An annotated guide to Amazon's first job listing

2025-04-27 18:40:01admin

Today, Jeff Bezos is the world's richest man, the master at the helm of the mighty capitalist empire that is Amazon. But back in 1994, he was just a scrappy entrepreneur building his dream team, and using '90s era message boards and double spaces after periods to do it.

An early Amazon job posting resurfaced on Twitter Thursday, thanks to Bloomberg anchor Jon Erlichman. Originally posted by Bezos himself, the listing seeks Unix/C/C++ developers who can work three times faster "than most people think possible."

SEE ALSO: 8 life lessons from Jeff Bezos, pulled from Amazon shareholder letters

Amazon confirmed to CNBC the authenticity of the ad, which initially appeared on the message board Usenet. Bezos apparently filled the role, since Amazon would be up and running the following year, slinging books and killing Mom-and-Pop stores for decades to come.

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The ad is certainly a trip. But it also reminds us of Amazon's roots, how those early ideas and personalities laid the groundwork for how the company would grow — and how very, very far Amazon has come.

For example, did you know that Jeff Bezos' first investors were his mom and stepdad, whose original $250,000 investment means they're now worth about $30 billion? Or that an early name of what would become Amazon was "Cadabra"? How about the fact that it's easy to see how Bezos' "three times faster" mentality has led to robot-human integrations, and sometimes inhumane conditions, in Amazon's factories? What a fun walk down memory lane!

To take into account Amazon's past, present, and cash-filled future, here is our annotated version of Amazon's July 1994 job posting. Fun fact: Whoever got this job is probably a gazillionaire now.