Netflix’s technology and hiring practices
In the article “ Netflix, Reed Hastings Survive Missteps to Join Silicon Valley's Elite ”, Ashlee Vance profiles Netflix and its CEO Hastings for Businessweek. The article mentions a few interesting tidbits about the company’s technology and hiring practices: Netflix data comprises a third of the incoming data in North American homes. Their infrastructure is based on Amazon Web Services. In off-peak hours, Netflix’s systems are repurposed to analyze data. The results are used to pre-cache data and to determine the likelihood of success of a show that Netflix might finance. As an employer, Netflix pays well: Managers routinely survey salary trends in Silicon Valley and pay their employees 10 percent to 20 percent more than the going rate for a given skill. Fired employees also get ultragenerous severance packages; the idea is to remove guilt as an obstacle to management parting ways with subpar performers. And they prefer to ha...