Two Decades of Recommender Systems at Amazon.com

20 years and they still think I need more than one vacuum.<p>ht: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;kibblesmith&#x2F;status&#x2F;724817086309142529" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;kibblesmith&#x2F;status&#x2F;724817086309142529</a>

I had read this paper, last week and took notes. Here is my summary of the paper. It was a fun read. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;muratbuffalo.blogspot.com&#x2F;2017&#x2F;07&#x2F;paper-summary-two-decades-of.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;muratbuffalo.blogspot.com&#x2F;2017&#x2F;07&#x2F;paper-summary-two-d...</a>

20 years, and I still can&#x27;t see a chronological listing of the other books in a series when shopping for my Kindle.

Sometimes it works surprisingly well, I think I remember a presentation where somebody demonstrated that searching for components of a meth lab on amazon would have amazon recommending to you other components to help you finish the lab.

I remember this one: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;lh3.googleusercontent.com&#x2F;beyxJM_pM6jH8AKDU0ITxXn9W1KhJ4waSwJrRx59Lg1qzZql-LPpZF3frXZzq7mbSs-Wv11qOJhHZUSZdWiUH3wMkaLUvUgB9nBCujQcFYmvOBcMb-0vodY_R8BDaKJ72NvgJS9rr-UlczwSjY7_V0zfQryz5z88o4CBNOCW6YPgkdwdp2wsVbbjFM47nTHMgGlCUFwLR5jLhAxsiWciVaepGrXl63yHNNtN6PNDJwzvg9RX3NiKWk6AzFD2OzCx-euu7UH_KAEx8JfPtYtbUvCTeQ2NDxx6zEpc2dwZuFPmD_BD6VGBjrBHELd9PNwNXs3_alMi-zIhPZo0Fk3w-K0JEmMsOFmpcFmj30b-T10zgQB9cxskexQBX1Ux-zRlEHcLRq_7Y2O4IgHAx5uWD29fimIurQYvqfggFH7IvLkJI9BTvFc4-HVsKQY9Tt2lx7eRGy4bwHe2O6QcIyL3TWwcvGCKOhVerqdH02YfuRbd3NKX7bE1i-uLCzzgG6Poi0bsgj99tDlDxHX6Pvc_Wn3G7Mp9KzZiPzjXukMNGi0uqMqo3BE3FOKMmVb2nkN10GmRj5ngTrpk3c4mdXSf9DB6N_k5qn-u23MtAgWJjX0lTKQg1FkV2MGs=w573-h499-no" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;lh3.googleusercontent.com&#x2F;beyxJM_pM6jH8AKDU0ITxXn9W1...</a><p>Not very old.

I investigated different algorithms for recommendation systems once and was astonished to find that the best one was also the most simple one: Jaccard similarity. No other similarities nor a proprietary custom built algorithm (which was the actual target of the investigation) could beat it.

Yep, I am definitely going to buy a $800 camera the day after I bought a slightly better one!

Related: Deep Neural Networks for YouTube Recommendations <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;research.google.com&#x2F;pubs&#x2F;pub45530.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;research.google.com&#x2F;pubs&#x2F;pub45530.html</a> (Discussion: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=12426064" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=12426064</a>)

anecdotal, but I&#x27;ve been their customer for all those years, and besides the few books early on, absolutely one hundred percent of their recommendations was utter useless.

I bought some embedded system accessories two years ago for college and I am still getting offered embedded system accessories.<p>Amazon&#x27;s recommender system is garbage (for me).

I use the amazon app to price match at another retailer.<p>The last scan or search always is somewhere in a recommendation (&amp; one of my game apps)

If you want to see a truly terrible recommendation system try aliexpress.

Just in the event someone out there is looking to work on these types of problems, Amazon&#x27;s Personalization teams are absolutely hiring.<p>Homepage: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.jobs&#x2F;en&#x2F;teams&#x2F;personalization-and-recommendations" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.jobs&#x2F;en&#x2F;teams&#x2F;personalization-and-recomme...</a><p>Applied Science: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.jobs&#x2F;jobs&#x2F;372996" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.jobs&#x2F;jobs&#x2F;372996</a><p>Software Engineering: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.jobs&#x2F;jobs&#x2F;549950" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.jobs&#x2F;jobs&#x2F;549950</a> <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.jobs&#x2F;jobs&#x2F;402127" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.jobs&#x2F;jobs&#x2F;402127</a> <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.jobs&#x2F;jobs&#x2F;430623" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.jobs&#x2F;jobs&#x2F;430623</a><p>Software Managers: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.jobs&#x2F;jobs&#x2F;385902" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.jobs&#x2F;jobs&#x2F;385902</a> <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.jobs&#x2F;jobs&#x2F;437405" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.jobs&#x2F;jobs&#x2F;437405</a> <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.jobs&#x2F;jobs&#x2F;489879" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.jobs&#x2F;jobs&#x2F;489879</a><p>If one of those don&#x27;t strike your fancy but you are passionate about working in this space, feel free to send me an email: ${HN_USERNAME}@amazon.com.