays I mostly use it to read the time when I'm in a hurry. That's it.
  Maybe 1500 fresh engineers will result in something more useful.
  This is EXACTLY why Alexa needs 1,147 people to work on her.
4. Re:Why? by Yaztromo · 2018-03-16 17:34 · Score: 1
  
  I received an Echo Dot as a present recently. I'm actually surprised by how much I use it.
  The biggest use tends to be in the mornings, when I'm preparing breakfast and lunch for the wife and daughter. While I'm buttering bread and slicing cheese I get my Flash Briefing, a traffic report, a weather report, and then have Alexa turn on my TV and surround sound system, switch them to the correct inputs, and automatically switch to the morning cartoon channel my daughter prefers, all with a single command.
  Outside of the morning, it's nice to be able to get music on command, or listen to my favourite podcast, or start my favourite radio station. I have full control of my entertainment centre, and hope to add some lighting control soon as well..
  I will agree however that currently the vast bulk of Alexa skills are trivial junk. There are some key ones for integrating with various home control systems, but the vast majority of skills are just sound effects, useless trivia, or silly games of the sort that you get bored of 10 minutes after you install them. I've avoided these myself, but when you look through Amazon's list of Alexa skills and this appears to be 95% of the skill base, it does bring you a bit of despair.
  I should note the ability to make phone calls is interesting, although I've only once used it for such (to call the person who sent it as a gift). The intercom capability might be useful if we ever add another to our setup. It's both a strength and a weakness that you have to have the computation for the skills run through AWS (a strength because of the easy to develop skills, and Amazon provides everything you need; a weakness because you can't avoid it, and you can't easily integrate your own devices without exposing them to the cloud. I've really been wanting to figure out a good way to write a skill that can tell me how last nights builds at work turned out, but it's not readily possible as the system lives behind a corporate firewall).
  Yaz
Google is dying by phantomfive · 2018-03-16 11:59 · Score: 1, Insightful

Google is a dying company. They started dying when they started caring about other things more than technology. They can sit there drinking that sweet advertising revenue stream for a long time caring about whatever they want, but eventually it will catch up to them.

--
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
1. Re:Google is dying by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-16 12:51 · Score: 0
  
  In a corporate sense they may be declining, but that's only because that's not their focus anymore. They're not trying to be the next East India Company, they're trying to be Ingsoc.
2. Re:Google is dying by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-16 13:05 · Score: 0
  
  The new Yahoo.
  Who will be the next Google? Amazon probably. They gobble up everything else.
3. Re:Google is dying by WindBourne · 2018-03-16 13:17 · Score: 2
  
  agree.
  This is because their current CEO, Pichai, is doing the typical MBA thing and worrying about getting the stock prices higher. He is not worried about long-term dividends. All in all, Pichai is pulling a GE, IBM, and Yahoo on Google.
  
  --
  I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
4. Re:Google is dying by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-16 13:49 · Score: 0
  
  In a corporate sense they may be declining, but that's only because that's not their focus anymore. They're not trying to be the next East India Company, they're trying to be Ingsoc.
  This is what I was thinking as well. Why the hell would you want to work at Google now that we all know what the corporate BS is like?
5. Re:Google is dying by Tony+Isaac · 2018-03-16 14:01 · Score: 1
  
  Google is dying? Do you have some data to support that claim?
  This graph of Google's quarterly revenues certainly doesn't look like what you would expect from a dying company. Their search engine market share has dropped by less than 4% in the last 7 years, to 87% (Bing has really eaten into this market, you know, topping 5.8%). In 2017, they increased their full time employee count by more than 15,000. Android market share hovers around 87%.
  What exactly makes you think that Google is "dying"?
6. Re:Google is dying by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-16 14:09 · Score: 0
  
  Sounds more like Amazon's just realized how far they need to go to catch up with Google on the technology front.
7. Re: Google is dying by phantomfive · 2018-03-16 14:12 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, if you were running Google, it would be dying also. Why? Because you are only thinking in terms of profits. That is how a company rots from the inside.
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
8. Re:Google is dying by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-16 14:15 · Score: 0
  
  wow, raciest much?
9. Re: Google is dying by Tony+Isaac · 2018-03-16 14:38 · Score: 1
  
  I cited data. Where is yours?
10. Re: Google is dying by phantomfive · 2018-03-16 14:42 · Score: 1
  
  You showed you don't even understand the problem by citing the wrong data. Kodak was plenty profitable and increasing in profit every year until the digital camera was created.
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
11. Re: Google is dying by Tony+Isaac · 2018-03-16 14:59 · Score: 1
  
  OK, I'll bite. What technology is about to dethrone Google?
12. Re: Google is dying by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-16 16:11 · Score: 0
  
