2026-04-23. Nomoyu Daily for Indie Developers (Issue 341)

📰 News

Amazon VP: Tech Companies Do Not Really Run on Business Logic

“I have seen things that made me want to close my eyes.”

That is how former Amazon VP Ethan Evans opened his latest interview. After retiring, the first thing he did was expose the hidden management practices inside tech companies.

Many engineers believe tech companies are rational utopias. Code speaks. Performance speaks. If your technical ability is strong enough, you will naturally keep getting promoted.

But Ethan’s 20-year career says otherwise: every org chart, business reorganization, and promotion decision has two versions. One is written in the slides for employees. The other is discussed behind closed doors.

Empire building in tech companies

Why are so many managers obsessed with expanding their teams? Not because the business truly needs that many people, but because headcount is one of the hardest promotion metrics.

Ethan says some Amazon departments even had explicit requirements: to become a director, you had to manage at least 90 people.

That produces absurd behavior. Managers “lend” headcount to each other. “We’ll put these people under you for six months, let you get promoted to director, then move them back.”

Nobody cares about these employees’ career development. Nobody cares whether the business really needs it. Everyone is playing a numbers game. You have 42 people, I only have 17, so you look like the better manager.

In tech companies, numbers do not lie. People do.

When it is hard to evaluate someone’s contribution, the simplest method is to count people. So the whole company falls into a land-grab. Everyone fights for territory, resources, and headcount, because that is the shortcut to a higher title.

The secret of reorganizations

Have you ever been through a reorg that made no sense?

Leadership says in the all-hands that the reorg is for “efficiency,” “process optimization,” or “serving customers better.” But something feels off.

Ethan says: “There is always something else going on in every reorg.”

Yes, business adjustment may be one reason. But management is also using the opportunity to solve its own problems:

Marginalize people they dislike
Create positions for people they want to promote
Reward loyal subordinates
Punish difficult employees

What you think is a business reorg may actually be a power reshuffle.

The boat is leaving, and everyone is throwing their own luggage onto it. Whether the business suffers or employees get confused becomes secondary.

The most ironic part is that quiet, obedient, hardworking employees are often the biggest victims of reorganizations. Managers know they will not complain, resist, or push back.

The people who make noise, speak up, and state their needs often get better outcomes.

The unwritten rules of promotion

This may be the most painful truth for engineers: technical ability determines how fast you can move, but political ability determines how far you can go.

Ethan has seen too many brilliant engineers spend their whole careers stuck at senior engineer. Not because they are not good, but because they do not understand the game.

There are many invisible factors in promotion:

Whether your manager advocates for you at senior levels
Whether VPs from other teams are willing to back you
Whether you helped your boss at a critical moment
Whether people like you and want to work with you

Many engineers naively believe that if they write good code, someone will notice. In reality, senior leaders do not see your code. They see how your manager describes you.

Nobody is responsible for your career except you.

If you do not express your goals, build relationships, and make your value visible, even good opportunities will not reach you.

What should ordinary engineers do?

Many people will say, “I hate office politics. I just want to write code quietly.”

Ethan offers one path: become irreplaceable.

If you truly do not want to participate in politics, you must have a skill nobody else has and the company absolutely needs.

He gave an example: some AWS engineers only solve the hardest technical problems. They do not need to attend meetings, write documents, lead teams, or even keep regular hours. Nobody can replace them.

“Andy Jassy once said these people are among the company’s most valuable assets. We are willing to tolerate all their quirks as long as they can solve problems nobody else can.”

The safest position is not the most obedient one. It is the most irreplaceable one.

Of course, this path is harder than playing politics. It requires extreme technical depth and real expertise. But for people who are naturally bad at networking, it may be the cleanest path.

At the end, Ethan said that if he could return to the start of his career, the one thing he would tell himself is: “Do not think technical skill is enough. Relationships are what truly decide your fate.”

That sounds harsh, but it is reality.

Tech companies are not utopias. Like anywhere else, they contain both the bright and dark sides of human nature. They wrap themselves in code and data, but at their core they are still organizations made of people.

Understanding the dark side is not about becoming cynical. It is about seeing the rules, protecting yourself, and finding your own place in an imperfect world.

After all, real heroism is loving life after seeing the truth of it.

🖥️ Software

Nudgi

Nudgi is an AI-powered focus guard that intervenes before distracting apps open by checking against user goals, helping improve concentration.

Sift

Sift is a macOS app that runs locally on Apple Silicon Macs and automatically creates offline albums containing everyone, using face recognition and aesthetic scoring.

langscompare

langscompare is a developer tool for visualizing programming-language comparisons and learning rankings, helping users understand differences and learning value.

Skema

Skema is a gamified fitness app for gamers, offering short workouts and challenge quests based on gaming habits.

Planora

Planora is a free locally runnable project management tool built by a designer for use across many professional scenarios.

nocal

nocal is a personal calendar and task manager with multi-account calendars and block-style notes, now offering an early Outlook preview.

JobReach

JobReach is an AI-powered job-search tool with intelligent job discovery, Tinder-style browsing, automatic resume optimization, and job-search progress analytics.

SocialCard

SocialCard is an API for generating social media share-card images, with seven templates, TypeScript and Cloudflare Workers deployment, and free usage.

🎮 Games

Market Mayhem

Market Mayhem is a fictional stock market game where player trades affect prices in real time, with 20x leverage, dynamic candlestick charts, a retro trading-terminal interface, and free online play.

Cube Hopper

Cube Hopper is a fast-paced platformer developed over 15 years, with no-death mechanics, multiplayer, and a custom level editor that supports Steam Workshop map sharing.

✍️ Notes

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