  We don't know yet, but you can guarantee it's coming, and probably created by a white or asian male Google refused to hire for a black transvestite.
13. Re: Google is dying by phantomfive · 2018-03-16 16:14 · Score: 1
  
  A better advertising network. Is also like to point out that the quality of their search results seems to be dropping.
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
14. Re: Google is dying by ShanghaiBill · 2018-03-16 16:33 · Score: 1
  
  OK, I'll bite. What technology is about to dethrone Google?
  Smart speakers. Duh. RTFA.
15. Re: Google is dying by Tony+Isaac · 2018-03-16 16:37 · Score: 1
  
  Well of course! Pretty soon Alexa will take over the world!
16. Re: Google is dying by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-16 18:50 · Score: 0
  
  If you hire enough gay black trannies it's just like hiring a smart person!
  50 morons brings you insight and something something diversity! That's all you need to develop and run a business!
17. Re: Google is dying by Reverend+Green · 2018-03-16 21:20 · Score: 1
  
  The quality of their search results has been slowly declining for years.
18. Re: Google is dying by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-16 21:23 · Score: 0
  
  Go home Damore, you're jobless.
19. Re: Google is dying by Reverend+Green · 2018-03-16 21:28 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah. They're not spying on people nearly as much as they could be. Gotta catch up to the Goog!
20. Re: Google is dying by TheRaven64 · 2018-03-16 23:22 · Score: 1
  
  It doesn't have to be a better network. What happens to Google if governments start regulating data collection more aggressively (as the EU seems to be doing)? What happens if Microsoft sells off their advertising division and, in collaboration with Apple, pushes aggressive anti-tracking standards through W3C and into Edge and Safari?
  
  --
  I am TheRaven on Soylent News
21. Re: Google is dying by phantomfive · 2018-03-17 02:07 · Score: 1
  
  The main problem with Google is that they have ridiculous turnover. Most people stay there for a year. When that happens, it's hard to have any continuity. Actually Google has done a remarkable job at it but to my view they are losing direction. If you don't agree that's fine, maybe I'm wrong.
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
22. Re: Google is dying by phantomfive · 2018-03-17 02:10 · Score: 1
  
  The original people who wrote the search engine mostly left. The people who replaced them didn't understand it, so they rewrote it. Then those people left too. The main reason Google is alive is because they are able to funnel cash into their advertising business like there's no tomorrow
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
23. Re: Google is dying by GuB-42 · 2018-03-17 06:05 · Score: 1
  
  Hiring full time employees is a long term investment, it actually hurts short term profit.
  The first thing people do when milking a company for short term profit is to lay off as many people as they can.
24. Re:Google is dying by esonik · 2018-03-17 07:38 · Score: 1
  
  except DeepMind (targeting healthcare) and Waymo
25. Re: Google is dying by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-17 11:55 · Score: 0
  
  Waymo and deep mind are a money sink (for now)
I'm sure they're of stellar quality by Balial · 2018-03-16 12:16 · Score: 1

Everyone knows you can just snap your fingers and hire piles of capable engineers who deliver excellent products!
1. Re:I'm sure they're of stellar quality by Yaztromo · 2018-03-16 17:15 · Score: 2
  
  Everyone knows you can just snap your fingers and hire piles of capable engineers who deliver excellent products!
  The big tech companies have each compiled a significant list of talented developers. They look at Open Source development projects, student research papers, competitors employees, etc., and compile sizeable lists of talent.
  I get calls form Google roughly every 6 months, e-mails from Apple at least once a year, and Amazon a handful of times (once had two of their recruiters trying to recruit me for the same job at the same time!). For positions like these they aren't just putting up a "for hire" sign and hoping talent comes to them -- they already have the talent they want identified, and then just have to find the right set of incentives to bring them aboard.
  Yaz
LOL. Amazon, Right. by CrashNBrn · 2018-03-16 12:35 · Score: 1

And how many thousands of Staffers does Google|Alphabet have whose sole job is to hire Engineers. I would bet more than the 1147 temporary people that Amazon is hiring.
Is there ever a decent|accurate Forbes article on Slashdot?
1. Re:LOL. Amazon, Right. by lgw · 2018-03-16 17:39 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Google only has 80,000 full-time employees. Less than 1147 is slow growth - assuming it's net of attrition then they're actually hiring a lot more, but will plan to grow by less than 1147 engineers.
  Amazon has 566,000 full-time employees (plus over 1 million hourly workers not relevant to engineering). Much larger than Google these days. Google used to be the big dog in terms of scale. Used to be. AWS passed them a couple of years ago, and just the retail side may pass them soon.
  Soon enough, Google's going to be sittin' round talking `bout glory days (you know they pass you by).
  
  --
  Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
2. Re:LOL. Amazon, Right. by q_e_t · 2018-03-16 19:47 · Score: 2
  
  In both cases, how many are related to engineering, rather than sales, logistics, etc? Google doesn't ship much physical product, so doesn't need many warehouse or distribution managers.
Small wonder by nospam007 · 2018-03-16 12:36 · Score: 1

Unlike the other, Alexa actually sells stuff by the billions and not only tells you the weather you see outside the window.
1. Re:Small wonder by gtall · 2018-03-16 23:01 · Score: 1
  
  Wait a minute, I thought Alexa was selling you the weather outside the window.
exactly; this is why google is dying by WindBourne · 2018-03-16 13:14 · Score: 1

The current CEO just plain SUX and is missing opportunity after opportunity. Worst yet, by the time that larry takes action, google will not only have lost their reputation for being bleeding edge, but they will likely have lost most of their top tech ppl that make things happen.

--
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
1. Re:exactly; this is why google is dying by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-17 02:10 · Score: 0
  
  Waymo is bleeding edge in many ways. Just sayin'
their *real* mechanical turk ... by cascadingstylesheet · 2018-03-16 13:35 · Score: 1

Their *real* mechanical turk ... some live dudes with headsets and voice changers power Alexa!
doh by buddyglass · 2018-03-16 13:45 · Score: 1

They missed a golden opportunity to hire exactly 1337 employees to work on Alexa.
Ah the classic managerial mistake by locater16 · 2018-03-16 14:26 · Score: 3, Insightful

"So if we hire twice as many people features will take half the time, right?" -Manager

"*Hysterical laughter*" -Programmer
1. Re:Ah the classic managerial mistake by ayesnymous · 2018-03-16 20:21 · Score: 1
  
  Then they'd just add a bunch of new features, thereby reducing the current employees' workload by 0%.
It has all happened before. It will all happen... by SuperKendall · 2018-03-16 14:41 · Score: 1

...again.
This graph [statista.com] of Google's quarterly revenues certainly doesn't look like what you would expect from a dying company.
Doesn't matter how much money you make if you are irrelevant. The money will not last forever... just ask Microsoft.

--
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Maybe a tiny bit of fact checking? by rossjudson · 2018-03-16 14:52 · Score: 1

The numbers in the original "report" are hilariously wrong. Just a few minutes of checking authoritative sources would have told you that.
1. Re:Maybe a tiny bit of fact checking? by Luthair · 2018-03-17 03:52 · Score: 1
  
  The Slashdot summary also refers to the hires as developers but the article splits it out over a number of disciplines including "payment services" which I'd guess is the majority...
Re:It has all happened before. It will all happen. by Tony+Isaac · 2018-03-16 14:57 · Score: 1

I'm reminded of a Yogi Berra quote. "Nobody goes to that restaurant any more, it's always too crowded."
How exactly are Google and Microsoft irrelevant?
If Microsoft were really irrelevant, we wouldn't be talking about them. Microsoft absolutely dominates the business world. Windows still runs on 82% of desktop computers worldwide. Microsoft Office so dominates the business market that nobody else even matters. Sure, Bing and Edge are jokes, but Microsoft hasn't exactly died either.
Poor Fuckers by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-16 15:36 · Score: 0

Amazon tried me 4 times for this job. Are there any _good_ devs taking this gig? Why?
Re:It has all happened before. It will all happen. by edi_guy · 2018-03-16 15:55 · Score: 1

Microsoft is the 3rd largest company by market capitalization, just after Apple and Alphabet. It's 42 years old. You may not like it, but MS is an unequivocal business success.
Let's not forget about Amazon's toxic workplace by aleck7 · 2018-03-16 22:51 · Score: 1

They maybe hiring way more, but who'll be there after a year? I doubt same %% as @ GOOG.
Re: It has all happened before. It will all happen by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-17 04:24 · Score: 0

Actually Amazon eclipsed Microsoft in market cap a few weeks ago.
Re:It has all happened before. It will all happen. by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-17 05:54 · Score: 0

Why ask Microsoft? When did they run out of cash?
Re:It has all happened before. It will all happen. by SuperKendall · 2018-03-17 05:57 · Score: 1

You made my point. Lots of money, yet these days how do they matter?
The decline is not yet here, but basically inevitable. No-one bases anything on what Microsoft does these days, they are not driving the industry any longer, so all they can do is follow the market and stay as affluent as possible - they can draw from the same bar IBM's been drinking at for a while now...

--
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Alexa is still Suboptimal in performance by Anonymous Coward · 2018-03-17 20:39 · Score: 0

Tried to ask Alexa about:
What's the answer to life, the universe, and everything else?
She said "I don't know"...
Disappointing to say the least
She should at least refer me to Deep Thought :P
the mythical man month by sad_ · 2018-03-19 00:17 · Score: 1

nuff said.

--
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.